Maturana, buena? + Some good harvest news?
Year 13, No. 14
S’ha acabat el bròquil as they say in Catalan, “the broccoli, is finished”.
It’s all over. That’s it. Go home.
Picking shears are now gleaming as they’re put away for the next year and I think absolutely every region to south of the Pyrénées (and seemingly all to the north) are long-finished with the harvest at this point.
This means we get the real data of harvest totals coming in to give us more information than the oven-baked, standard-issue release of, “Ultimately a fine vintage that has seen grapes arrive in an excellent state.”
The 2023 totals for the Sherry lands of Jerez have arrived and despite seeing the same, ongoing drought that’s been plaguing all of Spain this year (buy your olive oil now before you pay through the nose!) they’ve actually seen a 12% increase in production over 2022 which is great news.
Out in the Mediterranean, on the island of Mallorca, they too are seeing a 12% increase (appears to be a magic number) over the totals from last year which I’m sure they’re happy with as well. More Gorgollassa is always more better.
Moving from the corners of Spain to the center, when tasting for my general Rioja Report earlier, there was a segment of wines that I specifically wanted to try which was Maturana Tinta. This relatively-unknown, minority variety for the region yielded a great many surprises during my tasting that paid subscribers will enjoy learning about.
Another surprise that recently passed my way was how much I enjoyed this documentary of Europe’s top luthiers crafting six individual guitars (*) of old wood salvaged from 250 year-old wine barrels. As we’ve often seen, some of the best things about wine aren’t actually, about wine.
And as a small final note, we’ve overhauled the payment system for the Vinologue books online shop. If it’s given you any problems in the past, please give it another go!
Drink well, be well.
-Miquel
(*) Free to read
The Featured Report
Rioja - Maturana Tinta 2023
You may not know of it as it’s a variety that makes an extremely different wine from Tempranillo, but Maturana Tinta is one of those that was “recuperated” in Rioja and this tasting found some very surprising results.
And Now This
The wines around Spain’s capital of Madrid have gotten quite serious in recent years. Here’s a choice selection of some of the best from the full, Vinos de Madrid report earlier this year.
How’s it shaping up for Burgundy in 2023? As it turns out, not bad, not bad at all… for once.
I say Gamay Beaujolais, you say Valdiguié, or not? A bit about the strange naming history of this variety in California and showcasing a fine, zesty young wine from a hallowed producer.
And with the end of the harvest in Priorat, it’s worth having a look at the latest edition of the “start” of the harvest festival in one of the villages that makes for quite a proper party.
Newsletter Exclusive: What’s one of the craziest wine cellars in the world? How about this one on top of a stone pillar in the Republic of Georgia? For a limited time, newsletter subscribers can read about this amazing place (*) for free from our archive.
The Featured Wine
I had the pleasure of spending a few days up in the Empordà region at Castell de Perelada.
During one of the meals, they pulled out the latest, 2018 vintage of Finca la Garriga, a single vineyard, varietal Carinyena wine that hits all the right notes. It was the first time some of my contemporaries in attendance had tasted monovarietal Carinyena and they were duly impressed.
For the level of quality, it has a very reasonable price at 14.50€, but on top of that, it’s also a fine wine that showcases everything great about Empordà, Carinyena, and of course, Perelada. Also, I scored it 93pts.