On a warm autumn evening 79 members and guests assembled in the ever popular venue of the courtyard of the Restaurant La Senia for the first wine tasting after the summer break.   The programme, introduced by President Andrew Johnson, was for three Past Presidents, Keith Pacey, Tim Fawle and Gaby Ferenczy to present ‘paired’ wines.   Pairing wines implied anything that linked the wines together.

Keith Pacey set the ball rolling with two white wines.   He chose wines which came from Terres del Alforins which is situated in the most south westerly area of the province of Valencia bordering onto the Alicante and Albacete provinces.   The area is situated around the Serra Grossa approximately 500 to 700 metres above sea level.   The area has both Mediterranean and Continental weather, very cold winters and very hot summers, the soil is rich in content, both clay and sandy loam.   There are 11 bodegas in this very small area and they produce some high quality wines.

The first wine came from Bodegas Los Frailes a family business founded in 1771 which is now in the 14^th generation of the family.   In 1999 they undertook the ambitious project of reorganising all the vineyards converting the complete farm to organic methods.   The wine was a Blanc de Triologia 2012 comprising 70% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Muscat and 10% Verdil.   The wine was fermented in French oak barrels for 4 months and 12,000 bottles are produced annually.   It has an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 13.5%, received 90 points in the Guía Peñín and can be purchased at Catarla Todo in Teulada for 7.95€.

The second wine was Cullerot 2011 from Bodegas Celler Del Roure, a blend of 30% Verdil, 30% Pedro Ximenez, 20% Macabeo and 20% Chardonnay it has an ABV of 13.5%.   The Verdil and Chardonnay are grown on sandy loam soil on 30 and 15 year old vines respectively, while the Macabeo and Pedro Ximenez are grown on clay loam on 30 and 70 year old vines respectively all the vineyards being at 600 metres.   In 2009 the bodega recovered an ancient winery, ‘bodega fonda’ which was an underground gallery with 97 clay amphorae   with capacities of between 600 and 2,800 litres where wine was produced since the 17^th century to as late as the 1930s.   They have recommenced this technique and the Cullerot had been aged for 6 months in the clay amphorae.   It was bottled in 2012 and the production is 24,000 bottles and they retail at 7.9€ each and are obtainable at Vinivars in Denia.   The wine receives 88 points in the Guía Peñín.

 Next on the boards was Tim Fawle with the first of the red wines.   His two choices came from his declared favourite wine region, Ribera del Duero, because it has a solid record of producing fine quality wines, with a tradition of winemaking stretching back generations and small family bodegas exist alongside state of the art, corporate-owned wineries.   Both the wines he was offering, as a blind tasting, were 2010 Tempranillo Crianzas, which for Ribera del Duero means they must have had at least 12 moths in barrel.   In fact the first wine turned out to have spent 16 months in French and American barrels and as we later learned was an Arzuaga Crianza 2010 costing 15.95€ and gaining 91 points from the Guía Peñín.   It had a fruity nose with a round elegant palate.   The fourth wine, produced according to a practice known as Biodynamic Viticulture had been aged for the requisite 12 months but only in French oak barrels and was made from grapes in old vineyards.   Having given us some characteristics of the first wine, Tim left us to make up our own minds on the second which turned out to be a Valdehermoso Crianza 2010 to which the Guía Peñín awarded 90 points.   Both wines had an ABV of 14.5% and could be purchased at A Catarla Todo in Teulada.

 

 

The last presenter was Gaby Ferenczy, who in contrast to Tim, was not doing a blind tasting but was revealing all the details of his two wines to be compared, which did however come from the same DO and where made from the same grape.  This was not the usual run of Merlot, Tempranillo, Syrah etc. but the rather lesser known Petit Verdot.   This grape was principally used in classic Bordeaux blends, but as it ripened very much later than other grapes, it fell out of favour.   However Gaby was not dealing with it as a blend, but as a varietal, that is 100% Petit Verdot.   There are relatively few Petit Verdot varietals in the world, but they are increasing, particularly in Spain.   The name comes from reference to the smallness of the grape and verdot meaning green due to the grape’s propensity for under ripeness.  The DO was Alicante and the vineyard was inland at Villena at a height of 550 metres and called Cabeza de la Virgen.   So it turned out the two wines were from the same vineyard of Enriques Mendoza,  and virtually identical, but separated by 5 years.   One was a 2006 Crianza Petit Verdot retailing at 13.50€ from A Catarla Todo in Teulada and gaining 91 points in the Guía Peñín and the other was a 2011 Crianza Petit Verdot which has not yet been rated (but the 2010 received 93 points) and costing 11.35€ from Casa del Vino In Jávea.   Both wines had 12 months in barrel first in new Oregon American oak and then in one year old Allier French oak.   The weather in both years was very, very similar over the months June through October and so hopefully the major difference for comparison was age.   Both wines had an ABV of 14.5%

Frank Bentley proposed a very eloquent vote of thanks to the three presenters.

Gaby Ferenczy                                                                                                                                22 Sept 2013