Whisper it quietly , it’s less than seven weeks to Christmas.
For the winos of the Moraira-Teulada U3A wine tasting group, that means it’s time to stock up , fill the cellar and get ready to party.
Santa, in the improbable guise of the irrepressible Franco Valori, dressed all in black instead of red, arrived to do the needful at the last tasting session before the festivities.
Unfortunately, threatened rain storms on the day, stopped Domingo, boss of the Corcovo Bodegas in Valdepeñas, risking the 400 km drive to Moraira with a van load of wines.
Thankfully Franco, assisted by his son Fabio, had more than enough stocks to go ahead with the tasting and promised that wines ordered on the night would be delivered from Valdepeñas the following week.
First of six wines on offer was the 100% Airén Blanco, a young wine with a 12.5% punch, straw colour and a hint of pineapple and green apples on the palate. Great with fatty foods, it went brilliantly with the soft blue cheese on the cheese and meats’ platters laid on by the Hill Top Bar.
Next up was another Airén white but so, so different. Fermented in wood for three weeks and stirred daily, it was darker in colour with a smell and taste of the wood. Served much less chilled, Franco suggested it was a wine to drink from when the clocks go back in autumn until they go forward in Spring. On a personal note, I found drinking it with eyes shut left me wondering whether it was a white or red.
The last white was the Muscat, normally a sweet wine but pretty dry in the hands of Domingo. Picked in the cool of night in August – if there is such a thing in Valdepeñas in high summer – and in the bodega before dawn, it becomes an elegant, fresh and delicious young wine.
The first of the reds was a Syrah, a grape rarely planted in Spain and accounting for just 2% of acreage. But it was seriously good and had a hearty 14.5% strength. A deep, deep full bodied red it has aromas of cherries and blackcurrants and a slightly sweet taste. A young wine it gets nowhere near an oak barrel.
The last two wines were the bodega’s multi gold award winning Tempranillo, the Crianza and the Reserva.
The current Crianza was harvested in 2021, aged for nine months in the barrel and another 12 in the bottle before being allowed on sale. The Reserva, picked in 2019, spends two years in the wood.
The Crianza has a vivid red colour, hints of vanilla and oak and is a very smooth drink. The Reserva is ruby red in colour with notes of ripe red fruits. An elegant wine “which should be treated with the respect it deserves,” says Franco. Oh, and he insists it goes brilliantly with dark chocolate – two secret pleasures at once!
Our thanks, as ever, go to Pat and Brian Clarke for giving up their time to organise the wine group. They have the group Christmas Dinner sorted and are now working on a bodega visit for early in the new year.
Our thanks go to Ian for his usual very informative write-up and to Fabio for the photos.