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.
Cognitive Bottle Therapy 