WINO 101

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to the Newsletter of the Week From Carpe Vinum and the Tasting Announcement That Appears Herein. This week we’re continuing on with out regional study of Spanish wines and the region of Spain’s Levant! This is the 5th segment of the tour of Spain. The whole purpose of this Spanish experiment is to explore further the Spanish wines in a bit more detail. I knew I liked Spanish wines as a whole, but needed to be clear on exactly what about Spanish wines made them good. I mean, it’s a pretty big place, and this study gets us to know a bit more about the Spanish regional styles, as well as the regions. Let’s see . . . we’ve done Galicia, Old Castille, Catalunya, and the North-Central part of Spain. We’ve only got a few left before we get to do it all over again. But this time we’re heading down to the Levant, a lesser-known region of Spain that features many great values. Actually, value is what they seem to do best, considering I was a bit hard-pressed to find higher-end wines to fit into the premium spots of the tasting. (So for one of the premiums I added a wine from the Balears, islands just off the coast.) But now: The Levant.

The Levant is the region of South Eastern Spain that borders the Mediterranean, just south of Catalunya. They call it the Levant because this is where the sun rises (levantarse, in Spanish). As poetic as that sounds, from our perspective it can even have another meaning as we drink our morning orange juice, because of one of the main ports of the Levant is Valencia. And, of course, the region is best known for Oranges. Besides oranges, most folks don’t know that Valencia produces wine at all . . . which is inconsequential at the moment considering I only found 2 Valencia wine producers, and they were both sold out. Sigh.

So the main parts of the Levant that we’re concerned about include Valencia with neighboring regions of Alicante and Utiel-Requena, and the regions of Murcia: The better known regions of Jumilla and Yecla, and the practically unknown Bullas. The regions of Jumilla and Yecla have seen a renaissance in recent years, and we’ve seen a great number of wines appearing from these regions. They’ve all been great values and reliably good. The Levant, as a whole, has a few native varietals that appear in the wines, but none take quite the center stage as the Monastrell grape, known as Mourvedre almost everywhere else. The Spaniards of the Levant have proven that with a bit of an artistic touch, the Monastrell can have as much finesse and complexity as its Rhone cousins.

This was a tough one to put together, as there isn’t very much of the Levant wine out there. It was impossible to get representatives from Bullas, Valencia proper, and Utiel-Requena. Looking back to what got me interested in Spanish wine to begin with, the wines of this region played no small part, being interesting, delicious and inexpensive. Also, considering the area is a shipping powerhouse, we can expect to see more of these in the near future.

So Friday, January 26th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Spain’s Levant!!!
Vins del Comtat 2003 Penya Cadiella (Grenache, Merlot, Monastrell, Tempranillo), Alicante
Finca Luzon 2004 Altos de Luzon (Monastrell, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo), Jumilla
Juan Gil 2004 Juan Gil (Monastrell), Jumilla
Castano 2003 Solanera (Monastrell, Cabernet Sauvignon, Monastrell), Yecla
Bodegas Antonio Candela 2005 Barahonda, Yecla (Monastrell)

Levant & Ils Balears
Casta Diva 2002 Vina Ulises Tinto Crianza (Grenache, Merlot, Monastrell, Tempranillo), Alicante
Bodegas Ribas 2002 Sio (Mantonegro, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon), Ils Balears

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.
Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is South America: Chile & Argentina!

M