Many of you who were here in June participated in a visit to local bodega Pepe Mendoza in Lliber which was organised by Neville and Sarah Richardson who as members of the Tasting Team came up with idea to visit a local bodega in place of our normal tasting and dinner.
The visit did not disappoint. Pepe is a local producer of very good quality wines concentrating on local and historic grape varieties. He is passionate about his craft, has hosted UK Masters of Wine and his wines have featured in the UK Wine Society wine lists. He was unable to attend our visit but his very competent winemaker Christian hosted us with a professional presentation of the wines.
Everyone had an opportunity to buy the wines that were tasted and the fact that the total amount of wine purchased was €2400 demonstrated our opinion of his wines.
Many thanks to Neville and Sarah for organising the visit.
All of the five wines received over 90 points from both Robert Parker and Penin. The descriptions are from the Casa Agricola website which we would recommend you visit for further information (casaagricola.es). Neville has also added some comments.
WINE NUMBER 1 (cost €10 per bottle, or €60 for 6 bottle case)
Casa Agrícola Tinto
Representation of two prominent terroirs of Alicante: the highlands of Vinalopó with its Monastrell and Alicante Bouschet, and the Marine coastal areas with its Giró from Finca de Abargues.
Varietals:Monastrell 70% , Giró 25%, Alicante Bouschet 5%
(Neville comment – an easy drinking well produced wine, with sufficient complexity to make it interesting and a little bit different – in a good way!)
WINE NUMBER 2 (cost €10 per bottle or €60 for 6 bottle case)
Casa Agrícola Blanco
Representation of two prominent terroirs of Alicante: Macabeo and Airén coming from the highlands of Vinalopó and the Moscatel de Alexandria from the coastal vineyards.
Varietals:Moscatel 40%, Macabeo 40%, Airén 20%
(Neville comment – interesting white wine, easy drinking by the pool or with fish or shellfish. well produced and a blend that is different from the standard as we would expect from this artisan winery.)
WINE NUMBER 3 (cost €17 per bottle or €90 for 6 bottle case)
Puerza 2021
Our wine produced following the ancient method of maceration of the must on the skins. When this process is done with white grape must, it is called Brisadoor Brisat, also Amber or Orange Wine. The aging of this wine is carried out in clay jars produced by Master Juan Padilla.
On the nose it shows notes of rose petals, dried roses, orange peel and citrus. In the palate it has a good tannic structure and an acidity that makes you fall in love with it.
Everything from the artisan hand of Pepe Mendoza.
(Neville comment – this was a favourite amongst those members at the tasting. A pure refreshing clean taste with good acidity that cuts through in a very pleasant way. Personally, I wouldn’t call this an ‘orange wine’- it’s far more neutral coloured, to the description of rose petals and citrus I would add elderflower.)
WINE NUMBER 4 (cost €23 per bottle or €120 for 6 bottle case)
Veneno. Tinto Monastrell del Alto Vinalopó
Beautiful plot in the mountain, it owes its name to the nickname of Uncle Veneno, because he was quite serious, grumpy and harsh with his neighbors. But not everything was going to be bad and he left us in his memory a magnificent and exceptional vineyard.
Varietal: Monastrell 100%
(Neville comment – a really good Monastrell, scoring 94 Parker points and 93 Penin points. It’s not cheap, but it’s not your Aldi Monastrell! Described by the UK Wine Society as a full and well-structured red.)
WINE NUMBER 5 (cost €23 per bottle or €120 for 6 bottle case)
Giró de Abargues 2019. Wonderful Mediterranean wine with a long life ahead.
Giró, a unique variety that has united the Marina Alta since the 1500s with Mallorca and Sardinia, where it is also found. Sensitive to Oidium and with a very low production that was losing place to more productive varieties, today it is a small treasure that we must take care of and present as it deserves.
Variety: Giró 100%
(Neville comment – Giro is a grape variety which few of us have the opportunity to taste, similar to Garnacha, though its growers fiercely defend that it is not Garnacha. This one will be great in 5 years, but if you can’t wait it works really well now. Think about drinking this with a nice steak or perhaps slow cooked leg of lamb.)
