Spain on Top: Lessons from a recent SmartMoney wine tasting
SINGLE OLIVE TREE, SINGLE VINEYARD: Jesus Madrazo’s Viña del Olivo at CVNE’s Viñedos de Contino, Laserna, Spain, September 13, 2007. Photo: José Guerra.
Late last week, an email newsletter from the East Village Spanish wine shop Tinto Fino alerted me to an article that recently appeared in The Wall Street Journal monthly, SmartMoney: “Is Spain the New Bordeaux?”.
James B. Stewart’s “SmartSpending” piece chronicles an informal blind tasting he recently organized in which wines from two top Bordeaux properties, Cheateau Pape Clement 2004 ($80) and Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2004 ($275), were tasted alongside a broad range of ten Spanish wines selected by Tinto Fino’s Mani Dawes, the idea being to test Spanish mettle against a category of French wine that’s quickly becoming a stand-in for both inflated pricing and a weak dollar.
“The results confounded our expectations,” Stewart writes. “Of the many tastings we’ve done, this was perhaps the most humbling — and enjoyable.” Once the panel determined their top four wines, the labels were revealed. Viñedos de Contino’s powerhouse Viña del Olivo Rioja 2001 was the overwhelming favorite: “We couldn’t get enough of this. We found its nose elegant and its taste rich, full, a bit tannic; it boasted a long, velvety finish. It won two votes as a Bordeaux, but others found it a little too extroverted to qualify. Though steep in price [$125 for a 750ml bottle], it’s still a bargain by first-growth-Bordeaux standards.”
Next came El Bugader Montsant 2004($63), followed by Valbuena Ribera del Duero 2001 ($125). Pape Clement, the panel’s number four pick, was the sole Bordeaux to place.
Admittedly, young wines from a problematic vintage* do not a great property define. One must also consider the fact that the instant Mr. Stewart decided to ask Ms. Dawes to select the Spanish entrants, France was at an immediate disadvantage; few in the business know Spanish wines like she does, and her palate judgments, if the wine selection at Tinto Fino is any indication, are impeccable.
Still, I suspect that this is not the last time we hear about the wine cognescenti looking south towards Spain for wines that offer stunning quality without the ‘dollar hangover.’
As Spanish winemakers keep ratcheting up quality and wine consumers continue to educate themselves about killer wines made south of the Pyrenees that won’t break the bank, new and established brands in Rioja and beyond will start looking sweeter and sweeter to serious wine collectors and consumers alike.
We very well could be at the beginning of a paradigm shift. In many ways Spain has already trumped France in the world of gastronomy. Could the world of wine be far behind?
*NOTE: After the exuberant New World drink-me-now ripeness that attended the hot vintage of 2003, 2004 in Bordeaux returned to what many have called a more classic style, which is to say, one that needs years in the bottle to develop. See Jancis Robinson’s lucid comments on the matter.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Another one of those specious “competitive” tastings that leave out more than they actually bring. Pape-Clement? Used to be a great address in the Graves, until it was acquired by the Magrez Empire and the wine was Rollandized, which, in my book, is a particularly unfortunate euphemismo for “turned to shit”. Don’t have all that much experience with latter-day Mouton, since the friends who used to buy it and offer it to me are no longer buying it.
2004 a “difficult” vintage in Bordeaux? What does that mean, that it wasn’t a Parkerista megaripeness blockbuster on the order of 2000 and 2003? Of course, in my book that would be a great thing, actually. The wines, in spite of the spoofulation mandated by their masters, would perhaps bear the faintest resemblance to something we wine lovers of a certain age once used to know as “Bordeaux”.
Anyhoo, Chus’ 2001 Olivo is a wonderful wine, a modern Rioja with a classic heart. He’s my friend and he knows why I admire his work. What I don’t get is how Valbuena, from the latterly spoofulistic Vega Sicilia, is such a great thing. Formerly great bodega. Made the one truly great wine from the year of my birth. Dead to me now.
Who makes this Bugader stuff? Is it pointy or real?
As far as “Spain trumping France”, wine-wise, France has the edge in terms of real, unspoofulated wine. Most of Spain, over the past decade and a half, has been too devoted to making wines for bullshit opinion-makers instead of making wine for wine drinkers. There are signs this is changing now. But France, as far as I can tell (and believe me, I can tell), still has the edge. his is said with a glass of Pascla Cotat’s lovely Sancerre Rosé 2006 in front of me. Of course, good folks in Galicia and the Basque country are endeavoring to make vins de terroir in Spain now, which is heartening.
M.
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I will always go the Spanish reds in a store before the southern French. For me it’s Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Toro, La Mancha, Valdepenas, Navarra, Almansa, Jumilla, Castilla y Leon, Cataluna, Campo de Borja… et al. I also agree with you about the food of Spain. Give me good tapas and other Spanish food anyday.