Spain's Ultimate White: Albariño

I'm kind of in love with Spain. I've been there a few times and it's a fascinating place but what I'm obsessed with right now is the wine (obviously). I'm not alone in this -- Spain is super popular right now -- and I'm thrilled that we're all on the bandwagon of this country that was on the sidelines of wine for so long while it's neighbor to the east (that's France) got all the glory.

Through the many centuries of winemaking in the Iberian Peninsula, the two regions that have gotten major props have been Rioja and Jerez (Sherry region). That doesn't mean that the rest of the country hasn't made wine, just that they didn't have the marketing to get it out there.

One of the most interesting areas that was basically isolated from the rest of Spain is the Galicia (Gah-LEE-thee-ah) region. The area functions autonomously, even though it's part of Spain. It has its own Galician language and culture, which has a strong Celtic influence because a tribe from the British Isles settled here in the pre-Roman era. (When I say Celtic I'm not talking about the Boston basketball team, but the culture represented by four-leaf clovers and leprechauns (this characterization is not offensive at all, right? Sorry Irish friends, I couldn't help myself)). The best connection the region has to the rest of Spain is that it contains the famous pilgrimage site of Santiago de Compostela, to which people from all over Europe have trekked to pay homage to the relics of St. James (James =Santiago in Spanish).

The isolation of Galicia has meant that it's seen some rough times. Lack of any profitable industry has led people either to move to bigger cities, stay and be poor, or leverage their coastal location to get involved in cocaine trafficking (true story). Their best asset, some would argue, is a little white wine called Albariño.

Albariño, also known as Alvarinho in Portugal, yields delicate, aromatic whites that are high in alcohol, high in acidity, and have a ton of flavor. They are sometimes a little salty and always a great match with seafood.

Most of the producers in the Rias Baixas area (ree-ahsh by-shush, which means"low Atlantic inlets") are small guys who don't engage in bulk farming or harvesting. They grow grapes the old school way -- by tending to the vineyards and vines with lots of TLC and not a lot of expensive chemicals. Most of the vines are trained to grow on pergolas off the ground both so the Albariño can be ventilated and protected from the sea mists, since much of the vineyard land is adjacent to the sea. It has the added benefit of allowing the poorer farmer to slip in another crop below the grapes and make some money off of both. Ingenius, and a good use of space to boot.

After years of toil and hardship, finally these farmers are getting their just desserts. Looking for the next big thing, bigger wine companies from all over the world recently re-discovered Albariño and invested to modernize wineries so they can import this amazing wine that tastes like a Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc mated. From obscurity to wine lists and shelves all over the darn place, Albariño is in fashion. The Galicians who stuck it out and stayed in the area are now profiting from their little known wine secret and I think it's awesome...as awesome as the wine.

Martín Códax , in Rias Baixas is one of the co-ops of growers that is making it work. Started in 1986, it's a great little wine that's imported by the E&J Gallo Winery, who, despite it's monstrous size and tendency to homogenize all wines they import, make, or acquire, hasn't messed with the Códax too bad (although I think the initial vintages in 2006 & 2007 had more acidity, the wine is still great). Unlike some of the other producers out there, they haven't been experimenting with putting the wine in oak, which I think kills all the delicate aromas and great acidity that are inherent in the grape and the traditional styles of wine made from it.

This is a great wine and very widely available. Here's the deal:

The Wine: Martin Codax Albariño
The Grape: 100% Albariño
Where it's from: Rias Baixas, Spain
Alcohol: 13%
Vintage: 2009
Price: $15.99

Color: Golden and remarkably, brilliantly shiny and bright. The wine glistens like gold. And it has just a little bit of spritzy bubbles too. It looks so fresh!

Smell: The first things that came to mind -- Rose's lime juice, the ultimate Margarita mixer! The wine smelled like salt and minerals and it had a light smokiness too. Delicious and made my mouth water (although I think it may have been watering because it made me want a Margarita).

Taste: My first impression was lime Fruit Stripe Gum (if you're unfamiliar, it's a gum that was popular in the 80s that has a sugary, very strong flavor for exactly 17 seconds, at which point it needed to be thrown out immediately and replaced with a new piece) -- a little citrus-y, a little sweet. Then that Margarita mix character came -- lime with a little bit of briny salt. The wine tasted like minerals, had awesome mouthwatering acid, and just a little twang of a vanilla bean. It was a little creamy too, which was unexpected since Albariño usually doesn't go through malo-lactic fermentation, which is what makes wines creamy.

Pairing: No brainer. Any light fish, shellfish, or seafood. This wine isn't nicknamed "the wine of the sea" for nothing. Go with it. If you don't eat fish, go for pasta primavera in oil, salad with goat or feta cheese, spanakopita, or paella.

Drink or Down the Sink?: Drink. It's a great wine and terrific with food. My only objection is that it was better a few years ago. I liked the acidity, but the wine feels a little creamier and less distinctive and delicate than I remember it being when I last had it. Still, it's worth the money and is a great widely available Albariño Go for it.
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Garnacha de Fuego: Still En Fuego

A long while back (when I first started the blog) I did a quick review of a wine in a horrible looking bottle. I remember liking it, but I hadn't seen it in a while and completely forgot about the bloated-Elvis-on-drugs-in-flame-licking-jumpsuit label.

The other night, I was picking up some stuff for dinner at the store and I saw a huge display of the heinous label of Garnacha de Fuego staring me in the face. Given that Rick and I had just done Garnacha as the Grape of the Week on the July 4th podcast, I was moved to throw down the $7.99 and try the wine again.

The wine is from the northern central province of Zaragoza (I love that name, BTW) in the Catalayud region of Spain. This area has produced wine since 200 BC and has the traditional Spanish wine story -- Romans started the industry, Muslims shut it down, monks picked it back up.

Catalayud is pretty high in the mountains with tons of rivers running through and a continental climate that's kind of cold for half the year. 85% of the wine made here is red and the same percentage is exported, so the 15 bodegas that make wine here definitely cater to an international palate (meaning, these are not exactly Spanish-style wines -- they make what they think we will like).

Most of the wine made in Catalayud is from the native Garnacha grape, and it's usually made well in my experience. Garnacha de Fuego follows suit. So although the bottle is really tacky, I'm still loving this inexpensive wine and calling it my guilty pleasure...

The Wine: Garnacha de Fuego
The Grape: 100% Garnacha
Where it's from: Catalayud, Spain
Alcohol: 14.5%
Vintage: 2009
Price: $7.99

Color: Opaque, violet, gloppy-legged blackberry juice...What a color. The only clue that it was Garnacha (which is usually much lighter): the color lightened to a cherry or raspberry color at the rim. The wine was definitely made of some very ripe grapes to give it all that color.

Smell: With raspberry and black cherry with lots of pepper, black licorice, and cinnamon spice, this was a wine with an opinion. There was a sweet oaky smell and there was a floral bouquet thing going on too. The prodigious alcohol in the wine was apparent: it burned the inside my nose. That burn and the other scents gave an impression of hot spicy fruitiness.

Taste: So textural -- you feel an alcohol burn that's warm, prickly and tingly. It's almost like drinking brandy, which I normally don't love in a wine, but given the rich fruit and spice the sensation reminded me of a yummy liqueur and I loved it. Raspberry, blueberry, and plum with licorice or anise (a spice that's like a mild licorice) balanced the prickly texture from the acid and alcohol. There was a little bitter almond flavor too. The warmth from the alcohol, cinnamon, and the carmelized berry flavor made the wine like liquid pie. It fills your mouth with deliciousness.

Pairing: Whip out the big, charred flavor. Steak, grilled stuff, portabella mushrooms, and anything cooked on an open flame is best. You need that burnt flavor to counterbalance all the fruit and alcohol. Although stay away from spice because your mouth will burn!

Drink or Down the Sink?: OMG, drink. For $8 this wine drinks like $20 and it's such a guilty pleasure. Is it the most complex wine around? No, but it's a tasty treat and all the rich, ripe fruit makes it a decadent, unbelievably yummy wine. Readmore »»

Must-Have, Affordable Bubbles for Summer: Seguras Viudas Brut Reserva

Sparkling wine is a confusing subject for a number of reasons. The most puzzling thing to me: Why do we save it just for special occasions? With a bunch of normal priced options, we should be chugging the stuff the way we drink Chardonnay, yet the bubbles give us pause.

Well, even though I'm guilty of not drinking my fair share, I think not enjoying the bubbles on a regular basis is kind of dumb. Especially when there's Cava for $11.99 sitting there just waiting for you.

You may ask: What is Cava? It sounds like a cave. Is it cave wine? Like cave men? And isn't all wine aged in a cave? Kind of. It's good thinking, but in this case, I'm talking about sparkling wine from Spain that's made in the same way Champagne is made. You know: Cava.

Before I continue, I need to express a very important caveat about bubbles: Sparkling wine is only called Champagne if it is from the Champagne region of France. Otherwise it has a regional name (Cava, Sekt, Spumante) or it's just called sparkling wine. Had to get that off my chest because it's a common mistake and I don't want anyone making it and then having some jackass wine snob correct them.

Ok...back to Cava and it being made the same way as Champagne. How is that you may ask? Although I'm a nerd about winemaking, I know that it's kind of boring to read about, so I'll give a very brief description of how sparkling wine is made so you can just get a feel for it.

To make dry sparkling wine, you pick grapes that are high in acid and low in sugar, making a disgusting, bitter, mouth-puckering base wine that can withstand aging and handle a second fermentation. To get the bubbles, you need to trap carbon dioxide in a bottle and then make it mesh into the liquid. To do this, you put the gross base wine in a heavy Champagne bottle with a mixture of sugar and yeast to spur a second fermentation. The yeast eat the sugar, turning it into alcohol and carbon dioxide, which can't escape because the bottle is sealed, so with months of aging it becomes part of the wine.

There's a pesky problem left after this process, which is that the yeast die and they need to come out of the bottle before we drink the wine. So, to clarify the wine and rid if of those corpses, the bottle is slowly turned until it's on it's upside down and all the yeast collects in a cap which is popped off and replaced with a little of the original base wine and a proper Champagne cork.

There are other ways to get bubbles in wine, but this way is the most expensive, time consuming, and it leads to the smallest, longest lasting bead or bubble, which is better than having big Coke-like bubbles in your wine that die out quickly. Not every region or sparkling wine uses this method, if they do the bottle usually says it's made in the Traditional or Champagne Method and that's how you'll know.

You'll always see Método Tradicional on a bottle of Cava. By Spanish law Cava, meaning "cave" in Catalan (which is the language of the Catalonia region in the Northeast corner of Spain, where most Cava is made) and "cellar" in Spanish, is made in the Champagne Method. It's a government regulated Denominación de Origen (DO) that covers eight areas around Northern Spain that are permitted to make sparkling wine in the traditional method. The eight regions go as far west as Rioja and Castilla y Leon (Ribera del Duero), generally considered red wine country.

Cava is mainly white sparkling wine, although there is a rosé version that incorporates a little Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha (Grenache), and Monastrell. Some producers use Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the traditional grapes of Champagne, but for the most part, the native Spanish varieties of Parallada, Xarel-lo, and Macabeo are the standard.

Before I get to the wine in question, a note on the history of sparkling wine in Spain. Apparently it's not correctly reported often, so I'm going to rely on one of my favorite wine reference books: The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia by Tom Stevenson to clear up the story.

The tale, spread by Codorníu, the biggest Cava house in Spain, is that its founder made the first bottle of Spanish sparkling wine in 1872. The truth: there was sparkling in Spain as early as 1851 and by 1872 the Lab Directory at the Agricultural Institute of Sant Isidre in Catalonia was experimenting with sparkling production. The experiment turned to reality when three of his former students entered their bubbles into a wine competition in Barcelona in 1872, winning gold medals for two of the versions. Codorníu didn't release their first wine until 1879, so their story doesn't really jibe with the facts. That said, their claim to fame is that they came up with the now traditional blend of Spanish grapes -- Macabeo, Parellada, and Xarel-lo. Not a bad innovation.

Interestingly, even though Codorníu came up with the blend, they are totally open to using Chardonnay and other grapes to give their wines more richness. Freixenet, the second biggest Cava house, is very traditional, refusing to use anything but the big three Spanish varieties for fear they would dilute the indigenous character of the wine. It's funny how that works -- the follower is more pious than the originator, but I digress.

Freixenet owns a number of brands distributed in the US and one is Seguras Viudas, which I had the other night. I've had this wine many a time, but never posted on it so I thought it high time...

The Wine: Seguras Viudas Brut Reserva
Where It's From: Cava/Penedes, Spain
The Grapes: 50% Macabeo, 35% Parellada, 15% Xarel-lo
Alcohol: 11.5%
Vintage: Non-vintage (most traditional method sparkling wine is a blend across several vintages to maintain a "house style" from year to year. That way a too hot or too cool year won't throw off the flavors in the wine)
Price: $11.99

Color: When you evaluate what Cava looks like, you need to look not just at color, but also at the bead or bubble. This wine was a nice pale straw color with a tinge of green -- a good hallmark that it would be pretty high in acid from the looks of it. A great thing for sparkling wine -- especially when it's Brut, or very dry. The bead was small and continuous, it went on and on. Good stuff!

Smell: For some reason whenever I smell Cava I always get a hint of what reminds me of a pencil. I've had Macabeo and Xarel-lo on their own and don't get an overwhelming sensation of #2 from either of those so it's either the mix of the three grapes together or Parellada. Who knows? The wine also smelled like lime, green, fresh cut herbs, and a little bit of outdoor-after-it-rains-in-a-meadow grassiness (but not like Sauvignon Blanc, where it's in your face). Very subtle and it smelled refreshing. Smelling it made my mouth water.

Taste: This is a very light Cava and very true to the smell. It had a citrusy, lime scent and tasted a little like chewing on a pencil, in a good way. It was super refreshing and bright. This is summer sipper for the hot weather if ever there was one but be careful, it goes down easy. Even with a little lower alcohol than you may be used to (most wines are around 12.5% - 14%), this can still do a number on you the next day if you chug it (not that I have personal experience or anything).

Pairing: A common misnomer is that sparkling wine is just for sipping. Although it's awesome for that, it's a damn good match for light food too. Flaky white fish, salads, and mild cheeses are fabulous with Cava. It was a great accompaniment to my tomato, mozzarella, and avocado salad (dressed with a little olive oil, salt, and balsamic vinegar).

Drink or Down the Sink?: For $12 this is a DRINK all day long. My only criticism of the wine is that it's a little light. That said, it's a great bottle of wine for the price, one you can easily bring to someone's house if you're going for dinner or drinks, and something I'll be swilling all summer long!

Before I sign off... I want to dedicate this post to my friend and client, Barbara Hughes. Hope this answers your questions on Cava and makes your trip there extra special!!! Readmore »»

Wine For Normal People Radio Episode 015 Wine Shopping 101: How to break down a wine store

Big surprise this week...M.C. Ice's dreams of being a real M.C. materialize (he's not an M.C. or a D.J., just a normal dude who is cool but slightly dorky yet patient and kind enough to be married to me!)!

Rick had to take a hiatus this week so M.C. Ice filled in and I decided to take the opportunity to tell him a few things I've been meaning to tell him for a while...about wine shopping, of course (fortunately we have no dirty laundry, so that's as scandalous as it gets around here!).

Here are the show notes:

• Shout-outs - Some great Twitter replies and Facebook posts

Main Topic

• M.C. Ice confronts his fear of the Wall of Wine (WoW) and admits that he shops by label (gasp! The dude clearly hasn't learned much through osmosis!)
  
• This time it's personal: I take the bull by the horns and try to teach M.C. Ice how to break down the store so he starts bringing home some better wines
• We talk about the key questions to ask yourself before you even get in the store. "Why am I here?" is a good place to start. Shopping with a purpose is essential.
  
• We then get into the importance of deciding on the type of wine you want -- from color, to sweetness level, to weight, to style by wine producing country.

Quick addendum to the 'cast...
I realized that we talked about wine weights but then never gave examples. Here are some examples of light/medium/heavy whites and reds for reference...

Whites:
Light: Pinot Grigio, Albariño, Vinho Verde, Muscadet (from the Loire Valley)
Medium: Sauvignon Blanc, unoaked Chardonnay, dry Riesling, Verdejo, Grüner Veltliner
Heavy: Oaky Chardonnay, Viognier, most Chenin Blanc, the wines of Alsace (Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewurztraminer)

Reds:
Light: some Grenache, Cotes-du-Rhone, some Pinot Noir, some Barbera
Medium: most Bordeaux, most Merlot, some Pinot Noir/red Burgundy, Dolcetto from Italy, Cabernet Franc, Chianti, Rioja
Heavy: California Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, Zinfandel, Petit Sirah, Monastrell from Spain, Barolo from Italy

Hope that helps!

• Grape of the Week: Verdejo from Rueda in North Central Spain -- a great alternative white, kind of like Sauvignon Blanc, but with a bite.

• Share your wine shopping experiences on Facebook or comment here

Here's the link: PODCAST

You can also download the podcast from the iTunes store (and if you like it please add a comment or rate it so we can make sure to stay on the radar, which helps other folks find us easily that would be great!), click the link above, or use the player below! Thanks for listening!

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Ruining a Perfect Track Record: My First Disappointment from Ribera del Duero

Undoubtedly the best wine bargains these days come from places where people speak Spanish (no, I'm not talking about Arizona and Texas). From the amazing whites made from Albariño and Verdejo in Northern Spain to the reds of Malbec in Argentina and Cabernet Sauvignon in Chile that drink like they are $50 bottles, I'm regularly amazed at the bang I get for my little buck from these spots.

With all this goodness for so little, I'm beginning to think I may be a spoiled brat. My expectation is that, if I pay $15.99 for a bottle from a Spanish-speaking country, I am going to get something pretty spectacular.

So when I went to one of my favorite local stores and heard from the head wine guy, who I talk to all the time about vino but have never sat down and tasted with, that there was a wine from the Spanish region of Ribera del Duero that was stunning, I had to try it. What did I have to lose?

I love Ribera del Duero. It's like Rioja on steroids. The wines are usually 100% Tempranillo, but unlike the calmer wines of Rioja, this region's crazy location and climate produce a ballsy, intense wine with no shortage of acid, tannin, or fruit. The wines are intense, but I love them because they are powerful in a very European way -- lots of texture, some earthiness, and layers of "other stuff" besides fruit to analyze. Like many of the wines from Europe, they are shy-er than California wines, but Ribera del Duero is no wimp.

Let's face it, you'd have to be bold and brazen to be a grapevine in Ribera del Duero. It's on a high plateau in Northwest Spain. That means it gets abundant sunshine and nice dry breezes, but also that its flat, rocky terrain gets walloped by weather. Blazing summers are followed by winters where the temperature drops to 0 on a regular basis. After the grapevines have flowered and are getting ready to make some fruit, a spring frost can come in and ruin everything. If that's not bad enough the soil types vary enormously within yards so harvest is totally inconsistent -- rather than picking rows at a time, the viticulturists may have to go back several times before getting all the ripe grapes from a vine. Infuriating for growers.

But still, there's something special here. If there wasn't I don't think people would have been making wine in Ribera del Duero for 2000 years or that the Benedictine Monks from Burgundy would have settled an outpost in the 12th century and gotten serious about wine. Nor do I think that the most expensive and sought after wines in all of Spain -- Vega Sicilia and Dominio de Pingus -- would be made here.

With a history of amazing producers and a growing number of them making incredible wines from Tempranillo, Ribera del Duero is one of Spain's best red wine regions. Its intense flavors and aromas are a great counterpoint to the Tempranillo-based, medium-bodied, spicy, dusty wines that are typical of its famous neighbor to the east, Rioja.

I was excited to find Sincero, an inexpensive wine from RdD that my wine guy was raving about. I popped it open with loads of excitement, looked at it, smelled it and was thrilled...and then...

The Wine: Sincero
Where It's From: Ribera del Duero, Spain
The Grapes: 100% Tempranillo
Vintage: 2007
Price: $15.99

Color: Typical of a wine from Ribera del Duero, this was a black purple. On the swirl it stained my glass, it was so pigmented (thick, skins on ripe grapes will make that happen). The alcohol on this one was high too -- the legs were gloppy and slow to run down the glass.

Smell: This is what I'm talkin' about! Complexity galore. It was full of scents from the "other" category, i.e., my non-fruit list. The first few things I smelled were hay, a stable, leather, and scrubby herbs (called garrigue in French, kind of like rosemary bush and earth together). There was a salted meat quality to the wine too -- almost like prosciutto or salami. It reminded me of being in Spain and enjoying lunch underneath a large hunk of drying, cured, dead animal (appetizing, huh?). There was a bit of the plum and pepper component that you'll find in most wines made from Tempranillo, but this was so much more than that and I was thrilled to drink it!

Taste: "WHY? WHY?" I would over-dramatically cry to the winemaker if I could find him or her. What happened? The wine went from this panoply of awesome to a watery, highly alcoholic plum juice. The mouthwatering acids and mouthdrying tannins overpowered any secondary flavors and scents and the high alcohol just destroyed whatever was there with a hot, burning sensation (I feel like a commercial for anti-itch cream now, BTW). Totally didn't deliver.

Drink or Down the Sink?: Maybe if I held it for another 4 years the wine would taste better, but as it is right now, it's a Down the Sink for me. What a colossal disappointment after the beautiful color and awesome smell. Even a day later when I tried it again, the problems with the wine were still there.

This is a bummer in two ways: now not only did I experience a gross wine...I also lost complete trust in my wine buddy. It's a good lesson for us all -- Just because someone knows a lot about wine doesn't mean they share your taste in it (I'll wholeheartedly admit that you may be thinking the same about me and I'm cool with that as long as you know what you like and you stick with me because you can trust my descriptions enough to know that even if I don't like it, you do!!).

I love your comments! Please post below if you have questions or ideas! Readmore »»

Wine For Normal People Radio: Episode 008 Wine Gadgets & Glasses -- The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Fresh from the airwaves...it's Episode 008 -- Wine Gadgets & Glasses: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.

Here's the link: PODCAST

We got this week's show idea from listener, Scott Harrah. Thanks for the suggestion!

After covering some great emails, blog comments, and posts on the Facebook page we talked about the latest out of Canada. Scientists there claim to have discovered a strain of yeast that would prevent Red Wine Headaches or "RWH" syndrome as it's commonly called. I still say it's inconclusive but you can decide...

• Here's a link to the Decanter Article that we talked about.
• ...and another to an older Wall Street Journal Article. Sadly, even though it's old not much has changed since it was written. If anyone has about $60K to pour into a research study on the topic, I bet UC Davis would be happy to receive it!

After news, we hopped into the main topic. We reviewed...

• Wine Glasses - White, Red, and Sparkling (I say simplicity is best)
  
• Aerators & Decanters -- find out why I'm a hater on the aerator and a decanter lover
• Preservers -- I'm not a gadget girl but thumbs up on this
  
• Openers (I'm so opinionated...listen to learn more)
  
• Chillers - In case you don't have a fridge in your home
• Wine Stain Remover - an absolute must-have!

I mentioned the article on stemware/Riedel for which I was interviewed on the site IntoWine. If you're interested, check it out: ARTICLE

Our grape of the week is one of Rick's favorites: Albariño (or Alvarinho in Portugal). A tasty, unique, and delicious Spanish white!

To listen, download the podcast from the iTunes store (and if you like it and can please add a comment or rate it so we can make sure to stay on the radar in "New & Noteworthy," which helps other folks find us easily that would be great!), click the link above, or use the player below! Thanks for listening!

Addendum: Listener Josh (comment below) brought up the fact that we mentioned a ton of brands in this show...something we don't usually do! He was in his car listening and said it was hard to keep track of all the brand names and suggested we put links to everything we mentioned here... your wish is my command : )

Here are the links to the brands we mentioned:

Glassware:
Riedel: http://www.riedel.com/
Spiegelau: http://www.spiegelau.com/home/

Aerators:
Vinturi: http://vinturi.com/
Wine Soiree: www.winesoiree.com

Preserver:
Vacuvin: http://www.vacuvin.com/Vacuum_Wine_Saver_286_270_267.html

Opener:
Rabbit: http://www.metrokane.com/site_files/mk_rabbit.aspx

Chiller:
Waring Pro: http://www.waringproducts.com/ret/catalog/product.php?product_id=59&cat_id=5

Wine Stain Remover:
Wine Away: http://www.wineaway.com/

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Xarel-lo from Penedes: A Hard Read in Many Ways...

I guess I'm obsessed with "x" themes these past two weeks. Last week it was Bordeaux and this week, it's a crazy-ass grape that is rarely made as a standalone wine -- Xarel-lo.

First things first -- how the hell do you SAY that? There are two ways to go on this. You can say it in the native Catalan language and call it "shah-REHL-lo" or you could do it the Spanish way and call it "hah-REHL-lo." If you do it the second way, try to channel my (long deceased) Yiddish speaking relatives and get a little phlegm roused when you say the "ha" part so it's kind of like clearing your throat and saying the syllables at the same time. Practice a little to get it right. If that doesn't work, channel Scooby Doo and try to say "hello" -- it's kind of like "Heerrro," except with an 'el' sound before the o.

Now that you can expertly pronounce it I guess I should tell you what it is. I'll start with a hint. Have you heard of Cava? Maybe you've seen the black bottle of Freixenet that's $12.99 (a pretty good deal if you ask me) that looks like a Champagne bottle? It's Spanish sparkling wine.

Cava, named for the caves that the wine aged in, is fabulous. It's like really inexpensive, high quality Champagne, because it uses the same production techniques but has a twist because rather than the French Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier (the Champagne blend) it uses native grapes.

What does this have to do with Xarel-lo? It's one of the three grapes used in Cava, along with Parallada and Macabeu. Less sexy than its blending partners, the grape produces wine that is aromatic but wickedly acidic and is not known to be as delicate and palatable as its blending partners in Cava. It's used for a punch and a backbone.

Xarel-lo is the 6th most important grape in Spain and is native to the Catalonia region in the northeast. Most of the crop goes directly into Cava. It's the flagship grape of Penedes, a smaller area inside of the Catalonia area and a predominantly white wine region (although it makes great oaked reds, sparklers, and pink wine). The area is nestled between the coast and the interior plains on Spain's east coast. It's mild and warm -- benefiting from the Mediterranean sun and the coastal breezes. The area has an ideal climate for grape-growing.

So it's clear that Xarel-lo is essential in northeastern Spain, but to me it's always seemed like its most important role is a supporting one in Cava. Given that, I was surprised when a friend who represents the Albet i Noya brand gave me a bottle to try (there's my disclosure, but you know I'll be honest!). I'm always open to trying new stuff and have tried Macabeu bottled by itself with good results, but this was very outside the box.

Just as an aside though, before I get into the wine, a note on Albet i Noya, because they are not run of the mill. They farm on land that's had some form of viticulture since the middle ages, so this is not a new fangled venture. The family has tended the vineyards since 1903, and through hard work and saving, bought the land in 1986. It's a family operation all the way, making Cava and all sorts of still wines from native varieties to French ones to blends of the two. They seem very experimental and cutting edge when you look at their diverse selection (which left me thinking, it could be great or really out there, FYI). Regardless, they get huge props from me for organic farming and for making wine in a true organic way, without the addition of sulfur dioxide. Great effort and homage to Mother Nature!

Ok, so on to answering the burning question: "I know how to pronounce it, I know where it's from and I know about the producer, now what the hell (or should I spell it Xell?) does Xarel-lo taste like?..."

The Wine: Albet i Noya Xarel-lo (BTW - no "r" in Albet)
Where It's From: Penedes, Spain
The Grape: Xarel-lo
Vintage: 2009
Price: $14.99

Color: The wine looked light to me -- almost Pinot Grigio-esque in color. It's kind of like a bale of hay. Nothing stood out -- no big legs, no green flecks, no dark yellow to indicate oak or sugar or age...I wasn't expecting big flavor.

Smell: This is not an easy wine, meaning it's hard to get your finger on it even just when you you smell it. At first I pigeon-holed it -- the wine smelled like green plants or a green house, maybe even like a cucumber in salt water (oh, I guess that's technically a pickle, but it didn't smell pickle-y for the record). I thought -- "Ok, kind of like a bitter Gruner Veltliner" (which is a grape from Austria that is also kind of hard to get your head around). But I was wrong with my initial assessment. With more swirling around the glass and more time, there was this delicious white flower smell and then something like a buttery croissant. I kind of marveled at the inconsistency.

Taste: More surprise here that completely mirrored my experience with the smell. The first impression of this wine was more texture than flavor -- it was tart, bitter, and acidic...but simultaneously creamy and buttery. Total extremes all in one glass. The flavors were lemony and a bit like apricot. On the third or fourth sip I realized that it reminded me of lemon curd, this expensive, creamy stuff that my mom used to buy to put on hot biscuits. The end note was very soft and creamy. I felt a little tired by the time I got to the bottom of the glass, just thinking about the wine.

Food Pairings: This was not a "drink the bottle in a night" wine. Thankfully, it's got a screw cap, so it stayed fresh for 2. The first night I sipped it with nothing -- bad move. The second night I had it with brie and crackers -- much better move. Like many European wines, this is not a casual sipper. You need some light fare -- cheese, light pastas, salads, flaky white fish, or vegetarian appetizers to make this wine shine.

Drink or Down the Sink?: It's a mixed bag. If you don't like bitter in your white, I'd stay away. If you are a brooding, analytical type -- break this down and sit with it. If you're having a lighter meal, I'd say this would be good company. As for me, I'd only buy a bottle if I were serving a nice summer meal, and I'd order it by the glass in a restaurant bu, sadly, it's not going on the list of favorite little-known wines. Readmore »»

Juan Gil Jumilla: A Red That Packs A Punch For $11.99

Where can you get insane value in wine right now? Anywhere Spanish is spoken -- namely, Argentina, Chile, and, the motherland, Spain. And right now, I am really smitten with Spain.

Rioja is great and Priorat is unbelievable but for ridiculous quality, Southern Spain is a major hot spot. Can some of the reds be over ripe and alcoholic to the point of being like a cordial? Yes. But is that the rule? No. Given the bounty of choice that wine retailers are presented, good shops carry the best of the best and we're all in luck.

Last night we had a wine that I've had before, but hadn't purchased for a while (gross oversight on my part!). It was the Juan Gil from Jumilla (pronounced "who-ME-yah"), Spain and it was unadulterated joy for my palate. Jumilla is an old winemaking region -- wine has been made there since Roman times -- but until recently it's never been known for its stellar quality.

The area rose to general awareness in the 1860s when the Charles Manson of the wine world, a root bug called phylloxera, came (from the U.S.) and mass murdered all the vines of France. The French had no where to get wine in their own country, so they headed over the Pyrenees to Spain, which remained untouched by the serial killing insect. The Frenchies bought wine from all over Spain, and Jumilla had lots to give so the area became a bulk wine supplier.

Unfortunately, this yolk stayed around the region's neck for more than a century. The southern, rural region is not exactly wealthy, so winemakers didn't have coin to invest in their vineyards. They did the best they could and grew grapes en masse, making crappy, highly astringent, highly alcoholic, dark purple wines.

You can't blame the dudes. Without money or new training, you go with tradition and with what mother nature gives you. Jumilla, nestled between the great plain of Castille-La Mancha and the Mediterranean area of Levante, has a sunny, dry climate with feverish summers and bone chilling winters. The area barely gets rain and when it does, it's irregular and can be intense. The soils hold water so the vines can make it through the long drought. In this kind of environment, with so much heat, the grapes can bake, making wines that can be flaccid, alcoholic, and lack nuance. That may be good for bulk wine, but not for wine lovers.

That's how Jumilla rolled up until 1989. In this really bad but really great year, phylloxera finally came to town and killed 60% of all the vines in the region over the next 5 years (like Charles Manson, no?). The growers were devastated, but the door opened to new and better things for them. In the 1990s, instead of replanting in the same way and using the same facilities, growers sought investment and started modernizing their vineyards and wineries. Jumilla has seen a big resurgence and quality wine is the order of the day.

Currently 44 Bodegas (wineries) operate in Jumilla. Most of them make wine for export and most of that wine is red, made from their traditional Monastrell grape, also known as Mourvedre in France. Monastrell is known to be high in tannin (astringency), high in alcohol, and to have a kind of gamey, leather, animal flavor with lots of black fruit to boot.

Because prices are still low for wines from this very rural area, imports represent the best of the best and any wine shop worth its salt carries at least one if not two wines from the area. Probably the most common is Juan Gil, the one I had last night. It's a rich wine and it kicks ass for the price. Here's the rundown:

The Wine: Juan Gil Monastrell
Where It's From: Jumilla, Spain
The Grapes: 100% Monastrell
Vintage: 2008
Price: $11.99

Color: Looks alone had me flashing back to the Passover table at my grandparents' house. Manischewitz-like in color, the wine is purple with a ruby/brownish rim and it's kind of thick and cloudy. Much like it's doppelganger, it stained the glass and the legs were so thick (indication of high alcohol, FYI) the wine had cankles.

Smell: The wine notes from the producer say that they have really low yields for the grapes used for this wine. That usually means very high concentration of flavor, and it is oh-so-apparent in the smell of the dark raspberries wafting from the glass. Also apparent: lots of barrel aging. Those wood-induced smells of coffee, leather, chocolate, and mocha hit me first. There was a little bit of church altar -- like myrrh or frankincense in the background of the wine too but overall, the smell reminded me of a dark chocolate/raspberry cake -- with alcohol. There was so much alcohol in this wine that I sneezed when I took the first sniff. That said the overall impression left my mouth watering for this apparent chocolate dessert.

Taste: If you don't like high alcohol wines, this may not be for you because my first impression was of the burn. At 15% alcohol, it's understandable (most wines are between 12% - 14%), But if you have patience and the alcohol doesn't bug you, the payoff for this wine is scrumptious! It really did taste like a rich chocolate dessert with black raspberry, chocolate, and mocha flavors. What made the wine interesting -- there were leather (like chewing on a belt) notes and a flavor of sweet chewing tobacco too (not that I've had it...). The wine is super full in your mouth and it sticks around for ages. This would not be classified as a shrinking violet!

Food: Rich wine needs rich food. Stews, mushrooms, game, smoked fish, blue cheese, or, as the winery recommends OX, can hold up well to something this big. Next time you have some ox lying around, get a bottle of this stuff...

Drink or Down the Sink?: What a value at $11.99. If you don't like big wines, this isn't for you. But for a cold winter night (if we ever get them, it's still 85 in Atlanta!) with a hearty soup or stew, a big sweater and the heat cranked up, this is a great wine to have. Had it been around in my Boston years, I would have made it a staple -- high alcohol, inexpensive, and hearty to warm your bones! Who could ask for more?

How to Shop For a Wine Similar To This One: I mentioned this earlier, but any wine shop that has a decent selection should carry at least one wine from Jumilla. Look for it in the Spanish section. Most of the wines from Jumilla are 100% Monastrell, but I'd read the fine print to make sure of that as well -- blends may be good too, but they will have different flavors from what I described. Don't forget -- it's pronounced "who-ME-yah." Say it and know how to spell it before you go into the store so you get it right if you have to ask! Readmore »»