On 15th February 79 dedicated wine drinkers tasted some of the fine wines of Bodega CastaƱo of Yecla, a small town in the north of the province of Murcia.
Bodegas CastaƱo is one of the most important wine producers in south-east Spain thanks to its tradition, its achievements with native varieties and its adaptation of foreign grapes to the climate and soil of the area. The CastaƱo family has been producing their wines for at least three generations, concentrating on the most traditional grape, the Monastrell variety.
The bodega’s representative, the charming and highly knowledgeable Raquel, known to many of us from her visit last year, explained the properties and flavour of each of the wines as we were about to taste them. She also added many interesting tips on how to handle various wines – such as the length of time bottles can be kept and the right temperature at which to drink them etc.
We tasted six wines; two whites, one rosado and three reds and enjoyed the samples and discussing which were our favourites. All of the wines were of exceptional quality, but my personal choice was the CastaƱo GSM. An observation was that most of the plastic jugs used as spittoons remained empty, proving how enjoyable the wines really were and it was nice to see how many group members gave their support to the bodega by purchasing wines at the end of the evening.
Many thanks to Brian and Pat who organised a very pleasant evening for us to get to know the wines of this well known bodega and to meet friends old and new.
Review by Jennifer Nesteroff