Alimentaria, Barcelona March 2006
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Why have I chosen this title for my visit to one of Spain's premier wine fairs?
Lets begin with the Good. Generally speaking most of the wines on offer were of the 2004 and 2005 vintages, younger wines and some early semi crianzas, less time in oak. At the moment my thoughts are that 2005 will win out over 2004, especially in the white wines. I tasted some really outstanding Verdejo from Rueda, glorious white Granache from Priorat and wonderful fruity, fresh Macabeo from Alicante.
Now for the Bad and the Ugly. Most of these were from the 2003 vintage and as you know this was one of the hottest summers on record. A few years ago a very good friend of mine, one of Italy's leading young wine makers said to me
" 95% of what you do in the vineyard will make very good wine and the 5% in the cellar will make great wine". His point was that not enough vineyard owners / growers understand enough about the vines that they are working with especially in times of great "stress".
Well 2003 proved his point, because those that managed the vines' canopy well (the leaves) were ahead of the game. As the grapes ripened so quickly, in most places the harvest was three weeks ahead of time, the flesh was wonderfully ripe but the skins and pips were not. As a consequence you had some wonderful aromas and some really bad and ugly green tannins in the mouth. Now by the time you have done your best as a wine maker in these circumstances you will have either produced a great wine or a shocker and I am sorry to say there were more of the latter. The wine aging process in Spain, that is making Crianza, one year in oak and another in the bottle brings us nicely round to why there were so many 2003's on show.
To conclude, I did find some great wines and I hope you do as well.
Why have I chosen this title for my visit to one of Spain's premier wine fairs?
Lets begin with the Good. Generally speaking most of the wines on offer were of the 2004 and 2005 vintages, younger wines and some early semi crianzas, less time in oak. At the moment my thoughts are that 2005 will win out over 2004, especially in the white wines. I tasted some really outstanding Verdejo from Rueda, glorious white Granache from Priorat and wonderful fruity, fresh Macabeo from Alicante.
Now for the Bad and the Ugly. Most of these were from the 2003 vintage and as you know this was one of the hottest summers on record. A few years ago a very good friend of mine, one of Italy's leading young wine makers said to me
" 95% of what you do in the vineyard will make very good wine and the 5% in the cellar will make great wine". His point was that not enough vineyard owners / growers understand enough about the vines that they are working with especially in times of great "stress".
Well 2003 proved his point, because those that managed the vines' canopy well (the leaves) were ahead of the game. As the grapes ripened so quickly, in most places the harvest was three weeks ahead of time, the flesh was wonderfully ripe but the skins and pips were not. As a consequence you had some wonderful aromas and some really bad and ugly green tannins in the mouth. Now by the time you have done your best as a wine maker in these circumstances you will have either produced a great wine or a shocker and I am sorry to say there were more of the latter. The wine aging process in Spain, that is making Crianza, one year in oak and another in the bottle brings us nicely round to why there were so many 2003's on show.
To conclude, I did find some great wines and I hope you do as well.
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