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Year 13, No. 16
As mid-November arrives, the vine leaves look as if they’re tempted to change color and perhaps drop—an event that usually happens about a month previous. Lord what a weird year it’s been.
But it is true that we finally have a proper nip in the air when the sun goes down. It also happens to be the first full week of November which means that it’s “Sherry Week”!
If you don’t know this annual celebration, then you should probably head down to your nearest wine bar/shop and look for the “beardiest” of individuals. He or she (beardism is a state of mind, thank you) will be more than happy to introduce you to whatever event they might be doing this week to support the fine, yet far too often forgotten wine we know as Sherry.
This is now the 10th edition of the event which they’ve decided to brand as Sherry Week ‘X’, which… I mean, say what you will about Elon Musk, but the ability to completely soil one of the 26 letters of the English alphabet is pretty impressive in a very sad, evil genius manner: “Do you expect me to talk Muskfinger?!! No Mr. Bond, I expect you to watch in horror as I now set my sights on the letter ‘Z’.” Ergh.
Staying in all things Spain however, this week on the site sees the release of Rioja Part II which picks up on a new set of tastings in September as well as having a fresh and much-needed look at the Viñedos Singulares segment which is now, very large.
Last month saw me in Ribera del Duero (report to come) as well as a great week in Slovenia which culminated in the Modri les Noirs event (*). Yes, the Slovenians are indeed working to make Pinot happen in their neck of the woods!
For a bit of housecleaning, if you’ll recall, once the Destroyer of all Things X took over Twitter, like most sentient beings, I wasn’t thrilled (*) and also decided to leave the platform (*).
Since then I’ve been using Bluesky which is slowly but surely emerging as a proper platform, the only problem is that it’s invite-only at the moment. It seems like they’re ramping up usage however and I’ve found myself with a number of invite codes recently. If you want one, drop me a line and I’ll send them until they are no more.
Drink well, be well.
-Miquel
(*) Free to read
The Featured Report
Rioja: Tasting Part II & Viñedos Singulares
A second scoop of some classic names in DOC Rioja that didn’t get picked up in the previous June tasting, but more importantly, taking a deeper look at the evolution of the Viñedo Singular category.
And Now This
The winery of Cisteller in Penedès is one I’ve been wanting to report on for some time as it’s new and doing everything right. A few weeks ago, I had the chance to sit down with Sergi Canals and Jessica Madigan and taste their inaugural 2022 wines.
The wildfire on Tenerife from August is indeed out finally (there was a flare up even though it was controlled a few weeks ago) but what happens now?
If you want to understand DOQ Priorat vintages a bit more, then look no further than this selection of six years of Clos Abella to illustrate each of the strengths and weaknesses.
France has a new AOC (*)! And it’s for rosé wines primarily of Grenache Gris? Yes, and it sounds magnificent.
The Featured Wine
Since we’re on the theme of Rioja with the latest reports, let’s have a look at a wine I tasted in September which was the Remírez de Ganuza - Viña Coqueta 2014.
In short, this wine smashes and shows what the upper reaches of Rioja can do these days and just why everyone is busy planting there.
I put this at 95pts which, in looking at past reviews shows that there’s been a marked increase in quality of this wine and at 37€ a bottle in Spain, it’s really, really well priced. Find it before everyone else gets wise to this!