How Long Does Wine Last After Opening?

John Belsham, an international consultant and founder/winemaker of Foxes Island in New Zealand, says, “The ultimate deciding factor is quality. The better the wine, the longer it will keep in an open bottle. That’s irrespective of the techniques used to protect the wine, be it gas-injection or vacuuming…The bottom line is that once you’ve opened the bottle, oxygen is introduced, which is absorbed into the wine. It’s not actually what’s in that space above the wine that makes the difference, but what’s absorbed into the wine at the moment of opening.”

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White Wine

“The wine will not rapidly oxidize, if it’s been well made,” says Belsham. “I would expect a quality bottle of Chardonnay, Riesling, Sémillon or Sauvignon Blanc to last comfortably three to four days in a half-full bottle. Really high-grade, single-vineyard wines with a high fill level will last for at least a week in the fridge, in my own experience. Even with slight loss of aroma, it will still be palatable. Mass-produced, simpler whites and rosés are probably best [enjoyed] over two days.”

Red Wine

“With red wine, similarly, it will comfortably be in good shape for three to four days,” says Belsham. “The more robust the red wine, the more tannin it has to protect itself against oxygen. So, the denser the red wine, the better it will present itself. For example, I would give elegant Beaujolais three to four days, but five to six days to a robust southern Rhône or Primitivo.”

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Sparkling Wines

Sparkling wines enjoy protection via their own carbon dioxide, but open bottles need proper, purpose-made stoppers that firmly clamp the bottle shut. Marcello Lunelli, co-owner of Italy’s Cantine Ferrari in Trento, says, “It depends how full the bottle still is. If there is just a glass missing, a re-stoppered bottle will keep three to four days, as long as the stopper completely maintains the pressure. Keep the bottle absolutely closed. Every time you open it, you lose pressure.”

“If the bottle is half-full, just two days is probably best,” he adds. “After that, you won’t have the perfect perlage. That said, the wine inside will still be good, just with less pressure. What remains when the bubbles are gone is still an outstanding wine. If the wine has been open for longer than that, it will be perfect for making risotto. The acidity of the wine perfectly balances the sweetness of the rice.”

How Long Does Fortified Wine Last?

Sherry

George Sandeman, of Sherry and Port producer Sandeman, advises to refrigerate Fino and Manzanilla styles and consume them within one week. Amontillado and Oloroso styles will stay fresh for up to eight weeks after opening. He notes this goes for these two styles regardless of their sweetness level.

Port

Paul Symington, managing director at Symington Family Estates, the group behind Graham’s, Dow’s and Warre’s, says quality and style make a difference.

Ruby Port and LBV (late bottled vintage) styles “will stay in good condition for up to a week after opening,” he says. “After that, they will suffer from the normal process of oxidation, common to all wines. Keeping the opened bottle lightly chilled and using a Vacu-Vin or similar will prolong the quality.”

“Tawny Port has been aged in oak casks and is therefore well used to contact with air,” he adds. “Consequently, a fine 10- or 20-year-old Tawny will remain in excellent condition for two to three weeks after opening, especially if kept in the fridge.”

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Concerning the pinnacle of Port, Symington says, “Like all great bottle-aged wines, Vintage Port has been totally isolated from the air for many years. The glorious elegance of this wine upon opening is a real pinnacle, but its ethereal beauty will fade after a few days. It should therefore be consumed within three to four days of opening. A Vacu-Vin will help prolong the quality by a further few days.”

Sandeman, which also produces Port, has recently adopted re-sealable Vinolok closures on its 20-, 30- and 40-year-old Tawny Ports. These can be kept “for up to three months,” says George Sandeman, especially when stored in the refrigerator.

Madeira

Madeira already has been exposed to heat and is an oxidized style. Can time still ravage it? “Do you want to know the truth?” says Chris Blandy, director of the Madeira Wine Company. “Nobody knows how long these wines last once opened, but my own experience is that I had half a bottle of 1976 vintage Madeira with my wife at Christmas 2011. One year later, Christmas 2012, we had the other half, and the bottle was perfect.”

The wines are fortified and deliberately oxidized, so nature has little to throw at them. “As long as you keep the bottle away from direct sunlight and upright, it can last a very long time,” says Blandy.

The post How Long Can a Bottle of Wine Stay Open? appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

From the gently rolling hills of Rioja and the rocky mountains of Valdeorras in Galicia, down toward the Catalonian coast, there’s a Spanish wine for every kind of drinker and occasion. This year, our tasters sipped through countless of these diverse bottles. The best of the lot—not just the highest scoring or most expensive (we’ve found some fantastic budget bottles, too!)—captured our reviewers’ curiosity and inspired a sense of fascination. 

Here are the Spanish bottles that made the cut for the Enthusiast 100: The Best Wines of 2023.

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Best Sparkling

Llopart 2011 Original 1887 Brut Nature Sparkling

Deep straw in color and with a steady column of bubbles, this sparkler features a bouquet of dried apricot, caramelized pineapple and roasted almonds. A strong vein of acidity backs yellow currant, caramelized pineapple, croissant, toffee and lemon-blossom flavors that coalesce in a surprisingly vivid, lingering finish. Editor’s Choice. 95 Points  — Mike DeSimone

$ Varies Wine-Searcher

Naveran 2021 Perles d’Or Sparkling (Cava)

This light-yellow-colored sparkling wine has forceful effervescence and aromas of golden currant, vanilla and honeysuckle. It is bright at first sip, with Granny Smith apple and lemon flavors that are joined by notes of brioche and toasted almond. The finish is laced with notes of citrus zest and salinity. Editor’s Choice. 94 Points  — M.D.

$ Varies Wine-Searcher

Best White

Bodegas Godeval 2022 Godello Godello (Valdeorras)

Pale yellow to the eye, this wine has honeydew melon, apricot and smoke aromas. Vivid peach and yellow-plum flavors are joined by vanilla-bean, bergamot-flower and river rock notes. The vibrant finish is marked with a splash of lemon-lime sorbet. 92 Points  — M.D.

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Best Red

Beronia 2015 Gran Reserva Tempranillo (Rioja)

Dark violet-red in the glass, this wine has a bouquet of blackberry, milk chocolate and butterscotch. Spicy clove and eucalyptus (with touches of dark chocolate) open on the palate and are joined by dark- and red-berry flavors. The whole package is wrapped up in polished tannins and well-moderated acidity that linger on the tongue and gums. Editor’s Choice. 94 Points  — M.D.

$ Varies Wine-Searcher

Manzanos 2021 111 Graciano (Rioja)

In this wine, aromas of black cherry, black currant and licorice prepare the palate for flavors of Chambord, cherry preserves, anisette and violet. Silky tannins dissolve into a long, spicy finish. 91 Points  — M.D.

$ Varies Wine-Searcher

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All products featured here are independently selected by our team, which is comprised of experienced writers and wine tasters and overseen by editorial professionals at Wine Enthusiast headquarters. All ratings and reviews are performed blind in a controlled setting and reflect the parameters of our 100-point scale. Wine Enthusiast does not accept payment to conduct any product review, though we may earn a commission on purchases made through links on this site. Prices were accurate at the time of publication.

The post The Best Spanish Wines to Drink Right Now appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

That changed this past spring, when I found myself walking through several top pagos (as vineyards are called in Jerez) with a new wave of Sherry producers in Jerez— some of whom have formed a group called Territorio Albariza. This new generation sets itself in opposition to what they call “the blending culture” of the big Sherry houses, which they insist too often relies on cheap “neutral” wines, then fortification and wood to give these wines character.

“People think that’s the original way of Sherry, but it’s not true,” said Willy Pérez, of Bodegas Luis Pérez, as we walked through the famed Macharnudo vineyard, about 20 kilometers from the Atlantic near the town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Wine has been grown in Macharnudo for centuries, and in the 19th century, it was among the most expensive land in Europe. But you almost never hear about vineyards like this in modern Sherry communications. “Everything changed over the last 50 years,” Pérez told me. “The message moved from the vineyards to the wineries, and the taste of the Sherry changed.”

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Who Says Jerez Has  No Terroir?

In Jerez, terroir is a topic that’s not much discussed. “The idea that ‘Jerez had no terroir’ benefitted the big houses,” says Alejandro Muchada, of Muchada-Léclapart winery, a partnership with David Léclapart, the famed Champagne producer. This terroir denial, Muchada says, “gave the big houses power over the small growers and they could say, ‘Your grapes aren’t worth much.’”

The new wave can’t come fast enough for Sherry, the market for which has been declining since the 1980s. By some accounts, vineyard land in Sherry country has cratered from about 70,000 acres to just 15,000. “People talk about a crisis in Jerez,” says Muchada. “A lot of the bodegas sold their vineyards, and we lost the connection to the vineyards.”

There are certainly quality traditional producers in Jerez. Big houses like Valdespino and Lustau make excellent Sherries. In 2005, Eduardo Ojeda and a partner launched Equipo Navazos, a négociant that sources and releases special barrels of rare, coveted Sherry from small bodegas around the region.

However, to change the fortunes of Jerez, more radical change is necessary.

In the U.S., for more than a decade, people in the wine and spirits bubble have tried to make a Sherry revival happen, with little to show for it. Don’t believe me? How many normal everyday drinkers do you know who regularly enjoy, say, a fino or manzanilla or amontillado? In reality, the opposite of a revival has happened. In a 2019 Wine-Searcher article titled “Sherry is Dying, Pass the Port,” writer Don Kavanagh summed up the situation in dire terms. “Extinction is such a final word that it seems strange to use in terms of an entire category of wine, but along with gorillas, the Sumatran elephant and the white rhino we may soon have to add the name Sherry,” Kavanaugh wrote. “The real interest in the wines might well be limited to whisk(e)y distillers who need the barrels to age their own product, but the general public’s interest will gradually shrink.” Ouch.

Some of the original Sherry revivalists have grown cynical. “This is something that people in the industry don’t want to hear, especially those advocating for Sherry, but it’s never going to happen, man,” author and mixologist Derek Brown told me. Brown ran a high-profile Sherry bar called Mockingbird Hill, in Washington, D.C., during the so-called “Sherry renaissance” of the 2010s. Unlike Brown’s other popular bars, the Sherry bar didn’t last long.

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Even in Spain, Sherry consumption is declining, especially as an everyday drink. Sherry’s Consejo Regulador found that more than 40 percent of the fino Sherry in Spain is consumed solely during various ferias (or festivals) throughout the country, mostly in rebujitos, a drink made with a mix of fino Sherry and 7UP.

Back in Jerez de la Frontera, the Consejo Regulador finally took action to reverse these negative trends. Last year, a slew of new regulations went into effect for the Jerez D.O. that producers hope will chart a new course for Sherry. The most important change is no more mandatory fortification. Non-fortified wines can now be bottled as D.O. Jerez-Xérès-Sherry. “It was 10 years of fighting but now we can have a fino without fortification,” Pérez told me.

Six local grape varieties will also now be newly permitted: Perruno, Beba, Cañocazo, Vigiriega, Mantúo Castellano and Mantúo de Pilas.

In Jerez, before phylloxera, there were 45 white varieties and 33 red varieties, according to Ramiro Ibáñez of Bodega Cota 45. “With the culture of the last 50 years, we’ve lost this tradition,” Ibáñez says. “We are now taking pieces and tools from history.”

This is not to say that the traditional Palomino grape will become less important. In fact, many believe that Palomino, grown the right way, can show as much terroir as other world-class grapes. “You read a book and it says ‘Palomino is a neutral grape’ but that’s not true. It depends on how you farm,” says Muchada, who makes exquisite, non-fortified, terroir-driven wines from Palomino. Depending on where it grows, the grape can be zippy and citrusy, mineral and saline, full of ripe orchard fruit, or all of the above. “People say Palomino is a grape for the future,” he says. “She’s low-alcohol, and she’s going to show you everything.”

‘Dirty Dogs’ and the Post-Natty Path

Finally, another major change will be that pagos can now be stated on the label, signaling that terroir will become a more important facet of Jerez wines moving forward. Look for place names such as Macharnudo, Miraflores and Carrascal as emerging “grand cru” designations.

Jerez will likely promote its coastal locale at a time when “Atlantic wines” has become a popular term in the Iberian Peninsula. “For us, the most important element is the Atlantic,” Ibáñez told me. “Now, in Spain, they want to say that there is Atlantic climate all over. But the Atlantic is here.”

Perhaps the most interesting winemaker I met in Jerez was Raúl Moreno, an experimentalist whose wines are coveted in Spain’s big-city wine bars. I went with Moreno out to his vines in Pago Miraflores, which he called “the coolest vineyard in Jerez.” The soil is pure chalk, and he farms his plots biodynamically, with a mule. “This is precision viticulture, and it takes a lot of work,” says Moreno. “This region has amazing potential if people would do good agricultural practices. But they’re lazy.” For instance, Moreno started picking last year on July 17th. “I am always the first to pick in Jerez. I’m also always the last one picking.”

One reason for that is Moreno grows a crazy number of different grapes: Pedro Ximénez, Tintilla, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Chardonnay, Muscat, and, of course, Palomino. He makes a red with 100% Perruno (which means “dirty dog”)—one of the newly allowed grapes—that is 100% whole-cluster fermented, spends 10 months under flor and is aged in a chestnut cask. It was bright, fresh, mineral, floral, and I could not believe it was a Jerez wine. It blew me away.

“The future of Jerez is non-fortified wines. But alternative varieties and field blends are also the future,” Moreno says.

Moreno previously worked for large, industrial wineries, living half his adult life in Australia, only returning to Spain in 2020. He’s seen everything and knows all the tricks, but he’s extremely low intervention. Moreno is what we might call “post-natty”—using natural wine techniques like skin contact, carbonic maceration and aging in clay tinaja, but also employing the traditional Jerez aging under flor.

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Currently Moreno is experimenting with Portuguese varieties, such as Arinto, Encruzado and Baga. “Arinto is the best grape variety for climate change on the Iberian Peninsula,” he says. His Destellos 2022 is a blend of Palomino with 15% Arinto, fermented in chestnut amontillado or manzanilla barrels.

Moreno and I visited a new vineyard near El Puerto de Santa María, on an estate with a house that dates to the 12th century. We met his partner in the new project, Thomas de Wangen, who owns the property and produces the Diatomist label. After a tour, we all sat under the shade to drink some wine and eat jamón and cheese. Moreno opened his La Esencia 2022, a claireté made with an unheard-of blend of Tintilla, Palomino, Pedro Ximénez, Perruno, Arinto and Baga—aged three months in clay pots. Again, it was like no wine I’d ever tasted from Jerez. “What I do is different than everyone else,” Moreno told me. “The beauty of this region is there is so much potential. You can make so many things.”

“There’s no reason Jerez can’t be as prestigious as Ribera del Duero,” de Wangen chimed in. “Well, Ribera del Duero, but, you know, cool.”

You can follow Jason Wilson on Wine Enthusiast and click here to subscribe to his Everyday Drinking newsletter, where you’ll receive regular dispatches on food, travel and culture through the lens of wine and spirits.

This article originally appeared in the 2023 Best of Year issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine. Click here to subscribe today!

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The post After Decades of Declining Sherry Popularity, Radical Change Is Coming to Jerez appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

Located about a 30-minute high-speed train ride away from Madrid, Toledo is a worthy starting point for exploring this agriculturally rich region, which also happens to be home to 11 Michelin-starred restaurants. Beyond the city’s ancient walls, the surrounding region is dotted with vineyards, creameries and olive groves, with the fish-laden Tagus River running through it.

Recently, Michelin-starred chef Eric Ripert of New York City’s Le Bernardin visited the region with 50 Best (the organizers behind The World’s 50 Best Restaurants), to film a short documentary on the region. As a writer, I was invited to tag along.

I found that despite his bonafides, chef Ripert’s culinary leanings do not, in fact, entirely skew high end. It’s a blessing in this part of the world, where many of the cuisine’s highlights are not necessarily the most fanciful. Of course, there are plenty of those in supply, too.

Here are Chef Ripert’s food and drink highlights in Castilla-La Mancha.

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Farms

Finca la Prudenciana

It turns out that Ripert is a major fan of Manchego cheese. “We have Manchego all the time,” he says. “If not in the morning, then I have it late at night. So, he was eager to see where the flagship cheese of Spain is made.

To legally be called Manchego according to EU law, it must be produced in Castilla-La Mancha. One of the best places to see the process is at Finca la Prudenciana, a family-owned sheep farm and creamery in the small town of Tembleque. This is where the globally-available, small-batch Artequeso brand of artisanal Manchego cheeses are made, using raw milk from the resident flock of sheep. The cheeses are then aged on-site for between three and 12 months. It’s owned and run by husband-and-wife Alfonso and Maria Álvarez Sánchez-Prieto together with their children, Marta and Santiago.

“I was very impressed by the way they make Manchego, because they use all the modern techniques that are needed today to be able to sell Manchego worldwide,” says Ripert. “But at the same time, they keep certain traditional aspects in their way of making it.”

Finca la Pontezuela

Spain is one of the world’s major olive oil producers, and Castilla-La Mancha is the second-largest producing region in the country. Located in the heart of the Montes de Toledo, Finca La Pontezuela has 18,000 trees growing five types of olives, including the rare redondilla olive. According to the family owners, they are one of only two farms in Spain to grow redondillas.

“That type of olive is very difficult to find,” says Ripert. “When I have something special and delicious like that, I’m dreaming about what I could do with it.”

Visitors to the farm tour the verdant olive groves and a modern oil mill. They also explore the state-of-the-art, interactive visitors center built in 2020. It explains everything you’d want to know about olives and olive oil via videos, touch screens, interactive maps and visual guides that show how olive oil is harvested and produced.

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Tastings of their 5 Elementos brand of olive oils are also offered, including those made with single varietals. The picual olive oil is the spiciest, while the redondilla is smooth and flavorful.

Ripert says the experience is “the opposite of going to the supermarket,” where the average bottle of olive oil often “has no flavor.”

Bodega Loranque

This ancient winery dates to the Roman period; the ancient Vía XXV Augustobrigam-Caesarobrigam-Toletum road crosses right through the property. It was around the 11th century that the Lord of Loranque El Grande likely planted some vines on this land. At the end of the 18th century, a French-style winery was built. Back then, the wine was fermented in traditional earthenware jars, which can be seen on the property today as decor.

In 1982, the Díaz Bermejo family purchased the winery, releasing its first vintage in 2002. Today, the winery produces award-winning red wines including a Syrah, Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and various blends. It’s open for tours and tastings. Ripert describes the red wines he tasted as “fairly young, but top notch.”

“Twenty or 30 years ago, Spain—except for a few exceptions—didn’t really make excellent wines. In general, they were producing quantity but not necessarily quality,” he says. The situation is much different today. “They are very much aware of what needs to be done to make a great wines,” Ripert continues. “They have a good terroir, they have good soil, they have good vines, and now they’re using all the help they can from technology.”

Restaurants and Bakeries

Santo Tomé Obrador de Mazapan

Toledo has a claim to the invention—or, more likely, the popularization—of marzipan, the almond-and-sugar-paste delicacy, which has been made here at least dating to the 1500s. (For what it’s worth, the treat is also claimed by the city of Lubeck in Germany and Sicily in Italy. Persia is its most likely place of origin.)

Santo Tomé, one of Toledo’s oldest businesses, has been making fresh marzipan daily since 1856, and the smell of freshly made marzipan wafts through the air to the constant line of customers outside.

The six-generation family-run bakery uses only fresh, locally grown Marcona almonds, sugar and honey run through a mill to make its marzipan. The sticky paste is used as the main ingredient in all kinds of delicious baked treats.

“It reminded me of when I was a kid, and I was eating marzipan like crazy because my mother was using marzipan to stuff dates and prunes and things like that, and she would give these out on the weekend or during the holidays,” recalls Ripert. “The quality of marzipan at Santo Tomé is very rare to find. They are using the best ingredients.”

Raíces-Carlos Maldonado

A blank facade next to a graffitied wall is the entrance to this whimsical one-Michelin-starred restaurant in the village of Talavera de la Reina.

“This restaurant looks like nothing from the outside—no name, nothing. And then you walk in, and you’re in this artsy, kind of secret hideaway thing,” describes Ripert, referring to a large mural in the entryway and details like white ceramic rooster heads that protrude from the dining room walls.

Here, chef Carlos Maldonado runs the show from a tiny kitchen, turning out an elaborate tasting menu that manages to be playful despite the deployment of complex techniques. Maldonado’s influences range from Castilla La-Mancha itself to his first cooking job in a food truck, as well as his family and travels in places like Puebla, Mexico.

Ripert dined on dishes like squab tacos with mole and what are essentially tequila-lime Jell-O shots served in the mouth of a ceramic snake. Each dish was displayed on unique ceramic pieces that featured everything from a giant red Michelin star to Maldonado’s son’s handprints. All of the pottery is designed by the staff and made by local ceramicist Fran Agudo.

“Maldonado is the wildest—he has no fear, he’s just having fun, while using traditional ingredients,” says Ripert. “[Raíces] is a mix of formal and playful, and you would never expect that in the countryside.”

Restaurante Iván Cerdeño

Just outside the walls of Toledo is the dramatic stone entrance of Cigarral del Ángel, which was the estate of the poet Fina de Calderón until her death in 2010. The grounds are stunning, with lush gardens and panoramic views of the Tagus River and Toledo. Today, it’s the site of lauded chef Iván Cerdeño’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant.

Cerdeño draws inspiration from the 16th-century cookbook by Ruperto de Nola called Libro de Guisados (Book of Stews), which was published in Toledo. He sources ingredients from surrounding farms and the Tagus River, including its super-rare baby eels.

“Baby eels are difficult to find and are very expensive,” explains Ripert. “Today, it’s very regulated around the world because there are quotas in Spain and they’re protected—after a certain amount of baby eels have been caught, they have to stop. So, it’s sustainable, but it’s very expensive—and it’s rare to find people who know how to cook them well.”

Definitely splurge on the wine pairing here, which includes local and rare bottles like aged Sherry, Spanish cidre and vintage wines.

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Ancestral

For modern, live-fire cooking, head to a nondescript block in the industrial town of Illescas.  Ancestral is the brainchild of young chef Victor Gonzalo Infantes, who grew up nearby and returned after a stint at some of Madrid’s top restaurants.

“I was fascinated by the small kitchen here, because [Infantes] cooks with wood-burning ovens, and smokes massive pieces of meat,” says Ripert.

Both the food and decor at this one-Michelin-starred restaurant lean rustic, with dishes like a traditional stew made with pigs’ ears and Castilian chickpeas, wild cherry tomatoes in an Iberian ham broth and local trout in a pil pil sauce made from the fish’s smoked bones and roe. There are two tasting menus to choose from (Origen and Esencia), with rotating dishes depending on what’s in season.

The post Eric Ripert’s Eating and Drinking Guide to Castilla-La Mancha appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

Part of the problem is that Cava, as it’s currently defined, is a wine without a true geographic identity. Though it’s protected as a Denominación de Origen, Cava can be made in over 20 different regions across Spain, so long as they’re made méthode traditionnelle. Two huge wineries, which represent more than 75% of the country’s total production, basically control the Cava D.O.

In recent years, the smaller, artisan producers in Penedès—the area of Catalonia south of Barcelona that is Cava’s spiritual home—finally lost their patience with this situation.

“We thought it was necessary to do something,” says Ton Mata, CEO of Recaredo. “People around the world were thinking Cava was only a massive, cheap wine. But we can compete with any sparkling wine in the world.”

“The sparkling wine in this region was always supposed to be fruity and fun,” says Ana López Lidon, Gramona’s export manager. “But we know it can be a serious wine.”

In 2019, after years of living under Big Cava’s thumb, producers like Recaredo, Gramona and others had had enough. Nine estates from Penedès broke ties and left the D.O. to bottle their wines under the brand name Corpinnat (roughly meaning “heart of Penedès” in Latin).

“We all quit on the same day,” says López Lidon. “The Cava drama!”

There are now 11 members of Corpinnat. For now, it’s not an actual D.O. but a trade group, since Big Cava has the power to block an official denomination. You’ll have to look for the word “Corpinnat” on the label, rather than “Cava.”

But the name Corpinnat carries weight, because its rules are strict. Grapes must be organic and picked by hand. All wine must be made at a member organization’s winery, with no juice bought from outside, which Big Cava’s business model allows. If Corpinnat wineries buy grapes, they are obligated to pay a higher, premium price to growers. Aging rules are also stricter: All Corpinnat wines must spend at least 18 months on the lees (meaning all wines would qualify as Reserva) and wineries must make at least one wine aged 30 months or more and another aged upwards of 60 months on the lees.

“Thirty years ago, if we talked about terroir here, everyone would be laughing,” says Mata. “[But] we have a wonderful story, and it’s a true story. There’s rigor.”

The establishment of Corpinnat is not, however, the first rebellion in Cava. Before that, in 2012, Pepe Raventós of the famed Raventós i Blanc estate left the Cava D.O. to bottle under his own invented designation, Conca del Riu Anoia. The following year, a dozen other producers seceded from the D.O. to start a new denomination, called Clàssic Penedès. It’s today an official D.O., now with 18 members. Clàssic Penedès also has strict rules, including that grapes must be organically grown and wines must spend 18 months on the lees, making them also all akin to Reserva).

“For me, there are two ways to make wines,” says Agustí Torelló i Sibill, winemaker of AT Roca, which seceded to Clàssic Penedès. “You can make popular wines or you can make wines with soul.”

So, just to recap: Spain’s most famous sparkling wine went from having, by default, a simple four-letter name to now potentially being labeled as Corpinnat, Clàssic Penedès or even Conca del Riu Anoia. Even in the confusing world of wine, that opens the door to an awful lot of possible confusion. To be fair, the producers generally seem aware of how puzzling the various labels might be in the marketplace.

“Yes, I know it’s confusing now,” says Mata. “I’m not proud of that, but Cava was stuck. We had to do something. I hope in the future we can all join in one prestige project.”

“I believe Corpinnat and Clàssic Penedès can work together,” says Torelló. “We are [in] different places, but I think we will eventually arrive in the same place.”

How all the Cava drama eventually ends, no one really knows. “The Cava D.O. would definitely love to have Corpinnat back,” says López Lindon, a possibility that’s still not out of the question in coming years.

To be honest, there’s always been confusion surrounding the name Cava, itself a relatively recent term. Until the 1970s, most Catalan sparkling wine was called “Xampany.” (The X is pronounced as if saying shah). You can still find sparkling wine listed as Xampany in some of Barcelona’s old wine bars. The term “Cava,” the Spanish word for cave or cellar, was officially registered with the EU in 1986.

Traditionally, Cava is made from three white grapes: Macabeu (aka Viura), Parellada and Xarello. While the vast majority is a blend, some Corpinnat producers have begun exploring single varietals. There has been a particular focus on Xarello, the most uniquely Catalan variety. (Its unique Catalan spelling—Xarel·lo—is not a typo.) Pronounced shah-rell-lo, it has high acidity, low pH and a notably high level of the antioxidant resveratrol. There is almost no Xarello planted outside of Catalonia. Producers of high-end Spanish bubbles believe that Xarello bottlings could help boost the profile of terms like Corpinnat, Clàssic Penedès and Conca del Riu Anoia.

“Nobody knows how long a Xarello can age,” says Mata. “They used to think Xarello was too rustic and too strong. No one ever did more than 40% in a blend. Why didn’t we look at this grape and give it the importance it deserves?” Recaredo was the first to do it when they released their legendary 100% Xarello 1999 Turó d’en Mota in 2008. Looking forward, Recaredo and other growers are working to select exceptional Xarello vines and using those cuttings when they plant new vineyards.

But even with all the drama and rebellion in the Catalan air, some very good producers have decided to stick with the Cava D.O. At Mata i Coloma, winemaker Pere Mata—no relation to Recaredo’s Ton Mata—sees no reason to leave.

“Why? I love Cava,” says Mata i Coloma’s Mata. “People say Freixenet and Codorníu are cheap and give a bad image to Cava. I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Because of these companies, everyone knows Cava. They allow me to go into the market and say, ‘Mine is better and it’s a little more expensive.’”

The true battle, he continues, is with another sparkler. “Cava must fight with Prosecco,” he says. “That’s the competition.”

Corrections: An earlier version of this story misstated that Clàssic Penedès must spend 15 months on the lees. It is 18 months.

An earlier version of this story misstated that term “Cava” came into usage in 1986. It was adopted by the Spanish in 1970 and registered with the EU in 1986.

You can follow Jason Wilson on Wine Enthusiast and click here to subscribe to his Everyday Drinking newsletter, where you’ll receive regular dispatches on food, travel and culture through the lens of wine and spirits.

The post Why the Best Cava Isn’t Called ‘Cava’ Anymore appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

Vermouth hour is a sacred time of day in Barcelona. Originally, it meant sometime around noon or 1 pm, when you grabbed a vermouth and a snack to tide you over until lunch. But these days, the vermouth hour can be any time before a meal, though it usually means day drinking. A vermouth over ice, with maybe a slice of citrus and an olive, along with potato chips, some kind of tinned fish, and gilda (skewers of olive, pepper, and anchovy) is one of the loveliest ways to pass an afternoon.

Spanish vermut generally has a different taste than its Italian counterpart. It’s more citrusy, brighter and less bitter, meant to be drunk not in cocktails but on the rocks with food. To be perfectly honest, Spanish vermouth is not meant to be a complex drink you spend a lot time pondering over.

You May Also Like: The Different Styles of Vermouth, Explained

Because Barcelona had one of the largest communities of Italian immigrants when Italian vermouth was becoming widely exported during the late 19th century, vermouth soon became popular in the city. The local Martini vermouth importer even created a bar that was designed by famed Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. This is when vermouth became the drink of choice in Catalonia, often taken by families after church and before lunch on Sundays. But by the late 20th century, vermouth languished as an old man’s drink.

Then, about a decade ago, a younger generation of trendsetters in Barcelona set off a vermouth renaissance. Part of it was a new wave of local vermouth brands, such as Casa Mariol and Morro Fi. Part was also a sense of pride in local products as Catalan nationalism grew.

These days, while much of the vermouth production happens in Catalonia, the drink has become wildly popular all over Spain. In Jerez, where Sherry is becoming a harder and harder sell, several well-known Sherry houses have started making quality vermouth.

Still, Barcelona is the vermuteria capital. As I sat at Bar Celona, I thought about some favorite vermuterias: the century-old Bar Electricat, in the old port neighborhood of La Barceloneta, where you drink vermouth from an unmarked bottle, which the waiter measures to calculate your bill; cozy, local Cala del Vermut Celler, near the Gothic cathedral, where you can eat fantastic tortilla and jamón with your vermut; the more posh Quimet & Quimet in the Poble Sec neighborhood, with an amazing array of tinned fish and montaditos.

I couldn’t necessarily tell you the brands of vermouth I drank in those places. But it doesn’t really matter. In the end, Spanish vermouth is all about a vibe.

7 Spanish Vermouths I Enjoy

Barcelona was the spot where Spain’s vermouth renaissance started, and so Catalonia remains a source of great vermouth. But there are growing number of vermouth brands now coming from Jerez, as Sherry houses look to diversify their offerings.

Casa Mariol Vermut Negre

$25 Gary’s Wine & Marketplace

Priorat Natur

$ Varies Wine-Searcher

Yzaguirre Rojo

$39 Cask Cartel

Timbal Vermut de Reus

$ Varies Wine-Searcher

Navazos-Palazzi Vermut Rojo

$ Varies Wine-Searcher

Valdespino

$ Varies WIne-Searcher

Atamán

$120 Cask Cartel

You can follow Jason Wilson on Wine Enthusiast and click here to subscribe to his Everyday Drinking newsletter, where you’ll receive regular dispatches on food, travel and culture through the lens of wine and spirits.

The post In Praise of La Hora del Vermut, Spain’s Cherished Vermouth Hour Tradition appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

When I arrive, Fintan has already snagged the choice table, overlooking the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar in the popular El Born neighborhood. The sunny plaza teems with tourists, entertained by a rotating bunch of buskers. Fintan has already ordered our first wine, a white chilling in an ice bucket. He wants me to taste it blind, which I do. It’s complex and fresh, by turns citrus, tropical, minerally, ripe and full of tension—and finishes long and cool. If it’s a Spanish wine at all, I think, it must be something coastal, possibly from Galicia? I’m wrong, it’s quickly revealed. It’s a 2016 Albillo from Dominio del Águila, one of the first whites released from the Ribera del Duero appellation (which only approved whites in 2019).

A white from Ribera del Duero—better known for its big, powerful, high-alcohol reds—is not what I expect for lunch in Barcelona. But these sorts of surprises have become common. Spain is deep in the midst of a generational shift in winemaking—a shift we’re only starting to see and taste in the U.S. That’s why Barcelona, with its seemingly endless array of wine bars, is a great place to check out the vibrant energy of what’s happening across Spain.

Explore More: Barcelona’s Best Dining Destinations for Wine Lovers

Atlantic vs. Mediterranean

How can we describe the new wave of Spanish wine? In the most basic sense, it’s what Barcelona-based wine pro Nika Shevela calls “a welcome respite from the countrywide ‘3R’ dominance—Rueda, Rioja, Ribera del Duero.” Says Shevela, “Despite being ‘Spain but not really,’ we get a great representation of the most exciting corners and styles of Spanish wine country. Unfortified Palomino from Jerez? Check. Traditional method Txakolí sparkler from Basque Country? Check.”

There is a big discussion in Spanish wine circles about “Atlantic” versus “Mediterranean” wines, freshness versus power. For Atlantic wines, the textbook example would be the light reds of Ribeira Sacra in Galicia or the Canary Islands. For instance, the second wine Fintan and I tasted at La Vinya del Senyor was an Atlantic red, Eulogio Pomares ‘Carralcoba,’ from Rías Baixas (known more for its Albariño). This was made from the obscure grape Caiño Tinto. “There have always been Atlantic style reds in Spain, but now because of the international influence, they’re popular,” says Shevela, who runs a wine consultancy called Wine Alphabet. “When someone from the outside tells us our stuff is good, we finally accept that it’s good.”

By Mediterranean, what’s meant is pretty much the big, oaky classic reds you’ve come to expect from Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Priorat or the reds made from Monastrell from the south. Yet that’s not the only truth. Because you can find “Atlantic” wines from regions like Rioja and Priorat, especially at higher altitudes—which is also becoming a hallmark of the new wave. When it comes to making lighter, more drinkable wines from hot regions, winegrowers are finding—in our climate change era—that they can’t just keep doing the same things they’ve always done.

Catalonia Calling

“This is the moment in Spain. We are leaving the conventional wine era,” says Giuseppe La Porta, a sommelier at Bar Mut, a classic, polished spot to drink wine while dining on fresh Catalan seafood. On this afternoon, Giuseppe and I are having a few drinks at Món Vínic, a mod wine bar and shop in the downtown neighborhood of Eixample. To be clear, much of what you drink in Barcelona are the exciting wines from Catalonia. We tasted L’Anit de Frisach, a primal, rugged Carignan from Terra Alta, a little-known appellation in Tarragona province. This is the kind of natural-leaning, lighter-bodied red wine that’s popping up all over Spain.

The next glass was Batussa Negre, one of the most popular wines on the Barcelona wine scene, made by natural producer Óscar Navas. As we tasted the fresh, vibrant Batussa Negre, made mostly with Trepat, an obscure grape from Catalonia, we looked at each with raised eyebrows. Between the two wines, we were experiencing all the hallmarks of the new Spain: freshness, lower alcohol, lesser-known regions and rare grapes. “Yeah,” Giuseppe says, “we are not going back to the era of conventional wines.”

For years, Barcelona has been at the forefront of the natural wine movement, led by Bar Brutal, which opened in 2013. Bar Brutal is among my favorite wine bars in the world, a temple to natural wine, with a list full of hard-to-find bottles, an upscale punk vibe and great food. It’s a must-visit for wine lovers.

One evening, I meet my friend and natural-wine sherpa David Garcia, the manager at Bar Brutal, at a quirky, neighboring wine bar called L’Ánima del Vi, just down the gothic cobblestoned street. As a ragtime piano player entertains the crowded room, we sample wines from bottles displayed right on the bar. We sip a Moteur Pistache Rosé, from Majorca, made from a blend of Syrah and two little-known island grapes, Callet and Prensal. “Years ago, when I was studying to be a sommelier, there was only Tempranillo and Garnacha in Spain,” Garcia says. “Now, we’re embracing the local grape varieties.”

We move on to an amazing Mendall orange wine, made from Macabeo by Laureano Serres, a legendary Catalan producer in Terra Alta. Garcia has been dealing with natty wines long enough to have heard all the objections: It’s too funky, too many flawed wines, yada yada. “Ten years ago, people were more into funkiness,” he says. “If you came here in 2013, it was an exercise in winemakers trying to do something different. That was necessary 10 years ago, but now it’s different.” Like all revolutionary movements, natural wine has evolved. “Say what you want about natural wine—it’s made wine more approachable for younger people,” Garcia says.

You can see that young vibe all over Barcelona. I enjoy the casual, sort of hippie vibe of Bar Salvatge, where I drink more Frisach wines poured from the tap, as well as a bright red blend from Fanny Adams called “Carbonic Attack.” At a newish bar called Macot, in the Sants neighborhood, I order Envínate La Santa de Ursula, a blend of Negramoll, Listán Negro, and Listán Blanco, from the Canary Islands. An Atlantic wine from 100-yearold vines in volcanic soil, it’s fresh and juicy yet also intense and elegant, with a peppery punch, quite unlike anything you might expect from Spanish reds.

Yet with all the new energy, you can still find pockets of tradition. On one of my last days in town, I meet Nika Shevela at an old-school spot called Gelida that’s been in Eixample since 1946. Locals crowd into a dining room lined with yellowing posters of the Barcelona soccer club and ringed by wine barrels. Over a hearty lunch, Nika and I drink Vi Ranci—Catalan’s traditional aged, oxidized wines—out of the traditional porrón. As we pour the streaming wine into our mouths from above our heads, Nika, who grew up in the city, professes some slight embarrassment. “Barcelona is a place that’s positioned itself as an international city for so long that rediscovering tradition feels touristic,” she says. All the same, she tilts the porrón back in her mouth for a big swig.

Bottles to Try

You can follow Jason Wilson on Wine Enthusiast and click here to subscribe to his Everyday Drinking newsletter, where you’ll receive regular dispatches on food, travel and culture through the lens of wine and spirits.

This article originally appeared in the November 2023 issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine. Click here to subscribe today!

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The post Catalonia Calling: Searching for New-Wave Spanish Wines in Barcelona’s Wine Bars appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

Located in the autonomous community of Castilla y Léon, Rueda is about two hours northwest of Madrid by car. A rich tapestry of Spain’s cultural heritage, Castilla y Léon is nourished by the Duero River, from which neighboring region Ribera del Duero draws its name. Set on a high flat plain between 2,300 and 2,800 feet above sea level, Rueda’s rugged landscape and lime-rich, rocky and sandy clay soils offer a backbone of minerality to many of the wines made here.

Rueda owes its prominence in modern times to a large investment in 1972 by Rioja winery Marqués de Riscal, which attracted other well-known winemakers to the region. At the same time, local winegrower Ángel Ródriguez Vidal of Bodegas Martinsancho continued to propagate and extol the virtues of Verdejo at a time when other wineries were ripping out remaining plantings of the variety, which had almost become extinct in the phylloxera epidemic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Take a Deeper Dive: The Riches of Ribera Del Duero

Since the creation of the DO, Rueda has grown to include more than 70 wineries, which produced over 59 million bottles of Verdejo (including single-varietal bottlings and Verdejo-dominated blends) in 2022. Other allowable white grapes are Sauvignon Blanc, Viura, Chardonnay, Viognier and Palomino Fino. A wine labeled DO Rueda must include at least 50% Verdejo or Sauvignon Blanc, but single-varietal Verdejo with flavors of grapefruit, melon, lime, passion fruit, dried herbs and soft floral notes reigns supreme. Santiago Mora, director general of DO Rueda, comments, “Every time I visit a winery, I witness how they have incorporated different elements into their elaborations to continue searching for Verdejo’s full potential, [including] concrete eggs with different types of coating, different barrels in terms of sizes, toasting, and the origin of the barrels and the use of foudres and amphorae.”

In addition to the well-known crisp, citrusy style that is a by-the-glass mainstay at tapas bars, Verdejo is now being made in a fuller, more complex barrel-fermented and sur-lies style. In addition, a new category called “Gran Vino de Rueda” launched in 2021.

Barrel Fermented and Barrel Aged

Fermentado en barrica, or barrel fermented, means just that: The wine is fermented in oak barrels rather than stainless steel, which is used for most of the bottles produced within DO Rueda. Fermenting in barrel adds a fuller texture that is often described as creamy or buttery. Many wines are then aged for additional time in barrel, which will add texture as well as spice, coconut and vanilla notes. Further, most winemakers reserve grapes from their best plots for their wood-fermented and -aged Verdejo, yielding exceptional quality.

Pablo del Villar Igea, partner and winemaker at Bodega Hermanos del Villar, makes a Verdejo called Oro de Castilla Finca los Hornos, which comes from a single small plot of 30-year-old vines near the village of Rueda. Using only the yeast naturally occurring on the grapes, half of it is fermented in stainless steel and the remainder is fermented in 850-liter previously used French oak foudres, he explains. Both styles receive weekly lees stirring for 11 months and then are blended together and matured for another eight months, bottled and released after six additional months. The result is a wine that del Villar Igea describes as showing “a hidden part of the Verdejo character: Minerality, elegance and persistence, but not so fruit driven in style.”

Bodegas José Pariente was founded by Victoria Pariente in 1998; she named it for her father, José, a viticulturist who, according to his granddaughter Martina Prieto Pariente, the winery’s technical director, made barrel-fermented Verdejo at his small garage winery in Rueda before the founding of the DO or the current winery. Martina explained the difference between her José Pariente Fermentado en Barrica and standard Verdejo, stating, “In the case of barrel fermented, we assemble grapes from vineyards over 60 years old. … We ferment and age on lees for about 11 months in French oak barrels of 228 and 500 liters. With this elaboration, we intend to extol the expression of these old vineyards while maintaining freshness and complexity.”

Gran Vino de Rueda

Wine classified as a Gran Vino de Rueda, or Great Wine of Rueda, must be from a vineyard with vines older than 30 years; yields are limited to 6,500 kilograms of grapes per hectare, or 14,330 pounds per 2.47 acres. This is significantly less than the permitted 8,000 to 12,000 kilos per hectare for other white wines from the region. Older vines do, often, produce lower yields anyway—but they also tend to grow smaller berries, leading to greater concentration of flavor.

The eponymous Bodegas Félix Lorenzo Cachazo was established by one of the DO’s founding members and is run today by his son Eduardo Lorenzo Heras, the business director, and daughter Ángela Lorenzo Heras, who is the winemaker. Their Carrasviñas Félix Gran Vino de Rueda 2021, which Eduardo notes was made in honor of their father’s 80th birthday, is sourced from vines with more than 30 years of age. “We wanted to ‘undress’ the variety, to know how it is expressed without any type of element that distorts it,” says Eduardo. It was fermented and aged in wood for just five months, which, he points out, “maintains the varietal character.”

You May Also Like: The Surprising Location of the Oldest Vine in the World Still Producing Wine

One of the largest wineries in the region, Cuatro Rayas, is a cooperative that makes wine from grapes grown by over 300 family growers who are partners in the winery. It produced over 18 million bottles in 2021, according to the winery’s director of communications, but oenologist Elena Martin Oyagüe also makes many small batch wines including two different gran vinos. The Amador Diaz range of wines is named for the winery’s former president. Oyagüe describes it as “the most artisan and unique product of the winery,” pointing out that in addition to being made from some of the oldest pre-phylloxera vines in the region, it is made in such small quantities—just under 3,000 bottles—that it is bottled and labeled by hand.

Although much of the Verdejo imported into the U.S. achieves a “bang for the buck” reputation because of the great quality-to-price ratio, understanding the painstaking grape selection, additional resources, aging time and artisanal approach to winemaking— these emerging Verdejo categories are worth our time, attention and maybe a few extra dollars.

This article originally appeared in the November 2023 issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine. Click here to subscribe today!

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The post Versatile Verdejo: Get to Know Spain’s Beloved White Grape appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

While some bottlings respond beautifully to long-term aging, many are made to be consumed right away. Here, we break down everything you need to know about Tempranillos, and which bottles are perfect for enjoying right now—no cellaring required.

What Is Tempranillo Wine?

Tempranillo is among Spain’s most popular red grapes and used to produce some of the nation’s greatest wines, but today it can be found all over the world. The grape thrives in sunny, hot and elevated climates and produces full-bodied wines with medium acidity and tannins. The name is derived from the Spanish word “temprano,” meaning “early” in English. This is a reference to how early Tempranillo grapes tend to ripen, compared to other varieties.

Rioja in northeast Spain is the most well-known region for producing Tempranillo wines. In fact, the grapes have been used here since at least the 1500s. Bottles labeled Rioja can either contain 100% Tempranillo or be a blend of the red grape and additional varieties, like Garnacha.

Spain’s Catalunya and Ribera del Duero also produce high-quality and delicious Tempranillo bottlings. Other parts of the world, like Portugal, the U.S., Australia, Argentina, Chile and Mexico produce some excellent Tempranillo wines, too.

What Does Tempranillo Taste Like?

Tempranillo is almost always red and dry, though some white and rosé options are on the market, some of which are sweet. The wine has flavors of red fruits, like strawberries and cherries, and black fruits, like blackberries and plums. Tempranillo bottles aged for long periods of time can achieve additional flavors like cedar, dried fruits, tobacco or vanilla.

The wine can vary from super fruity and light to rich, age-worthy and quite complex. This is determined by the grapes used and the winemaker’s techniques. It is sometimes blended with other grape varieties to add complexity and age-ability.

Aging Tempranillo

In Spain, aging Tempranillo in new, American oak barrels is very common to add flavor, soften tannins and add body to the wine. Winemakers may also choose to age wines in the bottle before they hit the market. Some regions, like Rioja, require a minimum aging period before wines can be released for sale. Spanish winemakers will often use four labeling terms to let consumers know what to expect.

Marques De Riscal Gran Reserva, 2016

Dark-garnet to the eye, this wine has a bouquet of black currant, bittersweet chocolate and almond blossom. It alights on the palate with flavors of blackberry, cassis, chocolate-covered espresso bean, violet and citrus zest. Energetic tannins power their way into a cherry-pie finish. Made with vines more than 30 years old, this wine is unfiltered; decant before serving and strain if necessary. Drink through 2045. 99 Points  —Mike DeSimone

$46 Total Wine & More

Muga 2015 Prado Enea Gran Reserva Red (Rioja)

This dark-ruby wine offers a bouquet of ripe cherry and baking spices. Notes of clove and nutmeg transition to the palate alongside flavors of blackberry, cassis, chocolate-covered espresso bean, eucalyptus and violet. Luxurious tannins amble toward a lengthy finish. Drink through 2045. 98 Points  —M.D.

$110 Wine.com

Fernández Rivera 2015 Tinto Pesquera Millenium Gran Reserva Tempranillo (Ribera del Duero)

This inky garnet-colored wine has a nose of black currant and cocoa powder, with a hint of summer farm stand. Plush tannins and flavors of black cherry, blackberry, mocha, menthol and a tiny touch of saddle leather ply the tongue and gums and linger there for a small eternity. Drink now–2040. 97 Points  —M.D.

$150 Total Wine & More

Vega Sicilia 2017 Pintia Tinta del Toro (Toro)

This dark-garnet-colored wine has aromas of black cherry, black currant, sage and black-olive paste. It is smooth on impact, with flavors of blackberry, cassis, coffee bean, dark chocolate and clove. Forceful tannins slowly peel away to reveal a lingering pomegranate and chocolate finish. Drink through 2042. 96 Points  —M.D.

$ Varies Wine Searcher

Bodegas Olarra 2011 Laztana Gran Reserva Red (Rioja)

Dark ruby in the glass, this wine has a nose of cherry and butterscotch, with a hint of forest floor. It is smooth in the mouth, offering weighty tannins and flavors of blackberry, black cherry, caramel and clove. There is a pervasive sense of brightness in the mouth from first sip to the spicy finish. 96 Points  —M.D.

$ Varies Wine Searcher

Rolland & Galarreta 2014 Tempranillo Tempranillo (Rioja)

This deep-ruby-colored wine has a nose of dark plums, blackberry and forest floor. It is powerful in the mouth, with plush tannins and flavors of black cherry, blackberry, clove, dark chocolate and violet. A bright note of orange zest lingers into the smooth finish. 95 Points  —M.D.

$ Varies Wine Searcher

Beronia 2013 Gran Reserva Tempranillo (Rioja)

This garnet-colored wine has a bouquet of black currant, purple plums and saddle leather. It is juicy in the mouth, offering flavors of black-cherry, pomegranate, milk chocolate, fennel and orange blossom. Velvety tannins fade into a Valencia orange and violet splashed finish. 94 Points  —M.D.

$35 Total Wine & More

Torres 2019 Celeste Crianza Tempranillo (Ribera del Duero)

Dark ruby in the glass, this wine offers blackberry, cocoa powder and crumbled sage aromas. It is smooth in the mouth, with silky tannins and black cherry, blackberry, citrus zest, milk chocolate and violet flavors that dissolve into an enduring finish. 94 Points  —M.D.

$25 Wine.com

Altanza 2019 Crianza Tempranillo (Rioja)

This deep garnet-colored wine has aromas of cranberry and dark chocolate. It offers a sense of brightness on the palate, with good acidity and flavors of cranberry and pomegranate. The wine also has depth, with velvety tannins and notes of mocha, olive tapenade and dried oregano. 91 Points  —M.D.

$ Varies Wine Searcher

Bokisch 2019 Liberty Oaks Vineyard Tempranillo (Jahant)

There’s a rusticity to this wine that some will find intriguing and enjoyable (this critic included). A full mouth of coarse tannins are well met by voluptuous blueberry, blackberry and black plum fruits alongside a decadently glycerin alcohol. There’s an earthy damp forest floor and animalistic essence that just floats in the background adding an engaging savageness. Open 30 to 40 minutes prior to enjoyment and pair with something equally as bold. 91 Points  —Stacy Brisco

$ Varies Wine Searcher

Tooth & Nail 2021 The Squad Tempranillo (Paso Robles)

Clean and dark aromas of black plum, elderberry, wild thyme and fennel give a rustic angle to the nose of this bottling. The structure is sticky and yet the body remains medium, carrying peppercorn, fennel and dark purple fruit flavors. 90 Points  —Matt Kettmann

$ Varies Wine Searcher

Oregon Territory 2019 Tempranillo (Oregon)

Dark plum and aged balsamic vinegar aromas do an energetic dance, while tobacco leaf and leather hang in the background. Rich, ripe black cherry flavors are joined by a jamón serrano note that induces hunger. Medium-bodied, with great acidity and firm tannins. 90 Points  —Michael Alberty

$ Varies Wine Searcher

FAQs

How Do You Pronounce Tempranillo?

The wine is pronounced “tem-pra-nee-yo.”

Is Tempranillo Dry or Sweet?

It is most commonly a dry wine, but some sweet varieties or blends do exist.

Do You Chill Tempranillo Wine?

This depends on the style of Tempranillo, but typically around 60–65°F is a good temperature. Read more about how to serve wine here.

What Food Do You Serve with Tempranillo?

This depends on the style of Tempranillo, but younger bottlings pair nicely with tomato sauces, roasted vegetables or pasta. Bolder bottles can stand up nicely to meaty steaks or burgers.

Why You Should Trust Us

All products featured here are independently selected by our team, which is comprised of experienced writers and wine tasters and overseen by editorial professionals at Wine Enthusiast headquarters. All ratings and reviews are performed blind in a controlled setting and reflect the parameters of our 100-point scale. Wine Enthusiast does not accept payment to conduct any product review, though we may earn a commission on purchases made through links on this site. Prices were accurate at the time of publication.

The post The Best Tempranillo Wines to Drink Right Now appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

If Jumilla literally exists in the shadow of the castle, it figuratively exists in its own shadow as the producer of inexpensive bulk wines as well as the shadow of more famous wine regions to the north. Here the main grape is Monastrell, a rich, juicy red variety which fans of wines from the Rhône Valley will recognize as Mourvèdre and our Australian friends may know better as Mataro. With a winemaking history stretching back 5,000 years, as evidenced by archeological finds including the oldest vitis vinifera seeds found in Europe; the highest percentage of organic vineyards of any region in the world; and a signature grape variety that produces wines brimming with both power and finesse, you would think that Jumilla would have an easy time making its way in the modern wine world.

When my husband and I ducked out of our coastal town near Malaga to visit Jumilla last summer, our local Spanish friends were incredulous about our plans. They couldn’t understand why we weren’t visiting a more storied appellation, one where the trademark grape is Tempranillo and hotels and wineries are designed with the international tourist trade in mind. What our friends didn’t realize is that while most other regions in Spain sell 60% of their wines internally and 40% to the rest of the world, most of Jumilla’s palate- and wallet friendly wines—a whopping 70%—are sold into the export market. And although the majority of its 47,000 acres of vineyards are home to rustic-looking bush vines, many of Jumilla’s producers are firmly planted in the 21st century with an eye on the future. That said, past and present sit comfortably side by side and contradictions abound.

The Center of It All

The first person in the modern era to recognize the importance of the Castillo de Jumilla as an instrument to sell wine may have been Antonio Bleda, who founded Bodegas Bleda in 1915. Now run by the fourth generation of his family, the winery produces two ranges of wine, one of which is called Castillo de Jumilla. Bleda registered the name in 1960, six years before Jumilla was recognized as a D.O., or Denominacion de Origen. As you might expect, the Castillo de Jumilla line is the winery’s more traditional, Monastrell based tier of wines. As general manager Antonio José Bleda Jiménez, a fourth-generation family member, explained, “Jumilla was known for its wine and the castle. Antonio matched the monument and the wine.” Bleda also produces wines under the Pino Doncel label, named for a type of Mediterranean pine that is prominent in the area. Pino Doncel is described as the more “modern” line, which Bleda elaborated is due to the other French varieties in the blends, including Syrah, Petit Verdot and Merlot.

Grapes and pines are not the only things that grow in Jumilla. The high plateau is also home to oregano, rosemary, thyme and almond trees. A drawing of almond blossoms graces the labels of wines from Silvano Garcia, paying tribute to the natural abundance of the region. Drawn by Fini Vargas, winery partner (and wife of Silvano García Abellán, general manager and third-generation of the family), the illustrations could be confused for Japanese cherry blossoms at first glance. As García Abellán pointed out, “The design on the labels is one of the first things that reaches the consumer,” and adds, “This is also a way of … transmitting the elements and history that are part of each wine.”

Until about 25 years ago, bottles and labels were not even a thought in Jumilla. Throughout the 20th century, wine from here was sold in bulk throughout the continent, and local producers transitioned to the more familiar style of packaging in the recent past. Some of the most visually exciting labels are found at Ego Bodegas, a newcomer to the scene that was established by Spaniard Santo Ortiz and Romanian born Ioana Paunescu in 2011. The couple describe Ego Bodegas, which also produces wine under the Finca Bacara brand, as a “boutique winery” even though their output is 3,000,000 bottles of Monastrell and red blends per year. They make hundreds of different wines, all with label imagery that is ready made for the age of social media.

The team at Ego seems to function like a close-knit family, and this is evident in the collaboration that brings about their eye-catching graphics. As Ioana told me, “The label design process is more like a team building session … We often just gather everyone around on a cozy Friday afternoon to have a brainstorming session on the concept, name, label and story behind the labels. Sometimes, the best idea could come from a colleague in our finance department or a vineyard hand. You would be surprised by their creativity and observation of current market trends.”

If Walls Could Talk

Another producer with noteworthy contemporary label design is Bodegas Carchelo, whose attractive black and white graphics are echoed in its cozy yet stylish tasting room. Its Muri Veteres wine’s name and optical line graphic pay homage to the surrounding area’s rich history and to its iconic grape variety. The label image depicts a gate of the ancient Sagunto Castle near Valencia, which dates to the second century BCE.

As Helio Abellán, Bodegas Carchelo’s export manager and third-generation family member, elucidated, “The Sagunto’s castle walls were very old and the Romans called them ‘veteran walls,’ or muri veteres, in Latin. Next to the old walls were a lot of vines and the people living there used to make great wine from them. There was no name for those vines, though, so the Romans gave them the popular name of the walls: Muri Veteres.” The castle and town also went by this name in the Middle Ages. It was eventually corrupted to the Latin Morvedre, from which Monastrell’s French name is derived.

Both Bodegas Carchelo and nearby Hacienda del Carche take their names from Sierra del Carche, the local mountain range that is a protected regional park. Hacienda del Carche has one-upped their neighbor on the packaging game with the innovative design of the bottle for its Infiltrado. In a world of tall Bordeaux and slope-shouldered Burgundy bottles, Infiltrado’s unique shape stands out, looking more like a bottle of high-end olive oil or balsamic vinegar than a specially designed decanter to remove sediment from the unfiltered wine within. Export manager Isidoro Pérez de Tudela Guirao told me, “The name is meant as a pun: the Spanish word infiltrado means both ‘unfiltered’ and ‘infiltrator,’ which makes us think of the undercover agents in detective stories.” On the bottle design itself, he said, “Thanks to the decanter design, the wine can be bottled unfiltered, directly from the tank, thus preserving all its original properties when consumed.”

Quality Over Quantity

Hacienda del Carche shares production and tasting room space with Casa de la Ermita under the umbrella of Essencia Wines. The tasting facility features a wine museum that offers guided and audio tours. Jumilla lacks a good tourist quality hotel, so per Miriam Soler Abarca, who works in tourism for the winery, when it comes to visitors, “the highest percentage are from the regions of Murcia and Alicante,” nearby areas from which tourists can visit Jumilla for a day.

Visitors from the coast also come for tastings under the trees at Bodegas Viña Elena, named for Elena Pacheco, whose father changed the name of the winery from Vino Pacheco in 1995. The youngest of four sisters, Pacheco revealed that her father “had no choice but to entrust the legacy of the family business to a woman,” because he had no sons. When asked if it was an unusual path to become a winemaker, Pacheco said, “Nowadays it is not difficult but in the ’80s and ’90s it was. It was very rare to find a woman running a business.” She also went on to say that, like many other wineries in the area, “Before, my family made wines to sell in bulk to other wineries in Spain, without selecting grapes. Quantity mattered more than quality.”

Today Viña Elena makes wine from a series of single plots called the Bruma del Estrecho de Marín collection that includes a 100% Monastrell wine named Paraje Marín, a white wine made from Airén named Las Encebras, after the vineyard it’s grown in, and a rosé blended from the two grapes dubbed Parcela Particiones, a reference to a “partitioned” vineyard in which both Monastrell and Airén are cultivated.

Two of the better-known local players both in Spain and the international market are Juan Gil and Bodegas Luzon. While each has a reputation for high quality value-priced Monastrell, both wineries have higher end bottlings as well as other small-batch offerings. A bottle of Juan Gil Silver Label Monastrell costs $16, but their El Nido fetches $145 in the U.S. market. Asked what sets El Nido apart from Juan Gil’s other bottlings, Miguel Gil, the fourth-generation owner, explains, “El Nido winery is a completely independent facility designed as a small, well-equipped building near Bodegas Juan Gil, with its own winemaking procedure and proper equipment and tools to produce our exclusive wines in an artisan way.” He added, “In the case of our top wines, they come from much older vineyards with lower yields in comparison to our entry-level wines.”

If the Castillo de Jumilla is the “most representative cultural and historical element of Jumilla,” wine runs an extremely close second. And while the castle sits, unchanged through the ages at the top of the hill, wine from Jumilla is evolving in a variety of ways thanks to the passion, ingenuity and dedication of the families who work the land and bottle its most prominent agricultural product.

Castillo de Jumilla

Adapted from information provided by Dr. Estefanía Gandía Cutillas, Museum and Municipal Archeologist of Jumilla Council.

Towering over the city, the Castillo de Jumilla is the “most representative cultural and historical element of Jumilla”—wine runs an extremely close second. The settlement on Cerro del Castillo (Castle Hill) dates back 3,500 years, to the Bronze Age. Large adobe bricks were added during the Iron Age, and after that, the Romans built part of the wall that is visible.  However, the fortress we know today was built in the 11th century by the Moors in order to defend and control the surrounding territory. It later passed back and forth between the kingdoms of Murcia, Aragon and Castile from the 13th through the 15th centuries. In the 15th century, it became the property of the Marquis of Villena, who added the trefoil tower, and whose family continued to own it for 400 years.

The Castillo is currently the property of the Jumilla City Council. It is one of the most important elements of Jumilla for the development of cultural tourism and is one of the most visited sites in the region due to its architectural and historical importance. Besides guided tours, it is also used for concerts, historical recreations, wine tastings, theater events and wedding celebrations. The castle is the most representative cultural and historical element of Jumilla, witness to the historical evolution of Jumilla and its people.

This article originally appeared in the November 2022 issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine. Click here to subscribe today!

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