Tag Archives: Spanish wine

Wine of the week: Freixenet Cordon Rosado Brut NV

If most wine drinkers know Freixenet, it’s from the black bottle that they see at the grocery store. And the black bottle is decent enough $9 Spanish sparkling wine, or cava.

Sometimes, though, if you’re lucky enough, you’ll see the black bottle’s cousin, a rose cava called Rosado ($9, purchased). It’s a step up from the black bottle — a little fruitier and a little more polished. In this, it sits between two of my favorite rose cavas, the Cristalino at $7 and the Seguras Viudas at $10.

The wine is made with trepat, a Spanish grape used only for cava, and garnacha, the Spanish version of grenache. Hence some soft red fruit (strawberry?), as well as a little yeastiness and lots of bubbles. In this, it’s an excellent example of how a multi-national producer can turn out a cheap wine with character.

The Rosado will handle New Year’s ably, whether it’s for toasting on Saturday night, for brunch on Sunday morning or for sipping anytime this week. And it’s an excellent food wine; I drank it with oven fried chicken and it was delicious. Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2013 $10 Hall of Fame.

Wine of the week: Protocolo Blanco 2009

image from www.synergyfinewines.comThe Spanish have been making vin ordinaire for what seems like forever, but given that Spanish wine has traditionally been overlooked in the U.S., the only cheap Spanish table wine that most of us know is Sangre de Toro.

Which is too bad, since the company behind Protocolo does a more than decent job as well. The red was a little boring — mostly fruit that had been too heavily handled, though not nearly as overdone as some. The Blanco ($7, sample, 12 1/2 percent alcohol), on the other hand, was a nice little surprise in the midst of holiday wine tasting. It's made with two Spanish grapes — air n and macabeo, which is also used to make cava. The Blanco had a little lemon fruit, some earthiness and even a bit of minerality, though not as much acid as I expected. This was probably because it was a previous vintage; even so, it held up well.

Chill this and keep a bottle handy for wine with dinner (chicken comes to mind, though takeout that's not too spicy would work, too). It's mostly a warm weather wine, but I'm not going to pass up a chance to drink good cheap wine just because it's cooler in December.

Wine review: Naveran Cava Brut 2009

Wine review: Naveran Cava Brut 2009The Wine Curmudgeon has been drinking cava, the Spanish sparkling wine, for more than 20 years. In all that time, there has been just one label that has been crappy. This consistency of quality is mind-boggling, since wine is difficult enough to do well and cava is among the most difficult of wines to make.

The tendency, given this string of success, is to take cava for granted. And, in fact, I didn’t expect too much from the Naveran ($15, purchased), which I bought for dinner last weekend. I figured it would be just another well-made cava, and probably not worth the premium I paid compared to the seemingly endless number of world-class $10 cavas that exist.

So imagine my pleasant surprise when this wine delivered more than $15 worth of value. It was another knockout cava, with lots of crispness, plenty of tight bubbles, and some sweetish apple fruit. In this, it was a fuller, richer wine than the $10 bottles that I like, and well worth the extra money. I drank it with oven fried chicken, and it paired beautifully. But drink this on its own, for toasting the upcoming holidays, or anytime you want a nice glass of bubbly.

Wine of the week: Evodia 2009

Evodia wine reviewA regular visitor to the blog suggested the Wine Curmudgeon try this Spanish red, so I bought it and brought it home. It was only then that I noticed the alcohol level: 15 percent. Gulp.

But, because I firmly believe in tasting a wine before I judge it, I did just that. And I can report that the Evodia ($10, purchased) handles the high alcohol well. Save for touch of alcohol-inspired heat at the front, that 15 percent wasn’t an issue.

Having said that, the Evodia is not a subtle wine, and it does need food like beef, barbecue or something with enough fat to offset its oomph. It’s not a summer porch sipper by any stretch of the imagination; this is a New World-style garnacha with lots of sweet fruit (blackberries and cherries?). It doesn’t have much more than that, but what’s there is excellent, and it’s a candidate for the 2012 $10 Hall of Fame.

Wine of the week: Pasa A Paso 2009

The Wine Curmudgeon needed two wines to go with the paella he was making (and which didn't turn out well at all, a story for another time). I knew which red I wanted, and which will show up here as a wine of the week one of these days. I wasn't sure about the white; all I knew was that I wanted something that I had not tried before and that it should cost $10.

Which is how the Paso ($10, purchased) ended up in my shopping cart. I didn't know the producer, Bodegas Volver, but I knew the importer, Jorge Ordonez, who was one of the first to being quality Spanish wine to the U.S. The price was right, and the Paso was made with verdejo, which makes seafood-friendly wines that are usually more expensive.

Call it wine-buying roulette, and yet another example of why wine is so much fun. I took a chance and won. The Paso was everything I hoped it would be and a little more — fresh and lively with lots of citrus-style acid and stone fruit flavors. It wasn't as complex as a pricier verdejo, but it wasn't supposed to be.

This is exactly the kind of wine that I wish more California producers appreciated: Well-priced and well-made, and just the thing to drink with dinner when you want wine but don't want to spend a lot of money or endure wine-pairing hell.

Mini-reviews 25: Moet, El Coto, Martin Codax, Pecorino

Reviews of wines that don ?t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month. This month, a couple of roses to close out rose week.

? Mo t & Chandon Grand Vintage Brut Ros 2002 ($80, sample): Classic in style, with lots of acid and fantastic bubbles. Could probably age for a couple of years more to give the fruit a chance to show. A fine gift for someone who appreciates Champagne.

? El Coto Rioja Rosado 2010 ($10, sample): Much more New World than Spanish in style, with lots more fruit (strawberry) than a Spanish rose would have. Having said that, it's still dry and a fine, simple, fresh rose for summer.

? Mart n C dax Albari o 2009 ($15, sample): Spanish white had lemon fruit and was a little fresher than usual, which was welcome. But it's still $2 or $3 more than similar wines.

? Cantina Tollo Pecorino 2009 ($16, purchased): This white was bright and Italian, which means not that much fruit (pears?), balanced acid, and long mineral finish. Highly recommended.

Wine review: Sangre de Toro 2008

As much as the Wine Curmudgeon appreciates this wine, both for how little it costs and its sentimental value, I don't do much with it on the blog. It's one of those wines that I seem to get around to only once in a couple of years.

However, people who visit the blog apparently want more. There was the request six weeks ago from a reader looking for the plastic bulls that come with the wine, and there has been a pretty significant increase in search requests from the cyber-ether this spring. So, the Wine Curmudgeon, vigilant as ever to the needs of his visitors, decided to review a bottle.

Which turned out to be a good idea. Save for a screwcap, the Sangre de Toro ($8, purchased) is much as it always has been, a rough and peasant-style red wine blend (garnacha and carinena — the Spanish versions of grenache and carignane).

Do not be put off by that description; it's a welcome development in a world where too much wine is bland and glossy and without character. There's some red fruit and lots of acid, which means this wine needs food — meat sauces, stews and similar dishes. I drank it with sausage gravy over rice, and I was surprised at how well it worked.