You may already know that Txakoli, Txakolina and Chacolí are names used for the light and sharp white wines of the Spanish Basque country. But can they be used interchangeably, or are there subtle differences to be aware of? I have been confused about this issue for some time, and if you have too, you are now in luck – I am about to explain. (But if you really don’t care, feel free to get on with the rest of your life.)
The Basque noun for the wine could be either Txakoli or, to confuse matters even further, Txakolin (with an n). However the Basque nationalist Sabino Arana, in his spelling reform of 1895, proposed standardisation on Txakoli, so that is what you normally see now as the wine’s unadorned name in Basque.
The a at the end of the Txakolinais actually the Basque definite article, but you will note that it is not added to Txakoli, but Txakolin, which is the only reason why I bothered telling you about the Txakolin spelling at all. So Txakolina could be translated into English as the Txakoli. You will see Txakolina in the Basque PDO names Bizkaiko Txakolina, Getariako Txakolina and Arabako Txakolina. In these names the ko endings signify the genitive, like the apostrophe s does in English. So you might translate the PDOs into English as The Txakoli of Bizkai, The Txakoli of Getaria and The Txakoli of Araba.
Chacolí is simply the Spanish (i.e. Castillian) version of the Basque Txakoli, and I believe the two words would be pronounced very similarly in their respective languages. Hence, you also get the official Spanish names for the PDOs: Chacolí de Bizkaia, Chacolí de Getaria and Chacolí de Álava.
Incidentally, while Txakoli is the base word, and it often appears on wine bottle labels, it does not seem to be protected as an EU traditional term (it is not listed in Commission Regulation (EC) No 607/2009 Part B), while Chacolí-Txakolina does have protection.
I’m going to bow-out here while I still feel on safe ground, but if you want more information about the linguistics of Txakoli, and the wine itself, you could try the Txakoli Wikipedia article. And, if you can read Spanish, or are prepared to muddle through with an automatic translation, you might be interested in part 1 and part 2 of Del vino chacolín al txakoli on the euskonews website. I am also very grateful for help received on the WordReference Language Forums.
This is a review of the 6th Edition of Sherry by Julian Jeffs. I have a review copy of the paperback, published by Infinite Ideas earlier this year with an RRP of £30.00. I think the hardback version of this edition came out a couple of years ago. It has 262 pages and, like other books in this Classic Wine Library series, the general design and physical impression is good. Black and white illustrations are scattered throughout the book, including a map of the Sherry region. There is also a small collection of colour plates bound together in the middle of the book.
I already owned the 5th edition, and my first comment would be that the updates are relatively minor, so I wouldn’t recommend buying the 6th edition if you already have the 5th. In addition to making the book look a lot more modern and a number of editorial changes, the updates I spotted are: Equipo Navazos gets a few lines, as do a few other newer bodegas, and the Brandy de Jerez chapter has been ditched. Beware though, as The Twentieth Century chapter has been renamed The Twentieth Century and Beyond, but it doesn’t go very much “beyond” at all. While very limited, the updates are all welcome, and make the book generally more attractive. Regarding the mapping though, two very hard-to-read maps in an antiquated style have been replaced by one modern map that is even harder to read. Map regions are indicated by shading in white and four shades of grey, for three soil types, where the vineyards are, and something else. My issues are a) I cannot always tell which shade of grey is which, b) I have no idea what the “something else” is, but can only presume it is not relevant to Sherry, and worst of all c) the apples-and-pears colouring scheme makes it impossible to know what soils the vineyards are on, which is what you are most likely to want to know from such a map. Sometimes I despair – maps are meant to convey information, not act merely as decoration. Rant over.
On the positive side, I must say that this is probably the best specialist (as opposed to The Oxford Companion, for example) wine book I have read. It is a true classic of The Classic Wine Library. It is written well, and oozes authority that is backed up by a comprehensive section of sources and bibliography. Apart from the appendices and a section that gives a paragraph on each of the shippers, the book is roughly evenly split between history and production methods. There is no space given to tasting notes, which you may or may not see as an advantage. Whichever side of the fence you take, it is probably something that has allowed the book to work well across several editions.
But what about the excitement felt for Sherry by contemporary wine lovers? You cannot find it in Jeffs’ book. Even in the provincial North of England, where Sherry bars have not yet made much of an in-road, there are many enthused drinkers of Sherry in my circle of wine buddies. It is common to kick off an evening with a glass of Sherry, and sometimes to drink it at some point in the meal. Also perhaps a few sentences on en rama Sherry, currently gaining in popularity, would have been a good idea. Rama has an entry in the glossary (in the 5th edition too), where it is defined as wine bottled from the cask without further treatment. But that is the only mention I noticed and, even if strictly speaking the definition is correct, it is not necessarily what you always get if en rama is on the label. But maybe all this trendy stuff is a mere blip in the world of Sherry, and the weight of history, and large body of conservative imbibers, justifies its omission. If so, then there is definitely room for another more ephemeral Sherry book.
Following my very enthusiastic review of Arribes de Ventonia 2011, I snapped up the remaining bottles I could find, and also bought a few from the 2013 vintage, which was a slightly different cépage.
I tried the 2013 first, and it was not a patch on my previous experience. Fruit and oak, but none of the complexity of the 2011. Ah, well – it was after all a different wine. But last night I tried one of the more-recently-bought 2011 wines, and it reminded me more of the 2013 than my previous experience with the 2011. For both recent bottles, it was a *** rating rather than *****. Still not bad for a £9.00 bottle of wine, but not something to make me want to dash out for more.
Bottle variation or taster variation? Under most circumstances I would be very willing to accept that I am the most likely cause of inconsistency. But in this case the differences were so marked that I am leaning much more towards the bottle variation explanation. Maybe the 2011 wines were from different batches, or the storage conditions differed before the wines reached me? Not that I am suggesting there was any heat damage or similar – just that they happened to be not so good for these particular wines. The closure was not natural cork BTW, so a dodgy cork would not be an explanation.
What can we learn from this?
This is the way things are for wine that are more interesting. We have to accept it.
When I highlight a single wine in a blog post, it will be one I have tried on multiple occasions or one I have both tasted and drunk at least half a bottle of, with food where appropriate. Maybe I need to hold back on my opinions even more. Not that I feel guilty over this incident – I rarely review freebie bottles, and in this case I put my money where my mouth was to the extent that I doubt anyone else had chance to buy any.
As a consumer of tasting notes, I shall be even more sceptical. And I recommend that attitude to you too.
Time for a little light relief on winenous I think. So here is a wine I was drinking yesterday that I thought was remarkably good, and even better value for money.
Arribes DO follows the Spanish bank of the Duero as it runs South along the border with Portugal. I had just about heard of the Arribes region (as the subject of a documentary by Zev Robinson) but had no idea it was also a DO until I saw this bottle for sale. A quick google reveals there is also an Arribes national park, with some of the most stunningly spectacular river landscapes you can imagine. The grape is Rufete, which is mainly used in Portugal. You might know it better as Tinta Pinheira. No? Me neither. It was made by Bodegas Arribes del Duero, the local coop, who certainly seem to know what they are doing. Oh, and it’s 14.5% ABV, and was aged in barriques for 5 months.
Beautiful medium intense ruby colour. Intense dark fruit on the nose, and aromatically spicy. The aromas were mirrored on palate, where there was also a good solid structure – good acidity, and quite strong tannins. Quite bracing. As the wine warmed up, maybe from 13 to 16ºC, I also got some smoky treacle notes, and a little bitter chocolate. Later in the evening, when probably a bit over 20ºC, the wine got a bit soupy and the alcohol and acidity seemed to dominate – something I find with most wines, so not really a criticism. Elegant and subtle it isn’t, but there is lot a going on in the wine, and it made an excellent accompaniment to robust food. I hope that does not sound like faint praise – it is not meant to be. It was sold to me as something to drink by 2016, but I say it is not going to die anytime soon. Would it improve? I really don’t know – it is pretty damned good now *****.
Sadly out of stock now at The Daily Drinker where I bought mine, but Kudos them for finding it and selling me a bottle for excellent price of £9.00. Red Squirrel Wine are still offering it for sale at the same price, and maybe will have a few bottles left after I have placed my order for a case.
When staying in Palma de Mallorca last year, we visited José L Ferrer in Binnisalem where we picked up three varietal wines, each of a different variety grown only on the island. As varieties, they are not (with one exception) particularly rare, but you do not usually find them sold as single-variety wines. Unlike other wines from Ferrer’s cellar, they were fermented in 500 li oak barrels. The labels carry a drawing of a Ferreret, a toad native to Majorca – by analogy to the grape varieties presumably, and with a name that is not to be confused with that of the producer.
Last weekend, I tasted these wines, and then drank them with food. Below, are description of the varieties according to Wine Grapes, followed by my tasting notes.
Ferreret, Mantonegro, Jose L Ferrer, 2014, 13.5% – €18 Also spelled as two words: Manto Negro. 320 ha of vineyards, and often found in Majorquin blends. Wines are generally soft, light coloured and high in alcohol. Younger vines tend to produce red fruit flavours, while older vines with low yields give more concentrated black fruit. Its tendency to oxidise means the wines do not age well.
Pale garnet. Some oak. Fresh red fruit – raspberry and cherry. Sweet and spirity. Medium high acid. Intense aromas. Low but detectable tannin. Perfumed and fragrant. Sweet ripe fruit. Excellent length. Drink now ****
With food, this was the most enjoyable of the three ****
Ferreret, Gorgollassa, Jose L Ferrer, 2014, 13.0% – €18 Only 4 ha of vineyards, but the area is increasing. Produces wines that are dry and elegant, but with a tendency to oxidation. Typically gives wines with strawberry and violet flavours, fairly low acidity, moderate alcohol and soft tannins.
Medium pale garnet. Intense. Lightly aromatic oak – rather pleasant. Red fruit. Medium high acid. Intense aromas. Sweet red fruit. Medium low tannin. Nice structure. Excellent length. Refreshing finish. Drink now. Better than the Mantonegro ****
With food, this was one of the less enjoyable of the three, the pleasant oakiness failing to come through ***
Ferreret, Callet, Jose L Ferrer, 2014, 14.0% – €18 143 ha of vineyards. Traditionally rather rustic, light red or rosé, and low in alcohol. Increasing trend towards higher quality, finer tannins and moderate alcohol. Usually moderate acidity, but enough to give balance and freshness. Minerally, food friendly, typically red fruit aromas and sometimes violet scented.
Medium pale ruby garnet. Medium intense fruit. Raspberry maybe, but moving towards the black fruit end of the spectrum. Blueberry I think. More muted, and possibly more serious. Impressive legs. Medium high acid. Medium low tannin. Aromas as nose, but actually not very interesting. Excellent length. Disappointing on finish. Drink now ***
With food, this was one of the less enjoyable of the three ***
In summary, all three wines were good, lightly structured quaffing wines, rather than wines to sip quietly over the course of an evening: nothing wrong with that if you are in the mood for a good quaff, as I was.
Recently we spent a week in Palma de Mallorca. It’s a beautiful city that is easily accessible by air from the UK, and certainly worthy of a long weekend at the very least. There are plenty of interesting places to eat and drink, and I would like to draw your attention to a couple of centrally located venues that should be of particular interest to wine lovers. They were both good enough for us to visit twice on our trip.
Wineing
Wineing (sic) is a great place for wine-lovers to geek out. Even normal people who want to grab something to eat with a couple of glasses of wine will not be disappointed, but if you want to taste local wines, it is the place to go. Here is a panoramic image of the enomatic machines available there – click to enlarge.
From left to right, there are two machines loaded with non-Majorcan Spanish reds, followed by one with white and rosé wines from anywhere in the world, one with non-Spanish reds, and then, fading into the distant darkness in the image, are the two machines I concentrated most on: the Majorcan reds. The emphasis on red wine reflects production on the island, but seemed inappropriate in a wine-bar-cum-restaurant setting. Nevertheless, it suited me.
On both visits we were served by a Swedish waitress with excellent English who was friendly and helpful, and very much set the tone of the place. One of the nice features of Wineing was the flexibility. The place was not very busy, so we could sit where we wanted, and it is possible to just drink, or eat as little or as much as you want. The menu included tapas, but you could also put together a full meal with dessert – a lot more wine-friendly than a cheese or ham platter. For our first visit we were not very hungry, but shared bread, one tapas dish, one steak and a portion of chips. The second time we ordered a few different tapas dishes.
The wine choices were even more flexible. Depending on where you chose to sit, there may have been a glass at your table, but regardless there was a stash of decent quality glasses on a table between two enomatic machines for you to help yourself to. From the machines you could take pours of size “tasting”, “half glass” or “full glass”, or buy bottles, at the prices indicated on the enomatic labels. To give you some idea of the range, the Majorcan wines I tried were: Ánima Negra, Án and ÁN/2; Miguel Oliver, Aía; 4 Kilos, 12 Volts and Gallinas y Focas; Oliver Moragues, OM; Son Bordils, Syrah; Xaloc, El Colmo; Castell Miguel, Shiraz Stairway to Heaven.
La Bodeguilla
La Bodeguilla was also excellent, but in a very different way. The food at Wineing is good, but at La Bodeguilla it is outstanding, and there was also an excellent wine list. It is never going to be a Michelin starred restaurant for reasons mentioned below, but in my opinion it whupped Simply Fosh (a 1 star restaurant in Palma) on sheer quality of food.
But be aware that, although it does serve both tapas and restaurant-style courses, at heart it is an up-market tapas bar, with small tables and less-than-comfortable seating. There are two areas: in the more tapas part you are provided with stools, while in the restaurant part the chairs are ridiculously low. The table heights were in proportion to the chairs, but if you are tallish like me you finish up almost sitting cross-legged. If I were a cynic (actually I am in this case), I would suggest that the seating was designed to encourage people not to linger so they can cram more covers in. At the very least, a Michelin star does ensure more comfortable seating!
Another slight negative for us was the more formal, though not always well-organised, service. To be fair, this may have partly been due to the language barrier, but nevertheless it made a marked contrast to the service at Wineing.
The wine list in tangible form is illustrated above. You do get a paper version too, unprompted if you are seated in the restaurant area, but apparently only on request in the tapas area. There is also a good selection of wines by the glass. Nowhere near as comprehensive as the enomatic-powered Wineing, but very nicely selected. For example, the Sherries offered were, to quote the by-the-glass card verbatim: Tio Pepe Rama, Manzanilla la Goya Rama, Palo Cortado AB Leonor, Amontillado Tresillo, and Uno Palma.
Every tapas dish on the two occasions we ate there was exquisite: crab terrine, tuna tartare, aubergine and smoked cod, and a mini steak and foie gras burger with skinny chips. The main course we both ordered was suckling lamb shoulder, which turned out to be a whole shoulder and front leg. This was no doubt correctly cooked and presented, but I do tend to prefer the meat of more fully grown animals. So why did I order it? Well, there was not a lot of choice for the main courses, and three of the dishes were suckling something-or-other. On return I shall stick to the tapas.
This place is not cheap, and it does apparently get full very easily, but I recommend it highly for the quality of the tapas and wine.
No, this is not just a revisiting of the topic of Bobal, but a bit more about Zev Robinson‘s documentary film La Bobal Revisited. Take a look at the trailer below. It gives a pretty good impression of the full documentary, but is I think more fast-paced.
The actual documentary is relaxed in many ways. It is not stuffed with neatly organised facts, but rather provides a voice for the wine people of Utiel Requena and Manchuela, the region in Eastern Spain where Bobal is grown. The people talk, and seem united even if their views do sometimes diverge, and we are shown a series of scenes from the region in general, and of vine cultivation and winemaking in particular. Most scenes, while often incorporating movement, seem to have something of the character of a still image, short-lasting and with a dynamic composition that demands attention. The net effect is the feeling of simultaneous events in many places, and at many levels of detail, and thus the picture of life there is constructed. The great pleasure is hearing people talking about things that mean a lot to them, and in their own voices.
If you are interested in seeing the documentary, get in touch with Zev by email zevrobinson@gmail.com, and I am sure he will be able to sell you a DVD and/or keep you posted about future screenings. Finally, I should declare the fact that I know Zev personally, but the only motivation I have in writing this post is to give well-deserved exposure to an excellent documentary, and an excellent grape variety.
First, an explanation of the words on the label. Bobal is the grape variety, Manchuela the region in Spain that gives its name to the Denominación de Origen, Cien y Pico is the producer, and En Vaso the name of the wine. En Vaso actually refers to a vine pruning technique, but you’ll have to ask the Cien y Pico marketing people what the exclamation marks and ellipsis signify.
I discovered Cien y Pico En Vaso on the shelves of D Byrne in Clitheroe, and grabbed a bottle because I wanted to learn more about Bobal. My interest in the grape had been piqued a few years ago by Zev Robinson’s documentary La Bobal y otras historias del vino, recently reworked as La Bobal Revisited, but you do not see a lot of it around in the UK. I enjoyed the first bottle so much that I ordered another half case, from Byrne’s again as their price of £9.60 seems to be the best in the country. Now, after three bottles, I feel I at least understand this particular wine quite well.
As with my last post, about Paparuda Pinot Noir, I am strongly recommending this wine, but again it comes with a caveat because I don’t think it will suit everyone. It is a very different wine to the Pinot Noir, so if that does not appeal this one might. Here’s the tasting note…
Intense ruby red with hints of purple. Intense nose, with lots of interesting stuff going on, to the extent that my notes I keep differ quite a bit. Take your pick: treacly, farmyard, and maybe some smoke from one bottle, or volatile, slightly vegetal, and dark fruit from another. But on both occasions I had a heavy, rustic wine, quite possibly technically faulty, but nevertheless attractive. On the palate, high acidity, and big but nicely structured tannins. Intense ripe dark fruit, but in the presence of the acidity and tannin it has a good refreshing character. Hints of cocoa and orange on one bottle. Excellent length. This is a brute of a wine – big on everything except elegance and subtlety. Good for drinking now with a big juicy steak or chili con carne, but I imagine it will improve with time *****
We were back on Tenerife a few weeks ago, and of course trying out local wines again. In this post you will find a few references to last time. You do not need to, but if you want to better understand the full significance of last time, a description is available here.
Unlike last time I cannot now resist giving you the picture of the old wine press at Casa del Vino la Baranda. I was actually taken in 2010, but could as well have been a few weeks ago as the weather was the same – uncharacteristically wet.
All the prices listed below for the wines are intended to be retail prices on the island converted to GBP, but quite a few of them were estimates based on very little evidence so please do not take them too seriously. Most of the wines I saw for sale were in quite a narrow price band, so knowing the precise prices is perhaps not so important. The only wines mentioned below that stood out as being more expensive were the Can and Cráter wines.
A tasting at Casa del Vino la Baranda
We visited Casa del Vino again, and we were better prepared. We avoided the locals’ weekend quaffing hour that we hit last time, and apart from a few German tasters we had the tasting room to ourselves. Without the pressure of fighting for attention this time, we announced our intention to drink our way through all the wines on offer, and without prompting it was suggested that we could have half glass pours. A shared half glass was still quite a generous pour for two people, one of which was driving, so we really needed a spittoon. The English word for the device was not understood, but a rather unsavoury mime of wine being expelled from my mouth did the trick, and we were set up with a spittoon and two flights in largish glasses arranged in front of a line of bottles. Excellent, and a vast improvement on last time. The per-glass prices varied between EUR 1.50 and 2.50, and the total price for our half-glass tasting of 13 wines and some crunchy bread nibbles came to around EUR 8 in total – not at all bad for two people. Our pourer obviously felt more comfortable with German than English, so he spent most time chatting to others, which was sad in a way as I would have liked more information. On the other hand it did leave us in peace to concentrate on tasting the wines, and let us discuss more frankly between ourselves.
Unlike last time, there were clear differences apparent between all of the wines. Having so many wines lined up at the same time probably helped bring out the differences, and I also suspect that Casa del Vino chose the wines on show to illustrate the variety of styles. To put it mildly, I enjoyed some styles more than others. Most of the sweeter wines (we didn’t taste any properly sweet dessert wines) were pretty awful in my opinion, and not just because of the sweetness. But I have a sneaky suspicion that they sell at least as well as the drier ones, and who am I to judge? Well, OK, if you are reading this you probably know who I am, and I am guessing your tastes are probably closer to mine than those who regularly drink those wines, so I suggest you stick to the ones with three or more stars.
Quite a few of the reds, not just the ones at Casa del Vino, had traits that suggested carbonic maceration. I have used the word “confected” a few times in my notes. Unlike some writers I do not regard this a being necessarily negative – for me it is just a descriptor of wines that have probably undergone carbonic maceration. I certainly would not want every wine to taste like that, but in the right context it is fine.
The whites and rosé…
Morra Guanche, Tenerife Tacoronte-Acentejo DO, Seco, 100% Listán Blanco, 2012, 12.0%, £5.80 Watery pale. Vaguely fresh. Herbal and floral maybe. Low acidity. Dry. Quite neutral, but pleasant enough. Drink now ***
El Borujo, Blanco, Tenerife Valle de Güimar DO, Seco, 40% Listán Blanco, 30% Albillo, 20% Moscatel, 10% Vijariego, 2012, 12.5%, £7.00 Pale straw. Intense, aromatic. Big nose. Floral. Rose maybe? Medium low acid. Powerful finish. Dry. A much bigger wine in terms of flavour than the Morra Guanche. Drink now ****
Viñátigo, Vijariego, Tenerife Ycoden-Daute-Isora DO, 100% Vijariego, 6 months in Barrique, 2012, 12.5%, £8.20 Medium pale greeny gold. Intense oaky nose. Medium low acid. Oaky on palate too but quite pleasant. Lime and lemon. Dry. Only consider you are happy with oaky wines. Drink now, or try keeping a few years ****
Brumas de Ayosa, Espumoso Afrutada, Tenerife Valle de Güímar DO, Semiseco, 100% Listán Blanco, 2012, 11.5%, £7.00 Medium pale gold. Intense citrus. Lime perhaps? Medium low acid. Medium sweet. Ugh. Vaguely corky but I don’t think it was corked *
Flor de Chasna Sensación, Tenerife Abona DO, Semidulce, 100% Listán Blanco, 2013, 11.5%, £7.00 Pale straw. Huge nose. Sweet cat pee. Medium low acid. Medium sweet. Sweetness almost clobbers flavour completely. Drink now ***
Bodegas de Miranda, Tenerife Valle de la Orotava DO, 100% Listán Negro, 2012, 13.5%, £7.00 Medium intense purple ruby. Confected sweet red fruit. Medium low acid. Rather hard edges. Drink now **
Viña Orlara, Tenerife Tacoronte-Acentejo DO, 40% Listán Negro, 40% Negramoll, 10% Rubí Cabernet, 10% Castellana and Merlot, 2012, 13.5%, £5.40 Medium intense purple ruby. Intense pencil box claret-like nose. Medium acid. As nose. Medium low tannin. Light, but more serious than the last red wine. Drink now or keep a little ***
Viña Sur, Tenerife Ycoden-Daute-Isora DO, 100% Negramoll, 2012, 13.5%, £7.50 The first pour we were offered was oxidised, probably because the bottle had been open for too long – you can see the level in the image above – but this was replaced with a pour from a newly opened bottle when I pointed this out. Medium pale purple ruby. Intense confected red fruit. Medium low acid. As nose. Medium tannin. Like a decent Beaujolais perhaps. Drink now, or keep a little ****
Viña Riquelas Negramoll, Tenerife Tacoronte-Acentejo DO, 100% Negramoll, 2012, 13.0%, £7.30 Medium intense ruby. Intense pleasant red fruit. Raspberry and strawberry. Medium low acidity. Medium low tannin. Palate more restrained than nose. Drink now ***
7 Fuentes, Tenerife Valle de la Orotava DO, Bodegas Soagranorte, 90% Listán Negro, 10% Tintilla, 8 months in barrique, 2012, 13.0%, £7.10 Medium pale purple ruby. Oaky reductive notes. Medium low acid. Medium high tannin. Better on palate – no reductive notes. Suspect will improve with aging ***
Cráter, Tenerife Tacoronte-Acentejo DO, Listán Negrol and Negramoll. New French oak barriques for 6 months, 2011, 13.5%, £14.30 Medium ruby garnet. Medium pencil box Claret. Medium acidity. Smooth. Medium tannin. Good now, and will improve. Note that this was the wine that impressed most in 2010, when we drank a 2006 wine at Solana in Santa Cruz ****
Wines we drank in restaurants
Viña Norte, Tinto Joven, Listán Negro y Negramoll, Tenerife Tacoronte Acentejo DO, 2012, 13.5%, £8.00 Intense purple ruby. Intense, slightly sickly, dark fruit Medium low acid. Boiled sweets carbonic maceration. Cherry. Sweet aromatics that were sickly on the nose are more pleasant on the palate. Also lifted by eucalyptus notes. Low tannin. Drink now ***
Tajinaste, Tenerife Valle de la Orotava DO, Tinto Tradicional, 2012, 13.0%, £8.00 Intense purple ruby. Fresh boiled dark fruit drops. Medium low acidity. Low tannin. Cab mac again. I tried two bottles on two consecutive evenings. The second night it seemed lighter and less cloying, but still not outstanding. Drink now ***
Can, Listán Negro y Vijariego, Tenerife Valle de la Orotava DO, Finca La Araucaria. Bodega Tajinaste, 9 months in French oak barrels, 2011, 13.5%, £15.00 Intense purple. Maybe some ruby, but poor light. Intense dark fruit and oak. Medium low acid. Smooth. Understated – certainly compared to expectation from the nose. Velvety, medium low tannin. Toffee flavours from the oak, but nothing indicating oxidation. Good now. I tried two bottles on two consecutive evenings. The second evening, I was not sure how understated it was on the palate. It was a bit of a bruiser, but still without the sweetness of fruit that often comes with such wines. Good now, but no hurry ****
Tajinaste, Blanco Seco, Vino de Calidad de las Islas Canarias DO, Listán Blanco, Albillo Criollo, 2012, 12.5%, £7.50 Pale greenish straw Intense, fresh and herbal. But not like Sauvignon Blanc. More heavy aromatic mediterranean herbs. Sage? Medium acid. Dry. Viscous. Stone fruit finish, as viognier but still aromatically herbal. Drink now. Yet another wine we had two bottles of! ****
In summary
Interesting wines, and I am glad I tried them – they are definitely worth exploring if you find yourself on Tenerife. Back in the UK, if I happened to stumble across them I’d be happy to pick up a bottle of the ones I enjoyed more. But I don’t think I’d seek them out, and doubt very much I would drink multiple bottles when they have so much more competition here.
Once again I decided there are more beautiful things in life than wine bottles to show pictures of, so here is the Gran Hotel in Palma, designed by Domènech i Montaner who was also responsible for Modernista buildings in Barcelona.
Palma is a fine city, but we were staying in Sóller, at the other end of the scenic railway, and just over the mountains on the North West side of the island. So most of the restaurants mentioned below are in Sóller, though there are a couple we visited for lunch on day trips.
Generally speaking I was a little surprised at how similar the restaurants we tried were in terms of price, menu choice and quality of food. It seemed to be pretty standard to offer a number of local Mallorcan dishes, along with some with a somewhat more international flavour which normally came with shredded lettuce and other inappropriate bits of salad. Generally speaking the quality was pretty good, but never much better than that. Here are the restaurants, together with the wines taken at each place. The prices are estimated Spanish retail prices for 75cl bottles, converted at current rates. Don’t take them too seriously, but it will give you some idea the relative prices.
La Vila, Sóller We had our first evening meal in our hotel restaurant. Good atmosphere and service. The food was OK, but on the relatively pricey side and unnecessarily complicated. Scallops were a bit chewy, and the selection of cheeses boring. Nicely cooked magret of duck in a good orange sauce, but lots of additional faffy bits, and apples with so much cinnamon flavour they overpowered the rest of the dish.
Jean Leon, Petit Chardonnay, Penedés DO, 2009, £9.50
Intense and ripe tropical fruit. Pineapple, and something with a bitter edge – maybe Seville oranges ***
Ses Nines, La Vila Hotel Sóller Edició Limitada, Binissalem Mallorca DO, Tianna Negre, 2009, £13.50
This was a supposedly a special cuvée for the restaurant. Intense and brambly, with quite a bit of tannin and a bitter finish. Good now, but I’d expect it to improve in the next 5 years or so. A good ***
Es Canyis, Port de Sóller Had a late lunch here, sharing a starter of grilled sardines and a main of arròs negre. Simple but very good – probably the best meal of the holiday. Nice relaxed restaurant and good service too.
Blanc de Blancs, Maciá Batle, Binissalem Mallorca DO, 2010, £5.30
Intense tropical fruit again. This time pineapple and melon I thought. Bitter and cloying finish ***
El Guia, Sóller The most remarkable thing about this place was the service. Slow and ponderous silver service, with wine top ups every few minutes until they got a bit busier, and a waiter who keeps repeating the order to himself as he returns to the kitchen. The fish soup was full of mushy fibres of fish. Maybe that is how it is done locally, but it wasn’t to my taste. But I enjoyed very much the local dish llom amb col – pork wrapped in cabbage leaves and slow cooked.
José L Ferrer, Crianza, Binissalem Mallorca DO (Mantonegro), Spain, 2008, £9.00
Sweet sickly dark fruit on the nose – rather unpleasant I thought. Slightly sweet, slightly oxidised, and quite tannic *
Son Tomas, Banyalbufar Just had a main course for lunch here – a disappointingly tough grilled monkfish. My wife’s Mallorcan fish was better cooked, so maybe I was just unlucky. A nice terrace location though.
Alba Flor, Blanco, Prensal Muscat, Binissalem Mallorca DO, Vins Nadal, 2009, £7.50 Another oxidised one. Lemon, sherry and apples. Maybe I should have been sending these back, but I quite liked this one. More interesting than tropical fruit! ***
Cipriani, Sóller This was not the Don Cipriani you may have read about elsewhere. It seems that has now folded. This was a restaurant on the main square. The food was very good. I had the sopes mallorquines, which was actually a meal in itself (I had forgotten that sopes was not soup), and the equally local slow cooked shoulder of lamb. Decent service, and a good outside location.
Ses Nines, Manto Negre Cab Sauv Callet Sirah, Binissalem Mallorca DO, Tianna Negre, 2010, £9.00
Blackberry. Jammy, and with a certain edge. Quite tannic, bitter finish. Not unpleasant. Despite the same star rating, it did not appeal as much as La Vila’s version of Ses Nines ***
Sa Cova, Sóller Had a couple of meals here. Service is a bit rough around the edges but acceptable, and outside tables small with little space around them. Had battered squid rings as a starter twice. The first time was fantastic – light and crispy coating with melt-in-the-mouth squid. Next time was sadly more greasy and chewy. Had the magret of duck here too to compare. This time it was in PX sauce. Bigger portion, also well cooked and tasty, but cheaper and less faff. This one also came with cinnamon apples, which were more subtly spiced.
ÁN/2, VdT Mallorca, Falanis, Ánima Negre, 2008, £11.60
This is the cheapest of the Ánima Negre red range. Nicely delineated aromas, vanilla oak, and blackcurrant fruit. Intense and quite tannic. Spicy, especially on the finish. Excellent length. At last we had stopped messing about with wines on this holiday. Would be even better after another 5 years ****
Victoria, Alcúdia This has an excellent location on the peninsula beyond Alcúdia – a terrace with fine views. I had a tuna salad to start with, which turned out to be tinned tuna on a salad you might well get in the UK. Pleasant enough, but I expected something more exciting. This was followed by frit mallorquí, a local offal fry-up, which was good.
Bach, Extrísmo, Seco, Penedes DO (Xarel.lo, Macabeo, Chardonnay), Spain, 2009, £5.00
Citrusy, orange I think, and pineapple. Good value ***
Café Sóller, Sóller As suggested by the name, this was less of a restaurant and more of a café that serves food. A rare fillet steak here, correctly cooked. The place seems to specialise in inappropriate garnishes, so my steak had a huge piece of white asparagus lying across the plate. My wife’s mozzarella and tomato salad came with a strawberry, and I saw pasta being served with slices of orange and kiwi.
Án, Felanis, Ánima negra, VdT de los Illes Balears, 2001, £50.00
This is the middling priced wine of the Ánima negra range. Intense mature spicy red fruit. Cinnamon, I think. Sweet ripe fruit. Dusty tannins. Fantastic length with a bitter finish. Drink now or keep up to another 10 years. Easily the best wine of the holiday *****
Bizarrely, in our experience of Sóller, the less fancy the restaurant and the poorer the quality of the wine glasses, the better the wines that were available. Sa Cova and Café Sóller were the only places to serve anything of the level of ÁN/2, and Café Sóller was the only place to have Án on their list. Café Sóller also deserves special mention for the reasonable markups on the Án. They charged €41 for the 2001 and €58 for the 2000 – less than the retail prices I saw for similar vintages.
The Basque noun for the wine could be either Txakoli or, to confuse matters even further, Txakolin (with an n). However the Basque nationalist Sabino Arana, in his spelling reform of 1895, proposed standardisation on Txakoli, so that is what you normally see now as the wine’s unadorned name in Basque.
This is a review of the 6th Edition of Sherry by Julian Jeffs. I have a review copy of the paperback, published by Infinite Ideas earlier this year with an RRP of £30.00. I think the hardback version of this edition came out a couple of years ago. It has 262 pages and, like other books in this Classic Wine Library series, the general design and physical impression is good. Black and white illustrations are scattered throughout the book, including a map of the Sherry region. There is also a small collection of colour plates bound together in the middle of the book.
Time for a little light relief on winenous I think. So here is a wine I was drinking yesterday that I thought was remarkably good, and even better value for money.
On both visits we were served by a Swedish waitress with excellent English who was friendly and helpful, and very much set the tone of the place. One of the nice features of Wineing was the flexibility. The place was not very busy, so we could sit where we wanted, and it is possible to just drink, or eat as little or as much as you want. The menu included tapas, but you could also put together a full meal with dessert – a lot more wine-friendly than a cheese or ham platter. For our first visit we were not very hungry, but shared bread, one tapas dish, one steak and a portion of chips. The second time we ordered a few different tapas dishes.
The wine list in tangible form is illustrated above. You do get a paper version too, unprompted if you are seated in the restaurant area, but apparently only on request in the tapas area. There is also a good selection of wines by the glass. Nowhere near as comprehensive as the enomatic-powered Wineing, but very nicely selected. For example, the Sherries offered were, to quote the by-the-glass card verbatim: Tio Pepe Rama, Manzanilla la Goya Rama, Palo Cortado AB Leonor, Amontillado Tresillo, and Uno Palma.
First, an explanation of the words on the label. Bobal is the grape variety, Manchuela the region in Spain that gives its name to the Denominación de Origen, 
Once again I decided there are more beautiful things in life than wine bottles to show pictures of, so here is the Gran Hotel in Palma, designed by