cognitivebottletherapy

2022 M. Anto de la Riva “La Riva” Macharnudo El Notario Vino de Pasto

I coughed up and downloaded Tim Atkin’s MW good value report on Jerez 2025 and noticed a separate section on Vino de Pasto, the revolucíon continues, olé. Top of the list on a mere 99 puntos was this bottle. Never ever had a 99 wine before and the itch to find and try needed a scratch, particularly as a few days in Cádiz were looming. Similar single plot Macharnudo wines from this partnership between Willy Perez and Ramiro Ibañez have been listed in Australia for a mere $A250. What turned out to be an extraordinary wine shop in Cádiz had this for €70, so I did a click and hopeful collect before the extravagant mood faded. Reading a bit of background, it seems these de la Riva single plot wines come from some old Domecq vines which have been carefully sought and looked after. All made in pretty much the same way, picked, six hours of drying in the blinding Andalusian sun, asoleo that is, fermented and left under a little flor in bota before bottling. The soil’s the thing here, Albariza in the form of Barajuelas. White chalk laminated under what was the sea to form what looks like a deck of cards. Well, this bottle certainly was ace. These fragrant and detailed wines do need a lot of air and to warm in the glass. There’s perfumes you only find in the greats, blossoms of some sort, jasmine maybe, limes and citrus peels and most of all chalk dust, hay and green olive. Tastes the same with harmonious chords of baked apple and honey without the sugar. Simultaneously rich and fino like but fine and linear. An incredible freshness and sapidity to make your mouth water despite the intensity. A finish to make you sit back and ponder. The sort of grape quality found only in great vines.

14% alcohol. Cork and a heavy bottle, there has to be something to criticise. €70.

97 points. Close to perfect for me.

Bodegas Juan Piñero Maruja Manzanilla Pasada en rama

I don’t think any of the small output from Juan Piñero is imported into Australia. Reading the sherry nerd blogs like the excellent Sherry Notes and the lapsed undertheflor, there’s obviously some love for the wines. I did try a couple by the glass at the classy La Carbona Restaurant in Jerez a while ago and have memories of quite graceful but developed wine. The producer’s website is not one of the wine world’s most commercially minded but there is an email contact, so I sent a hopeful message asking about visiting. About ten days later, an email arrived with cost and bank transfer details, no easy credit card payment here. It all worked and me and a couple of Sherry aficionados turned up on warm autumn day in sea breezy Salúcar de Barrameda. The main output is Manzanilla Maruja, an old brand bought in the early 2000s by Juan Piñero, a local construction baron. The bodega building itself helped a love of the hometown drink as it was bought to develop apartments but was too lovely to demolish. Sadly he died in 2021 from Covid. Such was his passion and love for Sherry, he employed the great Ramiro Ibañez as consultant and bought fruit to fill the botas from the Callejuela brothers’ pago of Hornillo. These choices are certainly reflected in the quality in the glass.

One of the Maruja soleras. Quite a few around El Marco seem to be three botas high. This Manzanilla gets to pass through four which may help explain the extra development.

The visit was both really fascinating and a bit lost in translation too, as the young and energetic capataz, Robert, was technically on top of his game but his English stumbled and my lack of Español made it worse. Thank the great god iPhone for google translate. It was obvious he had great respect for the influence of Ramiro Ibañez.

To the bottle itself. All the salty, savoury and stripped back confrontation of a Manzanilla on its way to Amontillado. But there’s gentle orange peel, nuts, hay and a bit of the old chamomile. Reading Sherry Notes’ review from a while ago, I can’t help but find myself paraphrasing their much better note than mine. There is indeed a lovely glycerol roundness to cushion the savoury tang and even a touch of floral honey. Not a big mouthful but poised, linear and gently fading towards its end. While I must say I get most pleasure from the fruit forward, clean recent bottles of Manzanilla, Fino and especially the Vinos de Pasto, these old treasures are certainly sipped with some wonder. This one could be up to twenty years in learning to be a Pasada and maybe we’re now drinking things as they were nearly two hundred years ago. Treasures not lost.

16% alcohol. Cork. €28 at the bodega.

94 points. If you can score history.

2024 Ca’n Verdura Negre Binissalem Mallorca DO

A few days in the lovely village of Binissalem on the train line that tracks the middle of Mallorca to the affluent capital of Palma. The locals there seem to enjoy their lovely seaside city save for the three or four big cruise ships that spew their zombie crowds to clog the narrow streets mid morning. Back in rural Binissalem, Ca’n Vedura seems to be the producer that’s most caught the eyes of the critics in the small DO of Binissalem. This bottle was really tasty and interesting for sure. Definitely lucky timing to arrive in Binissalem as the three week vintage festival was winding up with a beautifully unselfconscious street parade of dressed up locals. And to make a wine nut happy, there was a great chance to taste lots of local bottles at the closing wine festival complete with delicious tapas.

Dressing up, drinking and dancing, sense of community at its best.

This particular wine is made from the indigenous Manto Negro. From tasting a few at the festival, it seems to prone to oxidation, low in acidity and smells a bit like a dry version of port or Garnacha from Banyuls. The colour looks a little on the brown end of red. Well, not this one. Bright crimson with a tinge of purple and showing no hint of portiness. Tastes crunchy with fresh red fruit and a sweet herby edge. Sort of Beaujolais like, struggling for comparisons. Really bright acidity and just a brush of fine grained skin tannin, the acidity almost white wine fresh. Perhaps therein lies the trick. Tastes low in ph which could be due to some greenish white brew added in the making or a bit of early picked stuff or something else like Callet added to brighten it up or just from a cold fresh vineyard? Dunno but it’s fun to puzzle. Pretty tasty whatever goes on and probably not the hard clunk of too much added tartaric. Good to taste things beyond the usual horizon.

13% alcohol. Cork. €12.

93 points.

2024 Torralba Alba Negre Vi de la Terra Illa de Menorca

A glass of this producer’s rosado with a plate of calamari overlooking one of those small inlets that crinkle the coast of Menorca was surprisingly delicious for such a thing. And I can hardly remember the last time I bought pink wine, you have to admit it’s neither red nor white to its disadvantage. It was so good a pink, I thought I’d splash some travel euros on a bottle of their red. A bit preoccupied by cooking, I failed to google the bottle and just plunged into a glass, assuming it was one of those Balearic grapes like Callet. First impressions were good, clean, fresh and just ripe enough to be fruit sweet with an edge of tartness. Over a couple of evenings, the fresh red fruit drove on through but with a bass thud of something earthy, hinting at something like caramelised game meat. Really eyebrow lifting was the solid wave of grape skin tannin, ripe and sparkled by natural acidity. Intrigued, I googled and discovered it’s Monastrell or Mataro or Mourvèdre, as was the rosado. Fruit weight, medium body and the transparent depth of a good Beaujolais cru but well dressed grunt aplenty. Well made in a restrained natty style. Hits the pleasure receptors and thought provoking too. Light on its feet for Mourvèdre and none of that distracting farmyard character some identify in the variety. Worth the urge to take a risk on a chance encounter.

14% alcohol. Diam, again. €21.

94 points.

2022 EDEtÀRIA VIA EDETANA Garnatxa Negra Garnatxa Peluda Terra Alta DO

Terra Alta, close enough to Priorat for me to risk an unknown maker, particularly when the label says Garnatxa or Grenache from old vines. And not just Grenache as the common Spanish version but two sorts. Negre is the usual tinta. Peluda can be translated as hairy! Seems it’s a mutation of tinta, growing a fine hairy down on its leaves to help stop moisture loss in a hot climate. Clever grape. It’s also known as Lledoner Pelut in France. It’s a lovely blend too. Opens with a bit of reductive stink which clears reasonably quickly. Fresh red fruits, cherry and raspberry and that addictive old sooty fireplace thing that seems so common in Priorat and surrounds. Transparent and crisp for such a hot place, there’s a cinch of mouthwatering acidity and very fine skin tannin. One reference suggests the hairy one retains acidity well, maybe here’s the proof. The sort of delicious cut and mineral thing that’s difficult to find in Grenache from other parts.

14.5% alcohol but doesn’t look it. Diam. €13.50.

93 points.

2023 Bodegas Luis Pérez La Escribana Vino de Pasto

If you want to taste place and grape, extraordinary care in the making and find out just how good Palomino can be, stop here and enjoy. I think this probably isn’t the high yielding Palomino California clone but from older versions producing fruit with flavour. And what flavour. From the great pago of Macharnudo Bajo, naked hill in Arabic derivation, there’s some intricate making including a green harvest to produce wine used to acidify the later much riper pick. There’s a brief twelve months under flor in botas filled higher than the normal Fino. The soil is classic Albariza, dazzling in white, and a particular type called Barajuela, layers of chalk stacked like a pack of cards. The grapes are influenced by the inland warmth of the east wind, the Levante, to create richness rather than the fresher nature of those grown closer to Sanlucar and the sea. And in the glass, there’s so much flavour albeit of acrobatic balance. Looks like Fino in its green and gold but tastes so much more…er…fine. All the best possible bits of Sherry but no heat and ungainly breadth. Savoury sweet dried hay, an incredibly difficult to describe unami green pith, sort of yellow peach or perhaps juicy melon, a tonic bitterness from the touch of flor, a pistachio green nuttiness and a final tangy hint. All these flavours and textures carry long and clean to be finally waved bye bye with a puff of fine acidity and a grape skin ruffle. Not finished yet, the second day it was richer and more Sherry like for want of a better word but still so clean and balanced. As close as great craft and intelligence in wine gets to art. Not just a drink.

13.5% alcohol. Another half a degree and it could be labelled Fino thanks to long overdue rule changes. Cork and a too heavy a bottle the only criticism. €22 in Spain, happy as it’s $92 in Australia thanks to a stupid tax law.

96 points. Montrachet watch out, it’s Macharnudo.

2024 Finca Fabian Tempranillo Vino de la Tierra de Castilla

Holiday apartments can have some really bad wine glasses. Our stop on a languid white sand beach on a corner of Menorca also left a much appreciated welcome pack including some jamon and what I dismissed as another supermarket Tempranillo. Memories of enjoying jovens, Spanish Temp in its simplest form, years ago in Basque pintxos bars made me reach for the corkscrew. Not the waiter’s friend sort but one of those with the upraised arms and single thread that look like they’re gesturing, ‘we’re sorry we only pulled out the middle and left the outside of the cork still in the bottle’. The wine itself was a delicious surprise. Less heavily extracted than most and fragrant with bright fruit. All the usual red fruits and cola scents and flavours of Tempranillo, fresh and building a bit of momentum. Endearing fruit juice acidity and some sweet skin tannin. Organic fruit without heavy sulphur treatments may help or the fact it’s from a business of only 300 hectares which is small by Spanish conglomerate standards it seems. When it comes to Tempranillo, I do need reminding less can be more drinkable. Good enough to keep an eye out for another bottle from Dominio de Punctum, the business behind this label. Sadly, I can’t seem to find one amongst all the local supermarkets’ Crianzas and Reservas.

13.5% alcohol. Diam. Included in week’s rent but possibly €5 at most.

91 points. Plus one for surprise enjoyment.

2023 Bodegas Pirineos 3404 Tinto Merlot Garnacha Moristel

From the DO or should it be DOP of Somontano up in foothills of the Pyrenees comes this odd blend. The back label says 3404 refers to the altitude of the mountain El Aneto overlooking the sunny Somontano vineyards. And a bit of cooler air has done this no harm. Lots but not too much extraction of delicious plum, cherry pip and raspberry fruit, fresh and full of juice. Just that extra length and intensity of flavour that pushes above the basic Spanish joven examples. This has a rich purple plum thing which those who know the left bank of Bordeaux business say is perhaps typical of Merlot? Probably not the sort of posh tannin poise though? Good fresh and natural feeling acidity on a chew of slate like skin tannin keeps things trim and taut. Pirineos’ Moristel has often been a tasty off the beaten path treat. This too is a diversion worth following. More interest for me than a lot those bottles labelled Crianza or Reserva.

14% alcohol. Diam, nearly ubiquitous in Spain now it seems. About €5, great value.

92 points.

NV Romate Fino

Spanish supermarkets seem to vary quite a bit in their wine offerings. The big Mercadona in Mahon, capital of lovely Menorca, only has a small range of cheap, large scale production Tempranillo and Verdejo which is very uninspiring, particularly as it has really good food offerings on display. Oddly, the small supermarket in the dreamy seaside village of Binibequer had this fresh bottle on the shelf for about €10 amongst other tempting things. Think the producer’s full title is Bodega Sanchez Romate Hermanos, quite grand. The back label said L24319 which means it was bottled in 2024, possibly on the 19th March? I can never remember how the numbers run. As there’s no 31st September, I could be correct? You have to be grateful for something more interesting than the boring Tempranillo and Verdejo which seem to clog the shelves in Spain in the same way cheap Shiraz and kiwi Sauvignon Blanc do in Australia. This is a delicious version of how good the winemaking has become in some parts of El Triangulo in recent years. Loads of savoury flor, chamomile and yellow fruit. Stony sea smells and an austere bite of yeasty straw, all nicely cushioned by comforting glycerol like cream texture and soft acidity. All nicely clean and easy. A mouthful after a bite of one of those gilda spears with anchovy, tiny pepper and olives, and you’ve got one of the best value taste sensations on the planet. Did I mention I like Spain?

15% alcohol. Screw cap, things are changing in Jerez. €9.95.

92 points.

2017 Celler Aixalà Alcait Les Clivelles de Torroja Priorat

It’s been over six months since the last post, and having had my credit card automatically debited again for the minimum WordPress subscription, it’s probably best to actually write something. This bottle was one of two left in the stash from a bargain mixed six pack once offered by a favourite importer, aptly named The Spanish Acquisition. It was when Covid hit and lock downs made it very difficult to stay in business. Without their generous offers, I may have never discovered how good are recent versions of Priorat. Made from pure Carignan or Carinyena in Spanish or Samsó in Catalan, this single village wine is so very much of place. Odd they put the Spanish name for the variety on the label but then write something in the local Catalan which amplifies my language confusion. Carignan can ripen to 14.5% in Priorat but still stay so fresh and full of bounce. Still some purple red in both colour and flavour. Dark red cherries, rich cocoa and that unmistakable sooty old fireplace thing that those llicorella stony soils seem to bring. Lovely build of fruit and that mineral, er…slate or something, freshness drives on and on till the bottle’s gone. Don’t really want to go back to the dark and quiet days of lock downs but wish I’d ordered a few more.

14.5% alcohol. Cork. Bargain and good to see TSA still going strong.

94 points.