2007 Bodegas Borsao Monte Oton, Garnacha, Campo de Borja, Spain

The Campo de Borja area is known as "the Garnacha land of Spain.". This is the home of Bodegas Borsao, founded in 1958 and a Garnacha (a.k.a. Grenache) specialist for much of that time. The town of Borsao is part of the Zaragoza province, and is situated between the Ebro River and the Moncayo mountain range. The region has a continental climate, defined by very dry and hot summers and very cold winters.

The vineyards of Monte Oton, which produced the grapes for this featured wine selection, sits high on the wind-swept slopes of the extinct Moncayo volcano — a sun-drenched location that's ideal for growing perfectly matured Garnacha grapes. Bodegas Borsao takes this exquisite fruit and crafts it into an elegantly textured wine with a long, complex finish.

Body: medium
Color: ruby red
Aromas: soft red fruit like raspberries and plums. Hints of darker fruit like blackberries. Slight minerality and a burst of cherry on the mid palate with a touch of white pepper.

Good Words: "The 2007 Monte Oton is 100% Garnacha. Dark ruby-colored, the nose delivers aromas of mineral, cherry, and earth notes. This is followed by a medium-bodied wine with excellent depth, ripeness and a lengthy finish. It’s a mighty serious effort for its tiny price." -Rated 88, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Eat with: veal breast stew, baby carrots, spring onions & English peas

Espelt 2007 Corali

The Espelt bodega cultivates the most extensive and innovative vineyard in Empordá. Espelt opened its winery in 2000, situated in the North of Catalonia, not far from the famous El Bulli Restaurant.

Empordá is a specific DO in Spain that is becoming more well known because of the fine wines being produced and the interesting landscape. Espelt uses a large variety of different grapes (16 types) all farmed and harvested with a biodynamic cultivation. The vineyard soil is mostly sand and porous granite, which in turn provides some mineral nuances expressed in the wine.

The 2007 Corali Rosé illuminates its bright pink color, with hints of coral. The aroma is intense and smooth with ripe red fruits and the initial taste is silky and smooth, with a fine balance, that is maintained in mid-palate with a long, bright finish. The Wine Advocate gave this wine a rating of 90 points in February.

Grapes: 100% Garancha, Soil: Granite, Sandy, Production: 750 cases, Alcohol: 13%

Celler de Capcanes, Mas Donis Barrica

Celler de Capcanes, founded in 1933, is situated in the village of Capcanes and has served for many years as the village cooperative winemaking facility. The town of Capcanes was mainly responsible for getting the Montsant wine region its own DO status. In the 1990’s, the co-op began making kosher wines for the Jewish population of Barcelona, and from that exposure in the much larger city, the property began to attract a greater level of interest. Wine expert and importer Eric Solomon approached the Celler of Capcanes and asked for a custom cuvée to be made from some of the better vines of the property.

The 2005 Old Vine Mas Donis Barrica is a blend of 85% Garnacha (from 60+ year old vines), and 15% Syrah. The varietals are vinified separately, stirring the lees twice a day. The Garnacha is aged for nine months in a combination of oak barrels and stainless steel tanks, and the Syrah is aged for three months in a blend of American and French oak barrels. Depending on the season, the grapes are harvested from early September to mid October by hand. The alcohol content is a whopping 14%.

The 2005 vintage is medium bodied with a nice lingering finish. It is medium ruby to pale burgundy in color, and the aromas are filled with berry fruit and lilacs. The first taste brings light, herbal grassy hints to the deep, berry-sour cherry flavors. There is an under layer of old world leather. The wine’s tannins are sweet and fresh with an overall ripe flavor. Only a small amount of this wine is imported to the US.

2005 Las Rocas Garnacha

During our Grenache wine tasting last week, we tasted and totally enjoyed the 2005 Los Rocas de San Alejandro.  This is another wonderful value oriented Garnacha from an old vineyard in Calatayud, Spain.  The Garnacha vines are over 80 years old and account for about two-thirds of Calatayud's production.   This is an arid area on either side of the Jalón River with low yielding vineyards consisting of a brown limestone and slate soil content.   The climate has large temperature differences between night and day. Because of this, harvest is generally much later than in other parts of Aragon and the result is a more balanced end product.  Other products that thrive in this soil include olives and cherries.  This wine is relatively new and well received with a recent score of a 90 from the Wine Advocate.  In the early 2000's French winemaker, Jean-Marc Lafage teamed up with wine importer Eric Solomon to create their own label called, "Las Rocas" from the luscious Garnacha found here.

All of the above details show-off the terroir in the wine.  The aromas, the flavors and the finish are mostly a result of the characteristics of the land.  I found lovely aromas of berries, cherries black pepper and wet earth.  Because the wine is not aged on oak, the flavors include full forward fruit of blackberries, anise spice, pepper, and taste of minerals rather than wood.  The wine has a medium to generous finish which seems balanced with a bit of depth.  

If you see this wine on the shelf at a wine shop, give it a try!  Enjoy this with tapas, or charcuterie, a hearty chicken stew or a braised pork shank.

Artazuri 2005 Garnacha, Navarra, Spain

The Garnacha from Navarra delivers a very different character than Grenache from the Rhone Valley. Instead of the typical deep earthy aromas , the Artazuri Garnacha smells refreshingly fruity - sun-ripened fruits like cherries & berries are not only in the nose but in the forward flavors as well. The wine is medium to full bodied, peppery and a tad spicy.  This wine has some similarities to a big fruity California Zin. The finish is lingering, gentle, velvety and the sweet & sour cherry essences stay to the very end. This is a great food wine, I can see this being a complement to the red wine usual suspects - this is a wine that can be enjoyed through the meal, even a second bottle will go down nicely.

About 3000 cases of this wine is produced by famed Artadi (Rioja) Winery winemaker, Juan Carlos Lopez de Lacalle. Artazuri is made with 100% Garnacha grapes from 60 - 85 year old vines. Juan Carlos is one of the truly talented winemakers to actually receive 100 points from Robert Parker for his Artadi Wines. When he realized the possibilities of the Grenache vines in the small town of Artazu, in the south of Navarra, he knew that his work was needed. The vines in the past were only used to produce Rose and he knew that the grapes were ready to offer something special with his magic touch.  

This wine is apt to end up on winelist at the restaurants, by the bottle & the glass!  I will let you know when.

Navarra Wine Region - Garnacha

The other day, we tasted some very interesting wines from the Navarra wine region - not the 1st Spanish wine region to come to mind, but one of the oldest.  In recent years, Navarra is coming back strong as an important winemaking area in Spain, blending old and new techniques and utilizing grapes from all over the world.  Where the famous running of the bulls takes place, neighbor to Rioja - Navarra's winemaking dates back to the Middle-Ages. Old presses and stone fermentation vats were found in recent archeological discoveries.

In the 1980's Garnacha grapes took up about 90% of the available vineyard space.  The wines produced were primarily robust rose wines.  Currently that percentage has decreased to about 40% and now the wines are being treated with more respect and some fine

winemakers are showing off what they can do with properly yielded & handled Garnacha. 

Navarra is in a unique geographical situation.   The vineyards are sheltered from the Atlantic rains by a chain of mountains and are irrigated by the waterways of the Rio Ebro.  The poor clay and stone soils work for the winemakers as they are the ideal soil to grow grapes. Rolling hills allow growers to plant at a variety of altitudes and with varying degrees of exposure to the midday sun, thus allowing winemakers to experiment with their blends. The weather is optimum as well: long, hot summer days are balanced by cool nights, which provides the best ripening for the grapes.