Joe Canal's Travels to Spain - Part 5

Fridays on the BottleBlog will feature a food-related article, wine pairing, or travelogue. Today, we're continuing our travels with Wine Manager Mark Ricca and the team to Spain!

It was approximately a two hour drive to Emilio Moro. We were making our way further north but to the east this time. A tight schedule forced us to make a very quick stop for a tasting flight at this very well known property in the Ribera del Duero. We blitzed through eight wines including a new project from the Douro which is what the Duero River is called once it crosses over the border into Portugal. Also included were their three tete de cuvee wines, the Malleolus wines. Two of these are single vineyard cuvees.

Here are my hurried notes on the Emilio Moro Malleolus Valderramiro 2007:
Color: Dark ruby, clean, consistent to the rim of the glass
Nose: Black and red fruits, cedar, menthol, cracked stones
Palate: More red fruit than black, bright acidity, tannins are open grained and aggressive, (not surprising, this is a very young wine), cedar, mineral, long finish.

OKAY!!!! EVERYBODY BACK INTO THE VAN!!!!! WE'VE GOT TO GET TO RIOJA!!!!!!!!

Next stop would be Remirez de Ganuza in Rioja and we were running late. Luckily our driver Luiz was a big NASCAR fan and drove like one.

Definitely one of the more visual estates of the trip, we arrived there at just about dusk and went right out to the vineyards to see them in the fading sunlight. We were with Fernando Remirez and his sales manager Luis Martinez. Fernando seemed to me in the few hours I spent in his company, to be one of the most detail oriented winemakers I've ever met. This was evident everywhere from the meticulously groomed vineyards to the immaculate winery itself. After we finished touring the facility we did another hurry up tasting there and then headed off to dinner. It was about 11pm as we got back into our van to go to the restaurant.

Restaurant Alameda was a small somewhat formal, yet relaxed, space. An intimate and beautiful dining room semi-circled a glassed-in grill area where one could observe the chef/owner Tomas Alameda cooking over a wood fired charcoal grill. This was a carnivore's restaurant. Serendipity had struck again because the wines of Remirez de Ganazu couldn't be better matched than with the beef that we were served that evening.

Everything about this place was old school hedonistic. This was a dining room that permitted smoking. (We were informed that was about to change with the implementation of a new no smoking law.) When the tray of Cuban cigars came around after dinner I felt like I had died and gone to fat cat heaven. These, by the way, were my favorite wines of the trip. Fernando makes wines of ultra elegance. They are not heavy or overly extracted. They have acidity and are built for long term aging. They drink well when young, but will become something ethereal when they have 10+ years in the bottle.


The view of the outside of the winery, and the fermentation tanks.

Late to bed and early to rise had been the order of the week and the next morning was no different. We were on our way to Finca Allende to meet with Miguel Angel de Gregorio the visionary owner of this famous Rioja estate.

We arrived at the winery early and were taken on a tour of the facility and massive cellar. There were over 2000 barrels down there. Considering that those French oak barrels cost about $1000.00 new, that was a lot of expensive wine inside some very expensive wood. A portion of the winery consists of a restored building that dates back to the 13th century. We climbed up to a watch post on top of this restored building to see the vineyards that provide the fruit for the estate.

We climbed back down and filed into the tasting room where we tasted through the entire flight of Allende's wines. I personally was looking forward to tasting the 2005 Calvario, an assemblage from a single vineyard of the same name. 90% Tempranillo, 2% Graciano, and 8% Garnacha, it is a modern styled wine of power, grace and elegance. It showed flavors of red currants, plums, tobacco, mineral and medium grained tannins. I happen to have some of the excellent 2001 vintage in my cellar which made tasting the '05 of particular interest to me. These are very serious Riojas throughout the entire portfolio.

After tasting the flight at Allende, it was time for us to move on again this time to the multiple estates of Dominio de Eguren. The Eguren family produces over twenty wines under ten different labels in two D.O.s. From the simple Protocolo tinto (red wine) which is a Vino de la Tierra de Castilla, the classification just above Vina de Mesa or Table Wine, to the monster Riojas El Bosque and La Nieta, this family literally does it all. They even excavate their own caves and are turning around and using the massive stone blocks to construct a state of the art winery and inn.

We toured through all of the Eguren properties in Rioja ending up at their HQ of sorts at Senorio de San Vicente for lunch and a tasting flight of 19 wines. Lots of glasses, lots!

San Vicente 2006 Rioja (made from a Tempranillo variant called Tempranillo Peludo)
Color: Dark Ruby
Nose: Red fruits, plums, herbs, tobacco
Palate: Red plums, cassis, tobacco, mint, medium grained, persistent tannins, medium + finish (20-25 seconds)

Lunch followed the flight and one of the other common food items we were seeing at mealtimes was pigeon, the wild, not the city variety. So glad we didn't have to do our own dishes!


We said our goodbyes and thanks to the Egurens and loaded up the van once again to hit one last Rioja property, Bodegas Muga.