There is often some concern about the large presence of
international varieties in our wines. While it is true that in recent decades the uprooting of autochthonous varieties has been accompanied by the planting of international varieties, statistical data show a more reassuring picture.
The most cultivated red varieties are Tempranillo, Garnacha
black, bobal, garnacha tintorera and monastrell. These five indigenous varieties account for 41% of the total. The area of Tempranillo, for example, is ten times greater than the area planted with Cabernet Sauvignon.
The same thing happens among the white varieties. The five most cultivated varieties are Airén, Macabeo, Verdejo, Pardina and Cayetana Blanca.
Global data shows that international varieties
most widespread, cabernet sauvignon, syrah, merlot, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, petit verdot and pinot noir, occupy just over 7% of the total cultivated area, in some cases with a long tradition, very good adaptation and excellent wines.
The time for Mediterranean wines has arrived. Syrah, beautiful love! Casa Castillo is located in the highlands of Jumilla. Their lands occupy the shade of the Sierra del Molar rising on steep slopes up to 760 meters above sea level.
The farm has 402 hectares of which half are dedicated
to the vineyard, the rest goes to the cultivation of almond trees, olive trees and
to the conservation of the pine forest and the mount.
José María Vicente, after more than thirty years in the winery, seeks
always study the territory, the soils, the vineyards and the wines that
they can give Valtosca comes from two Syrah plots located in the transition between the valley and the slopes of the mountains, where the sandy-loam soils are covered with coarse limestone. It is a dry vineyard, trellised, 24 years old
old. The most characteristic of Valtosca is its traditional and spontaneous production with autochthonous yeasts.
in underground stone presses, with 50% of the clusters
whole. It is aged for 12 months in large 5,000-litre foudres and in small 500-litre foudres, looking for the right touch of wood. Valtosca 2020 is a wine full of juiciness and black fruit, with the greatness of those who know they are humble, but are actually prodigious. The Valtosca has an affordable price and allows you to know the style of wines from this winery.
But if you have the opportunity, its jewel is the Casa Castillo Pie Franco 2020 (RRP €130), a monovarietal of Monastrell that has the honor of being the first wine of the DO Jumilla
deserving of 100 Parker points. Congratulations, Casa Castillo is a winery to follow! / Zoltan Nagy
The Chardonnay variety is the winemaker's grape par excellence. It makes the elaboration shine a lot and reflects the climate and the terroir like a mirror. The winery was founded in 1647, Julián Chivite represents the eleventh generation, so
Nothing more to add in terms of its character.
On the Legardeta estate, 45 km from Pamplona, the continental climate makes the grapes ripen at a slow, smooth and cool pace, achieving a unique, extreme expressiveness,
exciting and daring. Stone and tropical fruit dominates, with
white floral memories and that perfect touch of good wood
fine. The area is northern and has an Atlantic influence, which gives it freshness and structure on the palate. The soil has clay, silt and a water reservoir that help the plant to have an adequate water regime, maturing in a
gradual. Grapes harvested by hand, with care, in small boxes, being selected upon arrival at the winery. After a short maceration, the grapes are gently pressed.
Partially ferments in stainless steel tanks
and French oak barrels, where it is kept on its lees for about five months.
It is a creamy, intense and tasty Chardonnay, with good acidity. With a long finish, even very long, of those that are not forgotten, which ends in elegant bitterness. Its statement of intent is already in plain sight with its bright, fresh and intense greenish-yellow colour. A vibrant white wine to fall in love again with the most international white variety that the people of Navarre make so well. /Meritxell Falgueras
This winery has a long family tradition, but modern in style and a benchmark in its area. Each generation contributed its know-how and it was precisely the second generation that pioneered planting this foreign white grape, so well known and highly regarded on the world wine scene. They demonstrated that Chardonnay, well worked and understood, worked well on their land and was capable of adapting to the climate of Castilla-La Mancha.
The production process leaves nothing to chance, with a nocturnal harvest, the grapes are selected and squeezed very gently to only have the highest quality must.
It ferments in new barrels with subsequent aging for 6 months, plus a period of polishing in the bottle.
Golden in color due to its fermentation and aging in barrels, clean and bright. On the nose it is very intense, it reminds me of that style of New World wines with many milky and creamy notes, smoked, toasted and fine wood. its fruit
It is white like ripe apple, citrus like sweet lemon, spices and white flowers. The palate is dense, unctuous and very tasty. The step is fruity, with good acidity, leaving
for the end the aromas more typical of barrel aging.
This wine has achieved important international awards, winner of a Medal of
Gold and classified in the Top 10 in the prestigious Chardonnay du Monde 2021 competition, held in Burgundy (France), where it competed with more than 600 Chardonnays made in 36 wine regions of the world./María José Huertas
For years, wineries have been much more than a place where
wine is made. Guided tours, workshops, wine bar, accommodation, restaurants, hot springs area. Wine tourism is here to stay. The purpose is to communicate in a very personal and direct way the philosophy of the winery, the message of the viticulturist and/or oenologist, expand knowledge and ensure that the
final consumer enjoy, learn and appreciate the wine. I find it a wonderful tool to continue using and developing.
In the case of Clos Pons, they go a few steps further. Its agrotourism is based on the connection of visitors with nature, with the environment, with their lands, where olive trees and vineyards coexist happily. They began to make wine in 2008 but its origin is the production of a very high quality olive oil.
His “Arbequina Day” and his excursion through the olive trees are two of
your recommended activities. This family winery left me amazed when I discovered Pla del Tet during a blind tasting of the DO Costers del Segre.
An expressive Syrah, appetizing on the palate and with a very ripe texture. Without a doubt, Martí Magrinyà is an oenologist who does an excellent and precise job. And if I may be a little more superficial, the labels designed for their wines from
I love these collections, because they remind me of old laboratory cards, with detailed and meticulously placed information. These types of tags are used
producers who dress the bottle to match the liquid inside it. Only 2,785 bottles./Ferran Centelles
It is undeniable that they are French, but they have been swarming around our country for so long that the Cabernet and Merlot varieties almost deserve dual nationality. They are not newcomers. Cabernet landed in Rioja Alavesa in 1860 from the
hand of the Marquis de Riscal. Almost at the same time, Eloi Lecanda planted both varieties in his vineyards in Vega Sicilia. Fashions or trends spread their fame throughout the country and in vineyards such as Somontano they were adopted en masse from
the sixties. From the name, everything in this wine reminds us of its origin. Sers is the term that in the Aragonese fable
given to the north wind, that cold and drying wind that in Somontano
it cures and sanitizes, but it also rivals the vineyard, forcing it to fight against the dryness it causes. The wine label insists on the symbolism of the weather vane in the presence of the north wind in Somontano. GR18 recognizes the Long Distance path of the same name, an ancestral grazing path
and Romanesque that runs through a large part of the old county of Ribagorza, Templar land where Cofita rises, the origin of the Canales family vineyards.
And the Aragonese character continues, because here the Cabernet and Merlot varieties have been Mediterraneanized, adapting to the territory, its extreme climate and its soils. GR18 offers a classic construction of a mature and complex red, with a
intense and elegant nose. In the mouth, the wine is round, well built, with tame tannins. In short, a very serious wine, but with a kind and versatile seriousness. /Alicia Estrada
I have tasted this wine on different occasions in recent years and this 2018 vintage is undoubtedly at its best. It has been rounded off in the bottle and now expresses all its structure and complexity. The black fruit is more candied, broad and deep, the notes of black licorice and spices have intensified, it has gained in balsamic notes and the tannins are more ripe, rounded and sweet.
Mag Raven is the most personal wine from Magí Raventós, which is why it bears its initials. For years she held management positions in the Codorníu family group. This is her most personal project, a signature wine, unique and inimitable. Blend of international varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot aged for 8 months in oak barrels and a long refining period in the bottle.
The Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards are at the top of La Cerdera. The place name is a derivation of sardera, a piece of uncultivated land, which in turn derives from sarda, a flat and dry hill, the typical landscape of the plain of Lleida.
Today it is an area for growing fruit trees, between Raimat and Lleida, with the vineyards surrounded by pine and holm oak forests. The Merlot vines are planted in a north-south orientation, with the inclination seeking the maximum hours of
sun, which is why it unfolds its enveloping notes of ripe fruit. The magnificent phenolic maturation of the 2018 vintage is key to its evolution, and also the fact that only part of the wine went through the barrel to favor a good structure
and wrap it with tertiary notes, the rest kept all its fruity expression. /Lluís Tolosa
Celler Brugarol's red wine more focused on international varieties, without the prominence that the autochthonous Garnacha and Cariñena varieties have in their other wines,
in this case very focused on cabernet franc and cabernet
sauvignon from the Bell-lloc estate. In this year 2017 still without
designation of origin (since 2018 already with DO Empordà), because most of these wines come out through its two restaurants in the city of Barcelona, Brugarol X and Brugarol Barcelona, whose customers, in addition to getting to know their wines, also end up getting to know their different accommodations and houses
rural areas on the Costa Brava. The Bell-lloc estate is one of the most beautiful estates in Baix Empordà (Girona), on the gentle hills of the Gavarres massif, overlooking the town of Palamós and the Mediterranean Sea. The Brugarol Cellar is one of the great wine architecture projects in Catalonia, the work of RCR Arquitectos, first prize of the Colegio de Arquitectos
de Girona 2008. The visit to the winery, fully integrated
in the landscape, it is a unique architectural experience, which immerses the visitor in a maze of darkness, light and shadow. It is a charming place and a wine tourism destination
essential. This wine expresses Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon in a typically Mediterranean estate.
Powerful, meaty and fruity. Black fruit tastes dominate
ripe, figs and plums, soft toasted notes, menthol,
aromas of rosemary and a more tertiary finish, after a year of aging in French oak barrels, leather, mushrooms and undergrowth.
/ Lluís Toulouse
