Vino Slurps

Tasting wine across Spain and Portugal. Copyright © 2014 David Spackman. All rights reserved.

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La Bodega de Alboloduy, Almeria

The beautiful little town of Alboloduy is about an hour away from Almeria. We were here to visit La Bodega de Alboloduy.

As you can see it is quite a small operation and we got in touch with the owner, Paco, to arrange a visit and tasting. We tried a couple of reds, a cabernet and a syrah which were ok. The white we tried before those was the standout. Made from a grape indigenous to nearby Jaen it really was delicious.

Clean and very pale, lots of apple and apricot on the nose with a nice balanced acidity. Cristina Calvache is the owners daughter and she is an award winning winemaker. 

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Freixenet Winery, Penedes

An hours train journey away from Barcelona is the worlds most famous cava producer, Freixenet.

The impressive front has some amazing vehicles parked outside including this bottle shaped car.

After an impressive tour we were invited to try a glass of Cordón Negro Brut. We also tried an extra glass of Trepat 2011, one isn't enough!

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Cork Museum, Palafrugell

One of Palafrugells (on the Costa Brava) top attractions and the only one of its kind, Museo el Suro (Museum of corks). Yep, a museum full of cork, even the sign was made out of cork stoppers and the shop had cork dust for sale!

I guess the way the industry is headed the wine cork may become extinct and this museum will be put on the map.

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Catalan Wines and Cavas Fair, Barcelona

This Catalan wine fair takes place annually around the same time as Barcelona's main festival La Merce. Its a great way to get to know all the different Catalan wines, which are largely out of reach to the rest of the world and most of Spain! There are hundreds of wines to choose from and it's a bit of a lottery but most of the wines were pretty good.

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Croft Port Wine Lodge, Porto

Just down the road from Taylors is Croft and well worth a visit for a fairly short tour.

The after tour drinks were their Pink Port and Tawny. Pink port is really great, a lot lighter and a perfect summer drink.

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Offley Port Cave, Porto

Between tours I had a quick stop in the Offley Port House and tried four of their ports- LBV, Ruby Forrester Reserva, Tawny and Tawny 10 Yr. Very nice ports tucked away halfway up the hill.

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The House of Sandeman, Porto

After visiting the Sandeman Bodega in Jerez I had to do the same in Porto. It's one of the pricier tours but it's well worth it and there is no hill walking!

The quality of the Sandeman ports are pretty good and it also offered white port where the other tours we went on didn't. Saying that you only get to try 2 ports so value for money isn't so great. 

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Cockburn's Port House, Porto

It's a bit of a walk uphill but it's worth it for the architecture alone, the port's pretty good too. 

This is their tasting room, we missed the tour but sat down and tried a couple of different ports.

This is their 20 year old Tawny port which was really good.

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Taylor's Port House, Porto

A shortish walk from the centre of Porto and across the River Douro are the Port Houses.

The first visit was to Taylors and we were given a glass of white port before the tour started.

Followed by their LBV and 10 year old Tawny, all ports were really good I love Late Bottled Vintage port, you get all the great, rich characteristics of vintage port but with a nice fruity freshness. Taylors LBV was one of my favourites. Tawny port is pretty versatile and I recommend it served chilled when the weather is hot.

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Vigo

Lots of Albariño should be drunk with lots of seafood whilst in Galicia and Vigo is a great city to do this in.

Saying that, whenever San Vicente Rioja is on the wine list I have to buy it. It's one of my favourite wines ever, one of my biggest regrets on this trip was that I couldn't get to tour the San Vicente Bodega. They have a minimum tour number and no one was visiting on the day I tried to go. I'll be back! We had this at the fantastic La Trastienda del Cuatro, see my Spanish food blog Chorizo Burps to see their amazing looking food.

I couldn't find anything on the internet about this place but it's a really cool wine bar near the Cathedral. Really cool decor and had some great wines. I'll keep searching....

I drank my body weight in Albariño in Vigo!

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Santiago de Compostela

Highly recommended Viña Albina Reserva 2005. Very traditional Rioja flavour that has a nice richness to it. I have some history with this brand as I used to sell the 2001 Gran Reserva at El Vino Wine Merchants. I've also tried their '87 Gran Reserva which I bought (as a joke) for about 9 euros in 2006 from a small supermarket. It turned out to be delicious.

Vinoteca O Beiro is right in the centre of town about a minute away from the famous Cathedral in Santiago.

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Sidreria La Costa, Gijón

Asturias is all about Sidra (cider). There are so many Sidrerias around Gijon and the theatre surrounding the whole sidra experience is well worth the visit. The sidra comes in wine bottle size and is poured by the waiter at your table. The theatre is all in the pouring, the larger the gap between the bottle and the glass it's poured into the better. The sidra aerates on its way to the glass and then is drunk in one go. If you leave anything in the glass you must throw it away. No sipping!

All sidras are made locally and taste fantastic.

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Bilbao

When in Basque country do as the Basques do. You have to try a glass or two of Txakoli which is a very light, dry wine with high acidity and a slight fizz. Very refreshing and you can drink loads of it as the ABV is low. It comes in a similar bottle to Asturian Sidra and is poured in the same way.

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Battle of the Wine! Haro

I recommend this little pilgrimage to all wine lovers, visit Haro and Logroño in late June and make sure you are in Haro on the 29th for the Battle of the Wine. Both places claim to be the capital of Rioja but I think Haro has the rightful claim.

You can easily, without a car, visit 3-4 bodegas in a day, more if you don't do the tour, in Haro. All the big Bodegas are situated a short walk away from the town centre in Barrio de la Estacion. 

This isn't my normal dress, it's typical Spanish festival get up and at silly o'clock I was ready for the Battle of the Wine.

I caught a bus which dropped me about half a mile from where the battle takes place. It's a beautiful walk in the mountains through the vineyards.

Thousands of people bring gallons of wine and have a huge water(wine) fight.

This is the outcome! 

All the battle goers end up marching back into the town centre and start drinking, rather than throwing, the wine.

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Bodegas López de Heredia Viña Tondonia, Haro

López de Heredia is one of the oldest wineries in Spain. The shop was designed by the famous architect Zaha Hadid. 

This stand was originally built in 1910 and was restored and placed in the new tasting room

This counter was taken out of the shop owned by the same family that started the winery. The shop was based in Madrid and was opened in the early 1900s.

The first wine we tried was Vina Gravonia Crianza 2003 which is one of the strangest whites I've had. It has a golden colour like a dessert wine which I guess it should being 10 years old but it tasted quite fresh and light. Made from the Viura grape.

Vina Tondonia Tinto Reserva 2001. Really good vintage, very rich and complex with vanilla oak notes. Interesting wines, not the usual you would find at a after tour tasting. Really enjoyed them.

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Bodegas Roda, Haro

Roda is quite a new up and coming winery built on an old site.

The original part of the bodega. This is a typical underground cellar, notice the wet floor, it's purposely sprayed to help maintain a constant temperature.

The modern side of the bodega where they age their red wine in unique striped barrels.

The bodega backs onto the Rio Ebro where, before the railway was built, wine was transported out of Rioja.

The view of Haro from Barrio de la Estacion.

After the tour we got to try 2 wines and 2 Olive oils. Roda wines are quite recent and aren't the typical Rioja style. We tried their most recent vintages of Roda Reserva 2008 and Sela 2010. Roda Reserva was quite a bright, fresh wine with lots of red cherry. The Sela tasted very youthful and was all fruit with strawberry and cherry dominating.

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Bodega Cvne, Haro

C.V.N.E (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) or as most pronounce it Cune is a very famous bodega which has a royal background.

The secondary fermentation vats, raised off the ground so that temperature is easy to control.

Oak barrels where the wine is aged. A Crianza is aged at least two years one of which must be in oak, a Reserva is aged at least three years one of which must be in oak and a Gran Reserva is aged at least two years in oak and three years in the bottle. Although, it seems that most of the Haro wineries label there Reservas as Crianza and there Gran Reservas as Reservas leaving their Gran Reservas for especially good years and longer ageing. These barrels are in The Eiffel Cellar, one of the few remaining wide space structures designed by Gustav Eiffel without pillars 

This is C.V.N.Es special wine cellar, where they have a bottle of every single vintage they have released. Cobwebs and damp rule here.

Haro was one of the first towns in Spain to have electricity because of the money surrounding winemaking at the time. Most of the bodegas still have the original lines which is what's being demonstrated here. 

The first wine up was from their Imperial range. This 2007 Reserva has a garnet colour and dark berry flavours. Quite smokey, with hints of coffee. I've tried their 2001 Gran Reserva too which is amazing!

This is their standard white called Monopole and is made from the Viura grape. It was nice and light with melon and pineapple notes. It was quite nice to try a white in Rioja where red wine dominates.