Members and guests enjoying a pre dinner Cava in the grounds of the Parador

This year is the 25^th Anniversary of the Guía Peñín so the society was honoured to be able to welcome the founder of the guide, José Peñín, to talk about the guide, philosophise about wine and present a choice of his favourite wines.   114 members and guests attended the tasting held at the Parador in Jávea and heard José explain how the 10,000 Spanish wines which appear in the guide are organised and rated.   He propounded that in today’s wine environment with any wine costing over 3€ the quality was a given, what one needed to look for was originality and that came at a price.   He also gave a very sound piece of advice, when drinking wine make your palate work not your stomach.    As his talk was delivered in Spanish, translation was undertaken by Matthew Kane of Casa del Vino who had also obtained the selection of wines requested by Sr.Peñin. Matthew was supported by the full team of Casa del Vino who were delighted to attend this important event in Jávea.

The first wine was Edetària Blanca 2011 from Bodega Edetària located in the DO of Terra Alta

which is in Cataluña 80kms west of Tarragona.   The wine is almost 100% Garnacha Blanca, with just a touch of Macabeo from old vines, with low yields.  The fermentation tanks are small and are designed and equipped to keep the different “terroirs” and grape varieties separate during the wine-making process to fully express the qualities of all the individual plots.   After fermentation the wine is aged for 8 months in new 300 litre French oak barrels.   A pretty straw yellow colour it is clean and bright and on opening an aroma of white and yellow fruit prevails along with floral notes.   Once aired, smoky notes and hints of dried fruit appear and in the mouth it is smooth, with good acidity and a long and persistent finish.    It has an Alcohol by Volume of 14%, costs 23.9€, gets 95 points in the Guía Peñín and members scored it as 85.9 points.

Albanto Rosado 2014 was José’s next choice.   This wine comes from the Tierra de Leon and uses ‘madreo’ as a processing technique, which means the manner in which the wine used to be made, but applying modern techniques.   The old vinification method (100 t0 150 years old) consists of adding grapes during the fermentation process.   This technique produces fine bubbles and a greater persistence in the mouth.  The grape is Prieto Picudo a variety of red grape which produces a unique wine, as this is the only grape variety in the world that only occurs in the province of León, north of Zamora and a small area northeast of Valladolid.  The wine is pink with bright flashes and sparkling in the glass, an aroma of intense red fruit (strawberry and pomegranate) and violets.   It is tasty, fresh, silky and airy, with perfect balance and the sparkle of natural carbon. It has a limited production of 15,000 bottles an ABV of 14%, costs 9.35€ was given 83.9 points by members and is not rated in the Guía Peñín.

The first red presented by José was LZ 2013 Tinto from the bodega Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez located in the DOCa Rioja (DO Calificada, which means regions whose quality standards are a bit higher than other DO),   LZ comes from the area Rioja Alavesa which is the smallest of the three wine-producing sub-regions in Rioja.  LZ is a blend of Tempranillo, Graciano and Garnacha grown on bush vines 70 years old..   The grapes are all handpicked, fermented in cement tanks and matured for 4 to 6 months.   Production is about 84,000 bottles.  The wine is a deep cherry in colour with purple hues. It has a clean nose of medium intensity, with notes of red fruit with mild lactic notes that give way to more spicy flavour.   Crisp and fresh in the mouth with good acidity it is well balanced with a pleasant tannic sensation and has a long aftertaste of red fruits.   The Guía Peñín rates it exceptional value for money at 8.75€ and gives it 93 points and members 83.7.

Abadia San Quirce 2013 Tinto was the second red, a Ribera del Duero wine which is a 100% Tempranillo and comes from Bodegas Imperiales which is located in Aranda in the province of Burgos.   Bodegas Imperiales has a total of 21 hectares of vineyards of Tinta Fina (Tempranillo). Vineyard ages are between 15 and more than 100 years, from pre-phylloxera vines planted in 1900. Being such an old vineyard it is spread over several sites with different soil types (sandy, limestone, clay loam). This allows the bodega to obtain grapes that even in the case of the same variety, are completely different because the character of their particular “terroir”.   Abadia San Quirce is aged for 6 months in barrel and 4 months in stainless steel tanks.   The wine is a deep cherry red colour and has an intense nose of red fruits with spicy notes.   It is fleshy and flavourful on the palate with well rounded tannins and a fine balsamic and spicy finish.   The ABV is 13.5%, it costs 10.15€, the Guía Peñín awards it 90 points and exceptional value for money while members awarded it 88.1 points.                                                                                                                                 

Finally we tasted Domaines Lupier el Terroir Tinto 2011.   Domaines Lupier is in the DO of Navarra and was started about ten years ago and consists of small plots of Grenache from very old vineyards, the oldest dating from 1903. In total Domaines Lupier consists of twenty-seven parcels together with an old 19th century manor house with a small cellar with capacity for 50,000 bottles, which accommodates small vats of 3,500 and 5,500 litres, and is equipped with updated technology. . The wine is a 100% black Grenache from old vines (mostly 60 – 70 years old) located in 12 different plots in diverse zones in the area of San Martin de Unx in the north of the DO and which is at an altitude of 400 to 600 metres.   Everything is hand picked and the wine was aged for 14 months in mixture of French oak barrels.   The wine has an intense cherry colour and an aroma with the character of ripe fruits, mountain herbs as well as balsamic notes with just hints of spices and smoke.   The palate is medium-bodied with ultra-fine tannins and a silky texture that makes it very pleasant and easy to drink.   It has an ABV of 14.5%, costs 21.85€, scores 93 points in the Guía Peñín and received 89.7 points from members.

A vote of thanks to José was proposed by the President Tim Fawle, noting how his choice if wines had reflected his theme of looking for originality.   He also thanked Matthew for his excellent translation.

Text and Photos by Gaby Ferenczy                                                                                                                                                                                                  September 2015