Despite our continued posting, we still plan on closing Catavino. Gabriella and I are finished here, onto bigger and better things, but strangely, we can’t stop just yet. I have a few more things to get off my chest, and after my recent post on the Pancho affair; I know I need to do it sooner than later. I’m overwhelmed by the response to my last post, and maybe this blogging thing could pay off if we could pump out a post like that more often.

The truth is though, I don’t want too.

I love wine. Actually I love flavors. Wine, beer, booze, food, foams, gels, confits and stacked culinary creations of unknown heights. I love it. If it tastes good and passes through my mouth, I like it. If it’s weird, or unusual, I probably will love it. This is why we started Catavino, and ironically, this is why we ended it. We want to move onto covering more about things we eat, and drink outside Iberia, our adopted home.

I’m saying this now, because I think some of the people reading this should consider moving back to the topic of wine too. As I said, I personally do not want to write posts like I did yesterday very often.

I have no love for Pancho Campo. Our relationship has been a mixed affair; of myself begrudgingly accepting an opportunity that I thought could lead to better exposure for my own brand. Wine Future 1 was great, and I thank Pancho for the opportunity to be there, and for being given a voice. It helped me immensely but that does not mean that I have to like the guy who organized it, just respect what he did. Nor do I need to love the event as a whole. Wine Future is stuck in the past. It claims to predict the future by inviting pillars of the industry that point out what is wrong with the present, while lamenting the past. Asia may be the future of wine consumption, but it is not wine’s future.

In addition, despite great networking opportunities, I don’t think the event helped the industry as a whole. There weren’t many groundbreaking theories or thoughts beyond the ability to cram so many egos into such a small stage all at one time, myself included – an effort Pancho should be commended for. It made great photos and fodder for us all to riff on. But most importantly, Wine Future wasn’t good for Spain.

It is true that Pancho’s Spanish Wine Academy has done a lot to spread the good word about Spanish wine, but at what cost?  Pancho has consistently brought the shadow of scandal, something that no innocent man has ever had to deal with as much as he has. Spain has put a lot of money in Pancho’s pocket, and what’s amazing is not Pancho’s ability to extract it, so much as Spain’s willingness to let it go!

That said I don’t want to beat up Pancho either. My post yesterday was not about picking on Pancho. I realize there was some snark, and I’m not apologizing for that, but I am getting sick of hearing all this “Pancho did this…” and “Pancho did that…” commentary on the blogosphere. LAY OFF! Pancho did NOTHING ILLEGAL (or so I believe, I am not a lawyer here). Yesterday was my attempt to say that the industry has a problem as a whole.  I do believe he corrupted the ethics of the Wine Advocate, a magazine that I have held a lot of respect for, and for this I think Pancho should get a firm wag of the finger, but he did nothing illegal. Between you and I, I think that the order of importance of things in Pancho’s life goes something like this: Pancho, Family, Money, Ferraris, Skiing, Jet Skiing and Wine. But that is not a crime. Wine pays the bills so the rest can be enjoyed.

So what?

The real issue we need to talk about is a simple one. How can we continue support a wine industry that allows for a Pancho to be born? Why do we continue to give SO MUCH POWER TO SO FEW PEOPLE? Why do we continually make lists of the best wines, and the “highest” rated wines, and allow these opportunities for corruption to enter into our special world? Idolatry did nothing for the wandering Jews, and it’s definitely failing the curious wine drinker. This problem is not unique to the wine industry, but I believe in the wine world we might as well try our best to fix it.

Wine is for drinking. It’s really not that important in the grand scheme of things. High alcohol wines, are not going to bring Armageddon, nor will over-oaking kill small children. Sure we like to debate these things, and claim that the “industry is being threatened by x, y, or z”, but the industry is only being threatened by people who think that wine tastes are OBJECTIVE and quantifiable. That there is a right wine and a wrong wine. By allowing people like Parker to have so much power, we create people like Pancho who want to harness their influence for their own gain; thus leaving us angry when someone finally figures out how to make money in this industry! Pancho is not the first nor the last to sell points to someone/region/winery. Nor is he the only one taking advantage of the wine industry.

Pancho has made a killing on Spain. We shouldn’t be shaming Pancho however, as I tried to point out in my last post, we need to be shaming Spain. Spain handed over the money, taking what they hoped would be the easy way out. Valencia, I ask you,  why pay 35,000 euros for three days of Pancho and Jay? Really? Give me 35, 000 euros and I’ll give you 1 year’s worth of original engaging content on your wines, foods, and culture, all freely yours to distribute and use. I’ll also throw in a seminar for your wineries on how to set up Google alerts and other mysteries of the web; and then I’ll invite over a few importers who actually buy wines and don’t just spit and score. They actually buy wines! You might even make your money back!

Look, I’m not trying to be snarky. Oh wait, I am. Jim Budd, I like you, but seriously get over Pancho. I think your wife might be missing you; the affair has lasted too long. You exposed something corrupt, and great, we’re all looking now, but please go back to being a wine writer! Snide comments about him only undermines your efforts at good investigative journalism. I and many others than you for your efforts. To everyone else, myself included, I say move on and create a voice that will change the industry, rather than pointing fingers at the ones who you think are doing it wrong. Make a difference. Don’t make excuses. Show us wine’s future. Offer solutions, don’t just cry sour grapes!

Oh and Robert, Mr. Parker, Bob. I really like you. You are the reason I am in wine. You made me fall in love and now I’m in it for life. You’ve taught me so much that I feel I need to return the favor by saying, WAKE UP. Criticism does not mean that the person criticizing you necessarily is wrong, or bad, or a blobber! It means they might have a point, so at least listen. Grow a thick skin and realize you are not better then the people who read your magazines, or more moral than the bloggers who hope to one day have a voice of their own.

Engage. I love what you did for the wine industry. You changed it, but today your points at times corrupt the industry. You are smart enough to see this, even though you claim that people give your points too much credit. It might be that you haven’t given them enough yourself.  Speak honestly about the trouble points have created in the wine industry. We are not going to get rid of them, they are part of the wine industry love them or not, but help us to work through our addiction to them. Teach us to use this force wisely. We don’t need a Ralph Nader of wine anymore, what we need is a wine lover who shares our passion and their knowledge. That should be you. You should help us to be better as an industry.

Finally you, and now the rest of the world can see Pancho has corrupted your ethics policy. No one thinks he didn’t. Move on. Don’t try to make excuses, just admit this mistake, you are human after all. We love to forgive mistakes, not snide dismissals. We want to be your advocate.

So I guess I just want to say in the end. Can we all get back to drinking wine? There were no laws broken. So what if the magazine we all like to make fun of just got caught with a bit of pie on their face(or was the pommace?). Shit happens. The only ones with their panties in a bunch are a whole lot of wine journos’ who, myself included, are a bit jealous that an outsider walked into our closed garden and sucked out a ****load of money from it. Spanish wine still is suffering from a lack of support. Let’s work as a group to show them the light, a new way, a new future; hopefully without pay for points deals happening seedy back alleys.

Ok, I’m going to open something red, or maybe white, but definitely wet; and the only point I’m going to attach to it is the end of a corkscrew.

Nite.

Ryan

PS: Jim, before you comment, I know that Pancho has alleged crimes in Dubai, which may or may not be criminal. I really don’t care. When I say no laws were broken in the post, I mean within the wine industry. Which, and correct me if I’m wrong, they were not. Oh and we’re definitely getting together the next time I’m in London!

Related posts:

• Interview with Pancho Campo
• Pancho Campo Poses a Question for Al Gore on Wine and Market Choices
• Cha, cha, cha, changes…Spanish wine needs to learn from the Pancho affair
• A Take on Global Warming from Experts such as Richard Smart, Pancho Campo, Michael Rolland and other Influentials of the Wine World!
• Txarli says it's Time to Check in with our Readers! What have you been Drinking?

Jay Miller is out. Neal Martin is in.

This is the story that spilled onto “the Twitter“, in the blogosphere, and onto “the Facebooks”. Regurgitated and recycled from one blog to another showing that there is no limit to the amount of naval gazing possible by any niche community. The scandal relates to whether Pancho Campo charged money to make Jay Miller magically appear  in any given Spanish wine region’s back yard so that Parker‘s surrogate point giver Jay, could bestow a fresh layer of numerical digits upon the Spanish countryside. Read the full details here if you’ve been under a rock this week.

Between you and me, I think Pancho is guilty and Jay is just lazy. For Jay not to know implies ignorance, and while Jay may be ignorant about Spanish table wine under 15% alcohol, he’s no dummy, or so I’m told. And for anyone who thinks that Pancho is not buddying up to the Parker crew so as to sell bigger and better tickets to his events, not to mention raise funds for his “seminars” when Jay’s in town, well, there’s a bridge that just came on the market. Interested?

Pancho once said to me, “Ryan, I’m a business man…”, a statement made after he had turned down a proposal where I had asked for actual money from him to help promote WineFuture1 through live video. I agree he is a business man, and business men by their own admission can be quite slimy. Wine is secondary to Pancho, business is first. We wanted to promote the wine event, but he wanted to line his pockets with more of Rioja’s euros(disclosure my accommodations were paid, as a speaker at this event). Wine Future exists, not because it discusses the future of wine, but rather because a bunch of people whose names are at the top of the wine industry’s glittery rankings all get together on stage for a big group hug. And in doing so, Pancho can then raise enough money to live a life high on the hog.

I’m a bit envious actually. I wish I cared less about wine, and was more cut throat. In being so, I might actually be living in a better apartment, driving a bigger car (actually any car would be a step up, currently carless for 7 years now), drinking better wines, and doing as I please.

Now I’m sure at this point some of you are wondering what happened. This nice little blog that simply helps wine loving travelers to find tips on what to buy and what tapas to eat has all of a sudden gone rogue! I guess the simple explanation is that I felt this needed to be said, and with the “end” so near, I say “why not”! The wine industry here in Spain and in Portugal is suffering and mainly due to ego and silly politics. Nothing more. Pancho is not the problem by himself but rather a nice indicator of a system that’s broken. It makes him an easy target. I feel bad for him in that way, but then again, I can’t say he didn’t ask for it.

Back to Spain.

When I started in wine in the 90′s, while living in Minnesota, Spain was an up and coming wine region. Today, it still is. In that time South Africa up and came, Austria, Chile and many more. In fairness, the wines here have gotten considerably better in that time period, but on the other hand, they ‘ve been good for a long time. The question being, why is Spain so often struggling to be accepted as a quality wine country?

Personally, I’m sick of it! Spain makes great wine and should be recognized as a quality wine producing country – at the same level as France, Italy, and others. And to be clear, these quality Spanish wines I’m referring to do not include wines such as the  100pt anointed splinter ridden, syrupy, over-extracted fruit bombs of Toro, or the big “new style Rioja’s” that often have enough tannin to warrant a 2 year decanting so as to make them safe for human consumption. Oak, by and large, is a disease in Spain. And though the trend is waning, we still tremble when opening a Spanish red in fear that another wooden lollipop full of fruit juice flavors will pour forth. All that said, there is amazing quality here, under the 90pt ceiling, even lower sometimes!

Spanish wine for us is white and often bubbly. It’s a wine that is fresh and crisp and often preceded with a statement from the winemaker that goes like; “This is just our basic wine, it is not serious, just something fun”. Well, I’m serious when I say that this IS the wine we love, and it’s not  the wine that Mr. Miller would be giving any points too(not sure if they could afford them). We consistently find ourselves being drawn to these simple wines. Fruit driven Godellos, herbal Mencias, fresh Carignans, silly little Moscatos, and fruity Tempranillos that show us their berry laden underbellies as they dance across our palate. Our award winning wines we purchase here in Spain rarely cross the 15€ mark, though they do stray into the upper tiers every so often. We can’t deny loving wines of all calibers, but we still gravitate to the “simple”.

Sadly, Neal has no chance of helping us out in this regard. Neal Martin is a great taster. Granted he has admitted a certain ignorance of Spanish wine, and I personal don’t find this to be an issue, having seen the ratings that Jay Miller has given over the past few years to Spanish wines, I’m sure many would agree it doesn’t appear he harbored much knowledge himself about Spanish wines. If it wasn’t red and rich, both in price and character, with a few exceptions, Jay didn’t seem to see to care much. So I don’t think Neal will do poorly. I’m sure he can hand out random numbers as well as any other wine critic. I just don’t see the style focus changing that much. I truly hope I’m wrong.

However, I truly wish Spain would change. There are already grumblings over Jay’s replacement, but in all sincerity, Who Cares?! He’ll give out numbers, and you will put them in press releases, and the country and wineries will say, “See we get big numbers too…” and all will be happy. But it really won’t. We’ll still be reliant on someone else to sell our wine. Shifting responsibility for our sales, or lack there of, to a third party. Again more whining and kevetching, but no real work. No change of attitude.

But I have a dream. The dream is fanciful, and at times, powerfully emotional; but in the end, it’s a simple construct of an overly active imagination. The dream starts with a tableau: one where the wineries look out at each other, everyone on their own boat, floating in a sea of wine. Instead of trying to out paddle their neighbor, searching for the shore by themselves, struggling to stay afloat, they join hands and begin to link boats together with small strands of magical string. Forming a flotilla that moves rapidly through cooperation and coordination, they explore new directions and water. Now, granted, I know this is a dream, because no one is using the phrase, “What about me?” in my version. Instead, they are saying, “We can go further and grow stronger”. The larger rafts cautiously avoid the hidden reef of “points”, and “shiny medals”, wise to their dangers, while the ones not willing to tie up to the group teeter cautiously on point ladden reefs, hoping they will not float adrift.

The “points” reef is a real danger. When you land on it in calm waters, it can provide stability and structure, allowing the freedom to breathe and not worry about perpetual paddling. But we all know that in a storm that same sense of stability can tear apart the strongest foundations. In my dream, the flotilla quickly moves beyond, trying to seek out more stable lands. The dream usually ends when the flotilla connects with boats and rafts of other niches. Avoiding those sharp and scary reefs, the wise winemakers throw a rope to fellow wine drinkers who are out enjoying a thing we call life. Laughing, drinking, sharing stories, they will even break the consumer barrier and become “friends”.

I know it’s a silly dream. Removing the needle of points from the arm of Spain’s wine industry (heck who am I kidding, the whole damn wine industry) is going to take a lot more than a blog post and knowledge of the pointy reefs. No, it will take more of us wine communicators talking about life and opening a nice bottle while we do it. Being human first and geek second. Points have a place, they just don’t need to be taking up the whole table!

Spain’s addiction to points helped create the mess that is the “Jay and Pancho Affair”. They are just guilty as the person who brings the “point giver” in exchange for money, or the point giver who naively thinks he’s not involved.

Pancho, you’re helping the industry. We know the industry is full of “Languedoc Pinot Noir” and “La Mancha flavored Riojas”. Many a critic as been paid to write a favorable article and I’m sure you’re not the first to try sell the opportunity for  points to a region. You just helped us all see how dirty it makes us feel. You’re helping the industry to realize, or I would hope, that this whole imbalance of power that is given to the “point weilders” is wrong. Thank you.

Spain, I say to you, invest in relationships, not with critics and communicators. Invest in real wine drinkers. And within your own market, cultivate a culture where wineries collaborate to raise the Spanish wine industry as a whole. Spend money on the crazy ideas and small projects that are working to present a united front of Spanish wine. Leave the medals and points to the accountants, you have great wines, be confident in that. Make friends with those who are not celebrity, but rather those that pay money each day for another glass of vinous liquid. The wine drinkers not the wine spitters. You can do it!

Consumer, you know what to do. Grab a corkscrew. Find a bottle, and make sure you have a friend or two with you. Get a couple of glasses, shape has no importance. Then start drinking. While your doing it, laugh a little. Smile. Heck go for it and cry a little. Just make sure to savor the flavors. It’s good for you. Oh and make sure to invite me!

Hope you enjoyed this one. It felt good to get it off my chest. Time to open a bottle of something pointless.

Ryan

Related posts:

• Spanish Wine Tasting, Part 2: A Welcoming, Friendly Affair in Valencia
• Top 5 Wine Tourism Tips Iberia Can Learn from American Wine Producers
• Catavino Spanish Wine Education Scholarship: Bloggers Have An Opportunity to Learn About Spanish Wine!
• What Did I Learn from My Spanish Wine Certification Course?
• A Take on Global Warming from Experts such as Richard Smart, Pancho Campo, Michael Rolland and other Influentials of the Wine World!

Nothing compares the aromas and tastes assaulting one as he walks the streets of San Sebastian on any given day. Perusing the massive counters of any number of Pintxos bars in the city will bring a grown man to his knees – in adoration, not defeat. So, when an opportunity to learn the art of cooking Basque presented itself to me on a recent trip to New York City, I jumped at the opportunity.

Basque cuisine is heavily inspired by the abundance of food from the sea on the one side and the fertile Ebro valley on the other. Spanish and French influence is strong, but the two rarely meet. There is a notable difference between the cuisines of the Spanish and French Basque peoples. Gastronomic societies pervade the Basque culture. Traditionally composed of only men who cook and eat together in a communal “txoko,” the societies are usually large and formally organized and meet together in a small space owned by a group of friends where they share the food and associated costs. Today, women are allowed into some clubs.

The influence of Basque cuisine is far-reaching. Multiple restaurants in the region boast one or more Michelin stars. Chefs like Juan Mari Arzak, Martín Berasategui, and Karlos Arguiñano have changed the landscape and reputation of Basque cuisine worldwide and have paved the way for discriminating and non-discriminating palates to enjoy the fruits of a cuisine from an area heralded to be one of the oldest civilizations still in existence (and they will make sure you know it). What was once a discreet corner of Iberia has today taken center stage on the world gastronomic scene.

The Basque cooking course at The Institute for Culinary Education (ICE) was its first, and I just happened to be in the proverbial right place at the right time. Having taken two courses previously at ICE, I expected that the course would be informative and entertaining. I was not to be disappointed. Chef Daniel took us through a brief history the Basque region and its unique cuisine. Next we reviewed our “menu” for the evening – ten dishes and three hours stood between our class of a dozen students and Basque food bliss. It was time well spent. The dishes were reminiscent of my time spent in San Sebastian and piqued my curiosity to explore the cuisine in more depth. Following I have included three recipes from the class (all recipes courtesy of ICE). Give them a try and do not hesitate to step out and try a course or two on your own.

¡Buen Provecho!

Basque Cod Croquettes

(Yield: Serves 4/8 croquettes)

For all salt cod dishes remember to soak the fish for 24 hours changing the water regularly. The fish should be poached but care must be taken not to bring the water to the boil or the fish will become tough.

¾ lb salt cod (bacalao), soaked in several changes of cold water for 24 hours
½ lb potatoes, cooked and mashed
¼ cup hot milk
2 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped Italian parsley
2 tsp lemon juice (or half a lemon squeezed)
½ teaspoon Piment d’Espelette (this is a Basque spice – substitute pimentón)
¼ cup all-purpose flour, plus additional for work surface
1 egg, beaten
¾ cup breadcrumbs
Canola oil for frying

1. Allow the mashed potato to cool then stir in the parsley.
2. Using a large pan over high heat, bring 2 inches of water to a boil; lower the heat and place the sold cod into the water. Cook gently for 15 minutes. DO NOT BOIL.
3. Drain, cool, remove skin and any bones and flake the fish.
4. Add the cod flakes, mashed potato, garlic, milk, olive oil, Piment d’Espelette, and flour into a mixing bowl and mix until all ingredients are completely mixed.
5. Four your work surface, and with your hands, roll out the paste into a long cylinder, about 10 inches long. Cut into 8 equal pieces.
6. Dip each piece into the egg wash and then roll in the bread crumbs to give an even coating. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes to chill (this will set the coating).
7. Heat oil in a large pot to 375° F.
8. Gently place the croquettes into the oil and fry until golden brown. Cook no more than 4 at the same time, drain on paper towels, then place in a warm oven until all are cooked.

Piquillo Peppers Stuffed with Brandade

(Yield: Serves 4)

½ lb skinless, boneless salt cod, preferably a thick center-cut piece (soaked in several changes of cold water for 24 hours)
4½ tbsp olive oil, divided
1½ tbsp all-purpose flour, divided
2 cups milk
16 roasted piquillo peppers (from two 6-oz jars), drained
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium carrot, thinly sliced crosswise
1 fresh parsley sprig plus 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1½ tbsp dry sherry

1. Cut the cod crosswise into ¼ inch strips.
2. In a medium saucepan, warm 3 tbsp of the olive oil over moderate heat. Add the salt cod and cook, stirring gently, to heat through and break up the fish (about 3 minutes). Stir in 1 tbsp of the flour until incorporated. Gradually mix in the milk. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring often, until the mixture has thickened (about 25-30 minutes). Cool to room temperature.
3. Keeping the roasted peppers intact, remove any seeds and carefully stuff each pepper with a heaping tbsp of the cod mixture.
4. In a large skillet, warm the remaining 1½ tbsp olive oil over moderately low heat. Add the onion, carrot, parsley sprig, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft (about 12 minutes). Blend in the remaining ½ tbsp flour and then stir in 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, cover and cook for 10 minutes to blend the flavors. Uncover, stir in the sherry and simmer for 3 minutes.
5. Transfer the mixture to a food processor and puree until completely smooth. Pour the sauce back into the skillet. Season with kosher salt.
6. Carefully place the stuffed peppers in the sauce. Cover and simmer gently over low heat until the peppers are heated through (about 3 minutes). Transfer the peppers to serving plates and spoon the sauce around them. Sprinkle the chopped parsley on top and serve at once.

Porrusalda (Leek and Potato Soup)

(Yield: Serves 6)

½ cup olive oil
6 medium leeks, chopped fine (use white/light green part only)
½ lb Spanish chorizo, thinly sliced
3 to 4 large potatoes, cubed (peeling optional)
1 tbsp crushed thyme
¼ tsp ground white pepper
2 tsp coarse salt
1 minced garlic clove
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
4 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1½ cups day old bread chunks (optional)

1. In a large stockpot, pour in oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the leeks and chorizo. Stir to brown lightly. Add in potatoes, seasonings, and flour. Toss together until flour is incorporated. Reduce heat to low. Add in chicken stock. Stir until all ingredients are well combined. Cover, place bay leaves in pot, and simmer for 1 hour. Stir in parsley just before serving.
2. Place fresh croutons on bottom of individual serving bowls and pour soup over the top. Serve immediately.

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It is never easy to say goodbye and to turn your back on a chapter of your past – parting always hurts and today I have to say two farewells.

I have been writing about Spain and Spanish wines for Catavino, as well as my own blog,  for quite a while now, and sadly this will be my last Catavino piece, but by a remarkable coincidence this week saw another last for me regarding Spanish wine.

For almost thirty years I have been a devotee of a Málaga wines, especially those made by the wonderful, if rather un-Spanish sounding Scholtz Hermanos.

If you have never tried a Málaga, then you have really missed out as it can be one of the world’s great dessert wines and deserves to be as famous as Montilla-Moriles and Sherry which are its near neighbours in Andalucia. The Victorians, who often knew a good thing when they drank it, loved Málaga, calling it Mountain, or Mountain Wine, a direct translation of Montes which is the name of the mountainous sub-region just to the north of Málaga itself. Sadly, since that nineteenth century fame it has become almost forgotten and nowadays the region is more famous for holiday homes, Larios gin and San Miguel lager.

In fact so obscure has Málaga become that some years ago, when I was staying in the region, I attempted to order some to go with my dessert, but there was none to be had. This wasn’t in any old place either, but the Parador in the town of Antequerra which is at the very heart of the Málaga grape growing area of – if you can drink the wine anywhere, surely it ought to be there.

Traditionally only two grapes varieties are grown for the sweet Málaga wines, Moscatel (Muscat) and Pedro Ximén which is, of course known as Pedro Ximénez in Sherry and Montilla – strange but true, I was once in quite a bit of trouble with a Spanish customs officer at Almeria airport (trying to take frozen calamares out of Spain if you must know) and according to his badge his name was Pedro Ximénez!

The original Montes area has very few vines left in production today, but that is where the classic unctuously ripe Pedro Ximén hails from and their sweetness and intensity define the wine’s style – which is presumably why this area gave the wine its nineteenth century name?

Today a mere handful of producers make traditional Málaga dessert wines and they do not find it easy to keep going. Scholtz Hermanos was for a long time the standard bearer for the style and region and produced wines of stunning quality, but they closed in 1996 and the site of their bodega now houses a branch of El Corté Ingles.

As far as I can make out Málaga can be made in various ways and from combinations of base materials made from the grapes. Classically the grapes are picked super-ripe and concentrated further by being put out in the sun on esparto grass mats – a common scene in the Spain of my childhood. These intensely sweet raisined grapes are then fermented, but of course they contain so much sugar that the yeast can only manage a brief fermentation. Some juice is not fermented, but reduced down to a third of its original volume into a syrup called arrope. Some arrope is reduced down even further to make an almost black vino de color. Some juice remains unfermented, but fortified with the addition of grape spirit up to 15-16%, this is called mistela.

So a winemaker can call on any of these as well as a straightforward wine made from the sun-dried grapes and fortified wine too. All these things are sort of cobbled together into a wine that is then aged in old wood casks, sometimes in a solera system and often not. The finished wine often receives an additional dollop of some ancient reserve wines, whichever way they do it. It is a complex and wonderful process, but very hard to pin down in an easy to pigeon-hole kind of way. Indeed, thinking of Málaga simply as a fortified wine, like Port and Sherry is a little misleading, the truth is a little more complex and less predictable.

Any way, the other day I was at a tasting and a Spanish dessert wine was called for, so I opened my very last bottle of what I understood to be Scholtz Hermanos’s greatest wine:

Solera 1885 Scholtz Hermanos

Málaga

I cannot find anything out about this great winery as it no longer exists and when it did information was less easy to come by than today, but everything I have ever tried from them was superb and it seems they made over 30 different Málagas. I remember buying this bottle in Spain when I was 18, so I have had it for nearly thirty years. It is likely that the wine is mainly, if not all Pedro Ximén – it certainly has the figgy, raisiny, molasses nose and flavour of PX, but a certain freshness and elegance could be a pointer towards some Moscatel too, or as this was their top wine it might just not have any vino de color or very much arrope?  Long ageing has made the wine perfectly integrated and it was utterly, utterly delicious with an array of cheeses, even smoked, and worked well with a rich chocolate tart too. Indeed it had a delicate chocolatey character, especially on the amazingly long finish, which showed none of its 18% alcohol, but was graceful and refined. It was also sweet without being sickly, I love rich PX wines from Montilla and Sherry, but this was lighter and fresher than those – another pointer towards not being pure PX, or just a very refined and elegant example?

If you enlarge the photograph of the bottle and study the wonderful label you will see that this wine was winning awards all over the world in the 1870s. That is because, as I understand it, the 1885 in the name is not the year the solera was laid down, but the year the Scholtz brothers bought the winery. I was once told that the solera was created right at the beginning of the bodega’s history, so something like 1807.

Fortunately for us a few producers are clinging on and continuing to make excellent Málaga in the old way:

Bodegas Larios, of gin fame, make some that are pretty good, most are Moscatel based, but their excellent Málaga Dulce is a PX and thanks to their excellent distribution network you can often find their wines in Spain.

The best of the remaining producers that I am aware of is Bodegas López Hermanos whose Pedro Ximenex Reserva de Familia is magnificent.

There are other glimmers of good news too, Bodegas Jorge Ordóñez make some stunning Málagas from Moscatel grapes, as does Telmo Rodriguez with his elegant, almost dainty Molino Real and MR wines.

However this week I slowly drank my last bottle Solera 1885 Scholtz Hermanos and relished an experience that I might never be able to repeat. It was a strange feeling saying goodbye to a wine forever, thinking about the time span of this astounding bottle, remembering when I bought it and what I was doing and ruminating on all that has happened since. Democracy in Spain was young then, the Cold War was raging, no one knew what Nelson Mandela looked like, Saddam was America’s friend and I was going to be the world’s greatest actor. It felt a little like watching my own life on film, I found it moving and a little melancholy.

Much like bidding adieu to the readers of Catavino.

Quentin Sadler

Related posts:

• The Slow and Painful Death of a Wine Romantic: Pedro Ximenez (aka Raisin Juice)
• The Source of Pedro Ximénez: D.O. Montilla-Moriles
• Vuelta España Stages 1-4: Sevilla, Jerez, Montilla, Malaga
• Catavino Jumpstarts the 2+1 Iberian Wine Survey
• Holiday Dessert Wines

Editor’s note: All views expressed below are solely that of the author. 

All good things must come to an end. And it seems sadly appropriate that, after six years, Catavino – a site that mirrored so well all that was burgeoning and metamorphosing in the Spanish wine world – closes its doors just as the outlook for Spanish wine gets bleaker.

Of course, I don’t need a crystal ball or the touch of a soothsayer to tell you that the European Economic Crisis – and Spain’s part in it – will exact its cost from the wine industry here. Perhaps the best that some can hope for is that a depressed Euro or, dare I say, Peseta will encourage export.

Similarly, Spain’s politics is going in a predictable direction. Recently, someone I know posted a picture on Facebook of Spain’s (surely incoming) Center Right, own label, Ribera del Duero. ‘D.O. Mordor, surely…’ someone replied. Quite.

But it’s not just the Eurozone Crisis, or the political future, that tells me the good old days are over. It seems the fates have been conspiring for some time. Take for instance Robert Parker’s handing over to Jay Miller a couple of years ago. Once (remember the days?), Parker’s top scores were catapulting producers here into the American stratosphere. You didn’t have to like what Parker was giving 90pts to but you had to admit it felt like the boy from Maryland had got his snout in the trough and was finding some impressive and interesting wines. It was exciting – at least because it got us tasting the likes of Clos Mogador, Contador, Pingus, etc. Even if most of us dismissed it them as ‘typical Parker wines’ or ‘overblown and overdone’ at least we were tasting Spanish wines with new interest – many of us (myself included) had never even tasted Jumillan Monastrell. Parker’s ‘magic’ had come to Spain.

Nowadays, we have Jay Miller who basically recycles the scores Parker once gave us and who, one must admit, attracts scandal like no-one I have seen before. Even if you’re a Jay Miller fan, you have to admit his path is strewn with uncomplimentary talk, from the original Sierra-Carche scandal (google it if you must) to the latest gems of comparing a great wine to great pornography and well, just search ‘jumillagate’ or ‘murciagate’ to find out what one region spends to have Jay Miller visit. In Jumilla‘s case: €29,000. Objectively speaking, not a lot of the talk around Jay Miller can be laid at his door but it is surprising that so much of it gets out and sticks to him – if you’ll pardon the expression – like shit to a mattress. I once wrote that I felt sorry for him. I still do.

But I feel more sorry for Spain. When it lost Parker, it undeniably lost a selling point (interestingly, most of Miller’s 100-pointers are still attributed to ‘Parker’ or his publication the Wine Advocate).

Now it loses Catavino – perhaps a greater loss. But I would say that, wouldn’t I, being a writer for them. But in my defense, it was impressive to go to a tasting in Madrid or Toro or Aranda del Duero and find yourself talking about Ryan and Gabriella Opaz. Spain had it good while they were around and one day, perhaps, a few people in the Spanish wine world will understand the lessons that they could have learned. There’s nothing hidden about what I say, I am simply pointing out that Ryan and Gabriella showed – through the medium of the internet – what could be achieved. If wine regions are spending €29,000 on having a well-known taster over, perhaps someone will wonder whether the money might not have been better spent on Social Media.

Would that such a couple descend upon the likes of France or Italy?

So Adieu it is. And while I cannot help but think that the good old days are over, whenever I hear that phrase I can’t help but think of a line from the Libertines:

‘…it chars my heart to always hear you calling,
Calling for the good old days.
Because there were no good old days.
These are the good old days.’

There’s no point bemoaning the future without first looking at where we’ve got.

Cheers,

Olly Styles

Related posts:

• Spanish Wine Certification Sponsorship Status, Rias Baixes Goes Web 2.0, Sherry Gets Some Lovin'
• The Grand Garnacha Tasting of Robert Parker – Wine Future Conference
• #WBW70: Catavino Goes Mythbusters on Spanish Wine
• Wine Future: Brief Overview of the Morning Sessions on Day 1
• The Alchemy of Crafting Spanish Wine for Sushi

When we first moved to Spain, we arrived with almost nothing. Our Spanish consisted of  ”hola”, “gracias” and after a couple of days hanging out with other Spaniards, “Vale”, the ubiquitous “ok”.

Our friends were back in Minnesota, but we were in Madrid and lucky enough to have a place to live. A fellow TEFL student offered up a room in her shared apartment which was about the size of a small closet. It had two thin twin mattresses on the floor, a small wooden wardrobe, and a tiny alcove where I placed a board on a stack of boxes to create a makeshift desk.

Our money was limited to a few thousand dollars in savings which we promised we would only use half of, and if we reached that nebulous halfway mark without either a job or stability, we agreed to buy a plane ticket and head back home. That day came in about 8 months, yet neither of us had a desire to leave. Our possessions included an old Dell Inspiron 1150, a palm pilot with a bluetooth collapsable keyboard (the height of technology), a few books, a bag of clothes, 2 pairs of hiking boots, and some of my favorite cooking utensils from when I was back in the States.

To make enough to stay afloat Gabriella quickly dove into English teaching as was the plan. Running each day from location to location, she took an untold numbers of metro rides through the Madrid underground to teach ornery bankers and tech specialists English, a language that most rather not have bothered with. She brought in a few euros a month to pay for the room we had in the apartment that was shared with 2 other couples. Sharing made the rent a reasonable 300 euros or so per month.

Working from home, and being an ex-chef, I cooked dinner for the household on most evenings, after spending the day sitting in our living room, staring at the computer, searching for a clue as to how I could work in the Spanish wine industry. Each day, I would explore new websites, like Google, seeking out new trends. But the truth is, I didn’t know what I was doing. So I headed out by bus, often late at night, landing in foreign cities without a place to stay or reason to be there, just a dream.

My goal was to ask enough questions to get someone to notice me, and in truth, my questions at that point were quite nebulous. When asked why we moved to Spain, our standard response was that we wanted a change of perspective, to explore new worlds, and that I had a dream to work in the wine industry. Gabriella, selflessly at the time, was there to support that dream, and for her own part, to explore the land that her family left many generations ago. We both figured a headstrong attitude and desire to succeed at something would eventually land us in the promise land. Little did we know.

So the onus was on me to find a “real” job. Gabriella couldn’t do it all. It wasn’t until my first trip to Portugal that I found a few indications of my future path, but nothing concrete or solid to sink my teeth into.

It was on my return to Spain by bus that I landed in Toro, where I for the first time got an idea of the challenge that laid ahead. After an very interesting journey, one that will be shared at some point in the near future, I found myself in a cold and blustery Toro, wandering through narrow alleyways to my first ever winery appointment. What for? I wasn’t sure, but I had had one winery respond to my request to visit and I wasn’t going to miss any opportunity.

At the winery that day, I found myself playing the role of the lost foreigner, unaware that late February in Toro was not the time of the year for tourists. Rejadorada had taken some modest steps to install a wine tourism regime, which consisted of a video in Spanish – of which I understood “Welcome” and the word “Tempranillo” – and a room full of old wine harvesting tools and machinery sitting as life models patiently as I wandered past. I politely watched the video and nodded to the gentleman, my guide,  who spoke about as much English as I spoke Spanish; and when it was finished, we ended up at a bar where my first “professional” wine tasting was to take place. Wines were poured, and while I shivered a bit with the winds from outside still rattling in my bones, I politely took tasting notes so as to show my interest. Hand gestures it turns out can be very enlightening, and it was in this way that we talked through a series of questions and ideas about their wines and my reason for being in Toro in February. While I don’t remember all we chatted about I do remember at one point realizing the question “why are you here” was being offered up to me.

I remember staring back at him and attempting the fewest words possible to explain that I had come to Spain to work in the wine industry.

“Why” came his astonished response.

“Because, I wanted a change of perspective,” I responded. “and I hoped I could help wineries in Spain to sell wines in America.”

“Oh, well good luck” came his reply with a polite smile and quizzical look of discovery not unlike finding a monkey sitting in the middle of the road as you drove down the highway.

I think I remember, trying to push him for ideas on how I might follow this dream, but with the lack of language or any real idea why I was there, it didn’t lead much further. We enjoyed the wines, while I took notes on my palm pilot for a short while longer. I remember leaving that visit and getting a message that another winery I had hoped to see saying they would need to wait to meet with me until the following day. Another day, meant another hotel room, and more money I didn’t have, which forced me to politely decline and instead, struggling against the sharp winter winds, I headed to the bus station to return to Madrid.

When I got home I think I felt a little less excited and a little more frustrated, and ironically a bit more determined. I still didn’t have a one line answer that made sense to the question, “Why did you come here…” but I knew I had to keep searching.

Between then and February 2008 a lot happened. Catavino was born and I began to design websites to help bring in a little money. We moved to Barcelona, and I logged a few thousand miles on busses late at night knocking at doors in regions I didn’t know – still trying to find the answer as to why I moved here.

A lot has happened since then, Catavino grew up and in time it became a respected resource for informamtion about Iberian wine. I’m still amazed that I don’t have an answer to why we moved here. I guess looking back I would sat that we did it because we didn’t have a solid reason to. If we had known why, we might have been too scared by failure to make it happen. Maybe not.

Catavino has come full circle, and I’m sure for Gabriella too. Today we are exploring what it is we have created and the opportunities that we have made for ourselves and evaluating all of them. You’re not getting rid of us this easily. Stay tuned as we share our final thoughts.

Cheers,

Ryan

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• WBW #48 Back to Your Roots – Thanks Lenn for 4 Years of Fun!
• Starts with Goodbye, Catavino Wraps up 6 years of Iberian Wine
• The Secret Sherry Society – A Quick Interview in the Dark
• Catavino is Back in Spain: The Customs, Culture and Cuisine of India
• I'm Back!

As many of you know, when Ryan and I married, we legally changed our last name. As I didn’t want to be called Gabriella Anderson, and he cared even less for Ryan Reynes, we opted to break social norms by designing our own surname. Having travelled through Portugal for our wedding and honeymoon, we created the name Opaz. “Paz”, in both Portuguese and Spanish means “peace”, while “O” stands for the circle of life.

What does the circle mean? Quite simply, that everything in life is cyclical. Much like the gentle evolution of the seasons, the ebb and flow of the tide, the rise and fall of the sun, everything has a beginning and end.

Catavino began from Ryan’s desire to describe the world around him when we first landed on Spanish soil in 2005. A pure and unabashed passion to chronicle that which he tasted, savored, experienced and encountered, it eventually grew to become an international resource on Spanish and Portuguese wine and food. Mind you, this wasn’t a smooth transition. It was a transition of considerable time and effort on our part. Many evenings sat in bewilderment asking the great philosophical question, “what the f*** are we doing?”, we powered on in hopes of being hit over the head with the preverbal ”clue stick”. And while Catavino continued to chronicle various aspects of Spanish and Portuguese wines, foods and culture, we also began to create a vast network of opportunities that led us to create the European Wine Bloggers Conference, the Born Digital Wine Awards and a host of smaller projects that are beginning to develop their own legs and spirit.

So where does that leave us? Well, our voices are far from mute, and you’ll be hearing more from us in the near future, but for now, we want to hear from you. If you have a story about Catavino, or a moment you would like to share from the past 6 years, let us know. We’d love to put some of these treasures up on Catavino.

Mind you, we’re not going to stop writing, producing content or being involved in the wine communications world, but we want to do more. Catavino was a great experience and part of our lives, something that we take enourmous pride in, and we will miss it. But we are also excited to be starting something new. What comes next, beyond our projects with Vrazon, is yet to be decided, but you can be assured that you are not getting rid of us that easily.

By the end of November, we’ll be closing the doors, hanging up the proverbial “gone fishing” sign and taking a step towards our next adventure.

Thank you all for reading us, following along and being a part of the last 6 years. It’s been fun. And stay tuned over the coming weeks for some fun memories, a few surprises and a final farewell.

Cheers,

Gabriella and Ryan

Related posts:

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• Exciting Announcement – The DeLong Iberian Wine Map – with help from Catavino
• Welcome Star Tribune Readers to Catavino, Our Humble Iberian Home!
• Iberian Wine Links around the Web: Pseudo Holiday Edition!
• Iberian Links Around the Web – EWBC, Peñín, Bierzo, and Portuguese wine!

Having recently come back from our long and successful jaunt in Brescia, Italy, where we hosted the annual European Wine Bloggers Conference, we’ve unfortunately been unable to post on Catavino as much as we’d like. However, our friends in Spain have come to the rescue with a few updates on the 2011 Harvest. Consider this a follow-up to our first article on the harvest across the Peninsula as a whole.

BODEGA MIGUEL MERINO – RIOJA, SPAIN

Briones, La Rioja Alta 20 October 2011

After a not very cold winter with not much snow neither, a spring short in rainfall and warm temperatures in May and most of June, we had quite an unusual summer with thermometers much below the average in July and early August while the second half of August war really warm and September starting very hot and dry, without a drop of rain.

Around the 20th of September, when we started the close checking of the vineyards, we were very pleased with their healthy shape, but a little worried with the advanced sugar ripeness of the grapes and the not so advanced phenolic ripeness. After such a long dry period we were also concerned that leaves could start “browning and flying off” and that, if there was intense rain, grapes could lose, and not recover, their concentration.

However the last week of September started to be very much what we like: sunny, not-too-warm days and cool nights, the phenolic ripeness catching up every day a bit more with the level of sugar ripeness.

We started picking the first grapes early in the morning of October 1st, a week before we had done it the previous year. The first vineyard was Mendigüerra (planted in 1931, with not much but beautiful fruit); on Sunday 2nd we continued the “vendimia” in La Loma (1946), and kept picking the following days by level of ripeness, but much in coincidence with the age of the vines, the last vineyards being La Quinta Cruz (Mazuelo grapes, 1981) and El Rincón (Tempranillo, 1998).

All our grapes come from our town, Briones, and are hand picked and placed in cases, then quickly transported to our sorting table. There we separate the really bad (hell, we call it) from the doubtful bunches, allowing only the perfect grapes to pass the selection. This year there have been no bad bunches and the doubtful have been also few, and most of the grapes rejected have been either some too thick bunches or some grapes on the shoulders that were overripe and had too much sugar, as we always look for balanced and not for alcoholic wines.

It is over ten years now that we do not use other yeasts that those in the environment and the ones which come with the grapes. “Just let the wine happen”, we say. That will give much of their personality to our wines. The fermentations have gone very well; a couple of nights having to fight, hose in hand, with the temperatures as some of the yeasts were a little too wild, but the rest has evolved and finished nicely and smoothly.

Still too soon to tell, but quality should be somewhere between quite good and really great. We shall keep you informed. Quantity has been a bit short, but we do not complain: we cannot have it all.

We look forward to tasting the wines with you in the near future.

Miguel(es) Merino

BODEGAS CASTRO MARTIN - RIAS BAIXAS

A stop-start summer harvest!

The original forecast that I made on our blog site towards the end of May suggested that we should start picking around 23rd August. This prediction was made with the commonly used calculation of 100 days between flowering and harvest, and I should tell you that I was not too far out…. After a very unsettled month, we finally decided to start the 2011 campaign on 29th August, a bright, sunny day but with a modest temperature of only 21°C (70°F).

Not only did the weather dictate the start date of our harvest, but it soon became very clear that it would also dictate the quantity and style. The warm spring had encouraged vigorous growth in the vineyard, and despite some ‘green harvesting’ during the month of July, the yields were far greater than the vast majority people predicted. The cooler temperatures during July and August would also result in lower alcohol levels too. For the last few vintages we have seen an average degree of between 12° and 12,5°alc, whereas the early indications are that in 2011 it might be a little nearer to 11,5° or 12°alc. Only time will tell. In reality this slightly reduced degree is actually much nearer to the normal level of a traditional albariño from Salnés.

See, I do have at least one supporter!

With a team of nearly 60 pickers the grapes were very soon flowing into our cellars at an unprecedented rate and our two presses were struggling to keep pace. By the second day several tanks were already starting to fill, but as the day progressed, so the weather started to close in. By the mid-afternoon the clouds looked threatening and so we decided to call a halt to proceedings. Just as well, no sooner had we finished, than it started to rain – enough to penetrate the canopy and settle on the skins of the fruit. The forecast for the coming days did not bode well. Indeed, the next day was a complete washout, with no picking at all, and the day after that, which was drier and brighter, served only to dry the vineyards, but again with no fruit collected.

On the third day of harvest we were playing ‘catch up’, doing our very best to gather as much as we could. All went extremely well (thank goodness), and by the end of the day a huge quantity of fruit had passed through our doors. I should add at this point, that despite the poor weather, the grapes were perfectly clean and healthy with no trace of disease or rot in evidence.

The fourth morning confirmed yet again how inaccurate all the weather forecasts had been. No sooner had we opened our bedroom shutters, than the very fine rain started – not really enough to penetrate the canopy this time, but certainly enough to delay our start. The sun did however, soon break through, and a fresh breeze also helped to dry the fruit quickly. By mid-day we were out picking again, and as before, trying hard to make up for lost time. By the end of the day our grape reception was full, and the last grapes entered shortly before rain started to fall once again! With more heavy overnight rain, the next day was abandoned, which was probably just as well as Sunday is never the most popular day for working….

Skins and stalks after pressing – ‘Bagazo’ in Spanish

This stop-start vintage restarted again on Monday morning – we had achieved only 4 days of fruit gathering in the first week. These first 4 days had yielded huge quantities of grapes, and we knew then that records would certainly be broken. To counteract the effect of increased volumes we adjusted our presses by reducing both the time and amount of pressure used to squeeze the fruit. The less pressure we use, the better the juice (we avoid extracting many of the phenolic compounds from the pips and stalks).

The weather for the final 3 days of picking proved to be much more stable and a little more predictable than before – largely fine and sunny. The reason that we did not wait for this more settled period was quite simple…. acidity. We had to make a choice between waiting for a marginally better alcoholic degree or retaining our typical fresh acidity. Being the purists that we are, we opted to start early to retain more of the zesty acidity, which, after all, is a typical characteristic of our favourite grape variety.

At the end of the 7th day of harvesting, we realised that we still had one block of fruit that needed a little more time to mature. With the weather set fair we decided to wait.

After a few more days of sunshine, and our eyes fixed firmly on the sugar/acid balance, we finally gathered in the last of the 2011 fruit. With every single tank full almost to overflowing (we have to leave some space in each tank for fermentation), the curtain finally fell on this record breaking vintage.

Whilst no single day surpassed the busiest ever recorded in our bodega, the final total of kilos picked was the largest for more than a decade. It says something for our organisation that every the whole operation worked as smoothly as it did, and unlike previous vintages, we were not hindered by major breakdowns or incidents to impede our progress during the picking itself. (A brief failure of our cooling system occurred a day or two later, but then, that’s another story!)

As always you can find a detailed day-by-day account of this year’s harvest by visiting our blog on www.castromartin.com

Related posts:

• Harvest 2011: A Look Around Spain and Portugal
• Regional Profile – DO Rías Baixas
• Iberian Wine Harvest 2011 – A random assortment of challenges
• Iberian Spotlight: The economics of the 2009 harvest and its implications (part 1)
• Iberian Spotlight: The economics of the 2009 harvest and its implications (part 2)

What is the harvest looking like in Spain and Portugal? Having put in a few calls from across the peninsula, the answers varied tremendously. So rather than interpret it from our standpoint, we felt it would be more appropriate to post information directly from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. However, if you’re a winery that wasn’t included, please send us an email, or leave a comment below, with your take on the 2011 Vintage! Thanks to everyone who submitted, and we hope this year turned out to be a great one for you!

Cheers!

Linaje Garsea - Ribera del Duero, Spain

In general, we have noticed older grapes reaching sugar levels 10-15 days earlier than normal, predicting an early year, but a very healthy, and probably alcoholic year, as in 2003, 2005 and 2006.

Following from this and tasting grapes, the first grapes entered the winery by the end of August, around the 25th and the last will be harvested by the beginning of October. It’s important that we have some clouds, no rain, which will help the grapes evolve to ripeness. Looks like it could be a very good vintage, at this point.  - Juan Garcia

Pago de Cirsus – Navarra, Spain

Harvest started at Pago de Cirsus on August 26, slightly earlier than in previous years. The first variety we picked was the Sauvignon Blanc, followed by the Chardonnay. Both are in excellent sanitary conditions. The DO Navarra estimates that the harvest will be over 74 million kilos in the region, a drop of 14.5% over last year, mainly as a result of the reduction in the number of vineyards and the dry weather conditions so far this year. We are harvesting red varieties now, starting with Merlot, followed by Tempranillo, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. We expect wines from the 2011 vintage to be of high quality. – Yolanda Ortiz de Arri

Clos Figueras – Priorat, Spain

The temperatures this past July were much lower than we’re accustomed to in the Priorat, however, August was quite hot. At Clos Figueras we were 10-14 days early in the grapes maturation, making very a short vacation for us this year. The white grapes (Viognier, Garnacha y Chenin Blanc) were harvested on the 19th and 25th of August, while the reds were preselected by bunch in the winery to avoid overripe grapes that might produce higher alcohol and burnt fruit flavors. The Syrah was harvested from the 26th to the 31st of August, followed by the Garnacha on September 4th through the 16th. – Anna Cannan

Cava Josep M Ferret Guasch – Cava & Priorat, Spain

The 2011 harvest in both DO Cava and DO Penedès is pretty good. In our case, the Sauvignon Blanc that we harvested was at its optimal point of maturation, showing good structure and acidity. Considering that rain that we had during the harvest, we fortunately didn’t lose much alcohol, making for a pretty decent harvest. - Josep Mª Ferret Guasch

Vinos Ambiz – Madrid, Spain

Fabio has been publishing a play by play of the harvest on his website, so make sure to take a peek. Here are some tidbits from a recent post.

Last Saturday (17th) and Sunday (18th) we harvested all grapes from our new vineyard in Villarejo de Salvanés (Spain). Incredibly, and in contrast to all expectations, we managed to pick all the grapes and we don’t have to go back another day to finish off. We had calculated at least 4 days of picking, but we did it in only 2 days. Two reasons for this, I think: Firstly, we had an amazing turnout of volunteers to help us pick: friends, friends of friends, and consumers who buy our wines, etc. On Sunday there were 16 of us! Secondly, I think that the vineyard is actually less than a hectare, which is the size we had just assumed it was, for some reason or other! I’ll have to check it out on SigPac as soon as I can. This is a free online application by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture. It’s a bit like Google Maps, but focussed on agriculture, ie it shows the type of crops planted, the boundaries of each individual plot, easy-to-use tools for measuring distances and areas, etc.

No rabbits here in this vineyard thankfully, like in Carabaña (see this post from last week), where they ate a significant percentage of our grapes! I think this is because this vineyard in Villarejo is completely surrounded by other vineyards and olive groves, whereas in Carabaña, the vineyard is surrounded by grassland and low hills, which seems to be more rabbit-friendly territory. Some of the grapes we harvested were affected by oidium or mildew, which appeared suddenly over the last two weeks. This was our fault entirely because earlier this year (in Spring – early Summer) we decided not to spray any sulphur powder, because the vines and grapes looked so healthy and vigorous. I think maybe a preventive powdering will be required next year. - Fabio Bartolomei

Finca Sandoval – Manchuela, Spain

This was the earliest harvest ever in Manchuela, a season-end heatwave made the grapes shrivel fast! We started for the first time in August: August 29th for Bobal, followed by Syrah, and finishing them both by September 12th, a very healthy and promising vintage. Touriga nacional was picked on September 15th, but we had to wait longer for the Garnacha, Garnacha Tintorera and Monastrell, in hopes that the high altitude vineyards will minimize the heat effect. – Víctor de la Serna

Bodegas Chivite  - Navarra, Spain

Harvest 2011 is looking good, for our vineyards in the North of Navarra at the Arinzano estate we have picked most of our Chardonnay already and started on the Tempranillo around the outer edges of the estate. The grapes for our Gran Vino de Pago de Arinzano will no doubt be picked in the next week or so. We had a chance to taste the Tempranillo grapes from our “home” vineyards surrounding the winery and they were delicious, ripe and juicy with black fruit character. Overall the yields will be down this year but the quality will be very good, with more concentrated fruit character. This will be a vintage to look out for in the future! – Jo Thompson

United Wineries – Spain

Generally, the quality of the 2011 vintage has been excellent. Both winter and spring were kind to us, allowing the vineyards to evolve at their optimal rate, except for a few zones that were hit hard by hail storms such as Utiel y Requenta. By summer, the weather was incredibly hot and dry, whereby the grapes ripened quickly and made for a smaller harvest. However, the grapes themselves matured well, in good condition and the fruit showed impressive concentration and flavor in the younger wines. The whites and rose grapes were, quite early in the harvest, relatively low alcohol and good fruit. – Carmelo Angulo, Chief winemaker for Lagunilla and Berberana

Cortes de Cima – Alentejo, Portugal

5th August was a record early harvest start at Cortes de Cima, with the first lot of Gouveio grapes arriving at the winery. (gallery above)

This year for the first time, the largest portion of our white grapes come from our new Alentejan coastal vineyards which we started planting in 2008, near Vila Nova de Milfontes, 4km from the Atlantic Ocean. It’s exciting for us to see the impact that the cooler Alentejan coastal climate has had on these white varieties. It is easy to see the coastal climate reflected in the good flavors, acid and freshness of the white juices now fermenting away in the winery.

Spring was wet and warm (“tropical”) and is being blamed generally throughout Alentejo for a reduction in quantity due to attacks of mildew in some areas. The summer growing season was warm, without any great heat spikes, and has continued warm and dry throughout the harvest months – great weather for the grapes to reach optimum phenolic maturation.

As we approach our final weeks of harvest of Vintage 2011, prospects look very promising for a good to excellent vintage. Of the grapes already picked, Syrah and Touriga Nacional are looking best, while Aragonez is less good this year. – Carrie Jorgenson (thanks to Carrie for the great harvest photos!)

Symington Family Estates – Douro, Portugal

It has been a challenging growing season in the Douro. After a “changeable” March, the unseasonably hot months of April and May sent vine development racing ahead of schedule. June brought damaging meteorological events: localised hail in the Douro Superior, a lightning strike which scorched some vines in the Cima Corgo, and a single weekend of 40º+ C which caused sunburn in susceptible grapes, notably Tinta Barroca, across the Douro. July and August were cool, and rainfall has been less than average every month through July.

But after useful amounts of rain in late August and early September, Charles Symington, head winemaker, decided to push back the start of harvest to near normal dates for SFE’s port-producing vineyards across the region. Harvest began the week of 12 September under ideal conditions of clear, hot, sunny weather which is holding. Initially high baumés are coming back from their post-rainfall dips, phenolic maturity is progressing well, and we expect to harvest each of our unique Douro grape varietals at near perfect levels of ripeness. According to Charles “We are very well placed for an excellent vintage, with average to low yields. – Cynthia Jenson

Quinta do Gomariz - Vinho Verde, Portugal

2011 was a pretty cool and moderate year regarding the quantity of rain. In our sub-region (Ave) in the middle of July the plans were to harvest about 2 weeks earlier, comparing with 2010. But, then in August we had 2 weeks of some rain, and we had to delay the harvest in 2 weeks. We had to control the botrytis, which we manage to do, and our analysis tell us that the sugar and acidity content are the normal for our grape varieties. So we are expecting again a very good year, with very aromatic and fresh wines. – Vítor Mendes

Related posts:

• Winemaker's Take on the 2009 Harvest in Portugal
• Iberian Harvest Report
• How is the 2008 Iberian Harvest Shaping Up?
• 2005 Harvest in the Douro, Portugal
• Iberian Wine Harvest 2011 – A random assortment of challenges

This year, we’ve heard a wide range of harvest stories from across the peninsula: earlier than normal harvests, some later than normal, while others are reporting red grapes being picked before the white grapes – a highly unusual event. Consequently, we’re absolutely clueless as to how the 2011 vintage will end up.

Not that we are very worried. We’re firm believers that vintage generally doesn’t matter, and we’re not alone on this. Granted, there are a handful of wine geeks out there that will contest this belief; but winemaking nowadays can take any grape and turn it into a decent wine. Now, while it may not be the same wine as last year, it’s still good, drinkable wine.

That said, we put out a call to winemakers to tell us their stories as to how the 2011 vintage was coming along; what the wines are like; and what to expect. So far, we’ve received some great responses and wholly expect to get several more. If you’re a wine maker, please take some time to fill out this Iberian wine harvest report, and let us know how it’s going for you. We’ll publish the best responses in the coming week.

On the other hand, if you’re not a wine maker, we still want to hear from you too! What are you drinking right now? With the leaves beginning to turn and the weather cooling off, are you changing your drinking choices? Tell us in the comments below!

Ryan

Related posts:

• Eating at Monvinic, Broadcasting a Live Harvest in London and a Few Random Thoughts
• Iberian Spotlight: The economics of the 2009 harvest and its implications (part 1)
• Iberian Spotlight: The economics of the 2009 harvest and its implications (part 2)
• Iberian Wine Myth Busters – Why Vintage Doesn't Matter
• How is the 2008 Iberian Harvest Shaping Up?