Visiting old friends in Castilla y León

During the Circle of Wine Writers' trip to Castilla y León earlier this year we visited modern bodegas in newly demarcated, promoted wine regions in this beautiful part of northern Spain. There was one exception, however, to all this modernity: Bodegas Otero in Benavente, a wine business that was created in 1906 by the grandfather, yes, the granddad, of the current owner, Julio Otero!

Ten years ago, when I was running Webber's Wine Bar in Billericay, I won the Spanish Wine List of the Year award. The prize was a trip to northern Spain where a small group of us visited several regions and wineries there.

On that trip ten years ago we had seen bodegas in Rioja, Navarra as well as Rueda, and we didn't really know what to expect when we arrived in the sleepy little town of Benavente, where many of the roads were unmade, to visit Bodegas Otero. I do remember that we were very impressed by the quality, as well as the honesty, of their wines. At the time Julio was running the bodega with his father Manuel and both were very proud of their achievements.


Ten years later we arrived in a smart, modern town - where there is still time to sit and chat. When our coach pulled up outside the bodega Manuel came out to greet us. Looking very dapper he is now retired, although he still keeps an eye on everything! We both recognised each other and reminisced of my last visit.

We entered the bodega through the cellars that had been excavated in the early 1950s enlarging the winery from its original shop premises. Concrete tanks with a capacity of 300,000 litres are still used and there are barrel cellars as well as a Cape Canaveral of stainless steel tanks. In total Bodegas Otero produces 1.3 million bottles of wine, of which 250,000 bottles are 'quality' wine.


Their quality wine is VCPRD, meaning Vino de Calidad Producido en Región Determinada. In 1986 Otero helped form an association with the other five major producers in the region and they decided not to try to achieve the higher category of Denominación de Origen because of the cost of controls and they didn't want to have to increase their prices. This value for money quality was demonstrated when we tried the wines in their smart tasting room.

First, Julio told us about the particular red grape variety of Leon, and Benavente: the Prieto Picudo. Rather like talking about a wayward child of which one is proud, Julio said: "It is difficult to cultivate, its branches and spurs go every which way, there are leaves all over the place and it needs lots of room! But it does make good wine".

They own 12 hectares of Prieto Picudo as well as 14ha Tempranillo, 5ha Cabernet Sauvignon and 2.5ha each of Merlot and Mencia, another local red variety. There are also 8ha of Verdejo for white wine. In all they have 44ha of vineyards and, as you can guess from their total production, they do buy in a lot of grapes.

Rosado wines are an important part of their business and, as it is Spain, always has been: rosé is no modern fad in this part of the world! And the Otero rosado is special. It is made with classic red grapes that are harvested early in order to preserve the acidity, which are pressed and fermented as white wine. This method produces a well rounded wine with good acidity which can age well too, as we saw with the collection of bottles from previous vintages.

The first two vintages we tried were delicious; deep pink in colour with the 2008 showing a hint of blue, which Spanish winemakers delight in telling you! (Nobody in France or elsewhere shows such pride in this trace of blue in the colour spectru...). Both wines were dry with fine balancing acidity; the 2008 with bright red fruits on the nose, the 2007 more Morello cherry.



Then, as some of us assembled a range of their rosados to photograph against the light, Julio opened a bottle of their 1970 rosado which was enjoyed by everyone, especially as the wine still had lots of life in it exhibiting hints of concentrated spicy black fruits.




We concluded the tasting with four reds, all made with their enfant terrible grape, Prieto Picudo. First the 2008, a viña joven (no oak) which was lively with good red fruit notes. The other three all had had 12 months in French oak and it was interesting to try to discover the characteristics of this indigenous grape variety. The youngest, 2006, had hints of coffee with red fruits on the nose and on the palate accompanied by gentle tannins. 2005 showed bright ripe red fruit with stalky hints, as did the 2002 though with deeper flavours.

The last red, labelled VO, was from their own vineyard, Pago de Valleoscuro. This 2007 was a blend of Prieto Picudo and Tempranillo that had been aged in concrete tanks in the cellar: a lovely wine with rich fruit, gentle tannins completed by a long finish.

These wines are very reasonably priced starting at €2 going up to €7 – no D.O. you see! In the UK the retail price would be from £5 to £14, though currently no-one is importing them.




The tasting was followed by an al fresco lunch, which was very convivial with two sorts of empanada, tuna and tomato, and chorizo served at the tasting table, accompanied by the wines we’d tasted, which were even more delicious!







It was great to be back at Bodegas Otero in Benavente where the town shows considerable improvement from when I was last there. The wine, however, is as good as ever as is the very warm family welcome and hospitality. I look forward to returning to renew my friendship with Manuel and Julio very soon.


If you enjoyed reading this post do have a look at another I've written about this trip: "A Fantastical Night in Zamora"

All the Nines: Ninety Nine and others

One evening in February we invited four friends, all wine lovers, to a dinner with the theme of drinking wines from vintages ending in 'nine'. Guests were invited, and we arranged between us what wines we would bring from our cellars - as you can imagine with older vintages more reds were available so we had to plan the meal accordingly.

The line up of some of the wines looked pretty impressive!


We started with Champagne Bernard Brémont 1999 Grand Cru Ambonnay
Fine gentle mousse with delicious mouth filling blackberry note, dry with sustaining acidity.

Before we tucked into our meal we tasted the reds, from all over the world.


Jean Leon Cabernet Sauvignon Gran Reserva 1999 Pago Jean Leon, Spain
Lovely bright red with warm, ripe, attractive red fruits balanced with gentle tannins.

Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet/Shiraz 1989 South Australia
Mid red in colour with a little browning at the rim with meaty, fruity notes. A mature wine though still with some life in it - well balanced with a long finish.

Trinity Hill Trinity 1999 Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Russet in colour showing some browning on the edge it was drying and only showing a little fruit.



The oldest red was a magnum of Burgundy which I bought in the early 1970s from Serena Sutcliffe MW when she was working with a small wine importer.

Chassagne Premier Cru Morgeots, Prosper Maufoux 1969 Burgundy, France
There was a slight ullage, to mid neck. Browny red the nose was slightly farmyardy with a hint of fruit. On the palate it was full-bodied and robust, seeming very typical of the ‘big’ style of Burgundies commonly produced in that era.

With our first course of smoked salmon on blinis we drank another Grand Cru, this time from Alsace.
Pinot Gris, Grand Cru Spiegel, Domaines Schlumberger 1999 Alsace, France
Deep yellow colour – honeycomb and musky floral notes on the nose, which continued on the palate; medium dry with gently acidity completed by a long finish.

The main course was a simple game casserole – simple because it didn’t taste too gamey – just the dish to enjoy with the reds. Delightfully we didn’t all agree on which wine was the best match with the Penfolds Bin 389 and the Jean Leon Cabernet Sauvignon vying for top position.

We’d brought back from France a couple of cheeses: Tommette, made just down the road from us in Haute Savoie, and Comté, from the Jura where the unique Vin Jaune is made.

Arbois Vin Jaune, Jaques Puffeney 1999 Jura, France
Golden yellow with a concentrated bouquet of wet walnuts, spices (fenugreek). Deep rich flavours on the palate with fantastic balancing acidity. It matched the Comte splendidly.

We completed the dinner with a special treat from 1939!


Massandra Gurzuf Rose Muscat 1939 Crimea
Bronze gold with faintest hint of pink, the nose was a complex mix of acacia honey, warm toffee and attar of roses. Still fresh it was unctuously sweet, tempered by bright acidity with all the flavours on the nose continuing in the mouth. Wow!


Wink has written a blog recounting the history of this ‘wine of the Tsars’, why and how she bought it.

We all enjoyed a very convivial evening with lots of conversation and discussion, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to share all these wines in such great company.

Our Christmas dinner

Wink had bought me a seasonal cookbook, Elizabeth David's Christmas. Compiled by Jill Norman, ED's longstanding editor, from articles and recipes for a book which never reached fruition in this great author's lifetime. As with all her books it makes a very good read as well as having lots of good recipes.

We had decided to have a capon this Christmas as there were only two of us (aaah!) so we bought a chapon de Loué weighing 1.6kg as suggested in the recipe and not the big bruiser one normally expects.

As suggested I prepared tomatoes with rice and walnut stuffing which cooked in the oven during the last 30 minutes roasting time.



The other vegetables were brussels sprouts enhanced with chestnuts, and roasted parnsips. A little wine stirred in the roasting pan made a light gravy for our Christmas meal.




Whilst roasting the bird we had our aperitif:
Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Kabinett 2002
Lovely elegant wine with a touch of lime on the nose and just off-dry. Good minerality, medium-bodied, refreshing completed by a long finish.


And with our meal we delved into the past with a mature Burgundy:
Faiveley Nuits St Georges Premier Cru, Clos de la Maréchale 1991
Good red in colour with brown rim. Aged blackberries on the nose with a touch of vegetal, this wine belied its age still being robust in body and flavour - chaptalised in what not a great Burgundy vintage. However the wine went well with the capon as none of the accompaniments were too strong in flavour. We enjoyed this little gem from the Webber's Wine Bar cellar - and we still have a bottle left!

The wines

Seyssel

We were off on a little wine tour, this time to Clairette de Die, when we broke our journey in Seyssel, yet another vineyard area on the Rhône.

Seyssel is just outside the Savoie and is known in the UK for its bottle-fermented sparkling wines, especially Varichon et Clerc Royal Seyssel (more about this later).

Just above Seyssel we climbed up through the vineyards to the village of Corbonod where we visited Maison Mollex, a wine producer and négociant. Their own production is sparkling, and still white wine made with 100% Roussette (the Altesse of Savoie).

Hence their 'smart' delivery lorry to supply local clients!

We visited the cave and saw their stocks of maturing sparkling wine. Very occasionally a bottle will explode but they are stacked in such a way that no damage is done to the neighbouring bottles.

The bottles are disgorged, to remove the sediment, à la volée – always interesting to see.

We tasted a couple of their Roussettes, preferring La Péclette 2006, from the eponymous 5ha vineyard. "Lovely ripe peachy fruit on the nose this just off-dry wine has good balancing acidity with a meaty finish."

As it was now midday we drove down to Seyssel where we had lunch at the Hotel Beausejour, the yellow building to the right, by the river.

Whilst Wink wisely ordered a seafood salad I indulged in the local speciality, La Friture, not dissimilar to whitebait. Accompanying it was a bowl of quinoa and tomato, so at least there was some healthy eating...

... though I had to have an ice cream!

To complete our visit to Seyssel we continued to the outskirts of the town to the Cave de Vins Lambert, an interesting wine shop that Wink was researching for Wine Travel Guides.

There we met Gérard Lambert who told us that he had bought the rights to produce Royal Seyssel, a sparkling wine made in Seyssel since the start of the 20th century by Varichon et Clerc. This company had been taken over by Boisset, a Burgundy négociant, who'd let its reputation slip.

So Gérard had negotiated (hah!) to buy Royal Seyssel in order to restore it to its former glory. He has built a new aging facility behind his wine shop and he proudly showed us the wine maturing. Good luck to Gérard in his brave endeavour!

Savoie - Chautagne

At last the weather was sunny and we were off to visit more of La France Profonde – La Chautagne.

Chautagne is one of the 20 or so small areas in the AOC region of Savoie: there are about 1800ha of vines scattered hither and thither in Savoie where the altitude and slopes allow for wine growing.

With Griselda (my Garmin Nüvi GPS, which can be a tad temperemental but never argumentative) we set off to drive via Annecy through peaceful countryside and then the gorge at Val-de-Fier, with its dams, reaching Serrières en Chautagne to visit a small producer there, Domaine de Verronet.

We rang the bell at the door which connected us to Madame who was working in the vineyard, who said that she would be along in a moment. When she arrived we tasted a range of wines in the little tasting room adjacent to the cellar.

With about 10ha of vines (some rented) 80% are red and 20% white varieties. Chautagne is the exception that makes the rule as Savoie as a whole produces a lot more white than red and rosé. we had a look at the vineyard behind the property before continuing on our way.

We then drove up through the vineyards to find Jacques Maillet. A charming man totally dedicated to making wines with character. After a serious illness in 2002 he reduced his vineyards from 6.5ha to 2.5ha and now produces wine biodynamically, with a loathing of machinery!

We enjoyed a vertical tasting of all his Autrement from its first vintage in 2004 (he now only has 9 bottles left!) to a tank sample of 2007. The wine is a blend of Gamay, Pinot Noir and Mondeuse - some of the latter vines are 107 years old.

I enjoyed all the vintages especially the earliest: pale in colour, which is typical of the red wines of Savoie, with a touch of minerality on the nose with lots of gorgeous ripe fruit - and a touch of heather!

We completed our tasting with a fine aperitif: Jacques' first white, Jacquère 2007 which was delicious. What a great guy!

We had a straightfoward lunch at the Auberge de Motz, a building that had been extensively refurbished by the village council using some of the income generated by the use of the electricity company's hydro-electric dams in its borough.

After lunch we drove through past more vineyards to Ruffieux...

...where we visited the Maison de Chautagne. The home of the local cooperative it also has a very good interactive wine museum as well as a large shop selling their wines as well as other local produce.

Our last visit of the day was to Chanaz, a pretty little tourist town on the Canal de Savières. The canal connects the river Rhône with the Lac de Bourget, the largest lake in France. Boat trips are popular on this waterway which can flow either way depending on the height of the river.

After a visit of the local watermill and a cup of tea we returned home using Griselda to guide us. True to form she found the most direct route which meant travelling up a steep, narrow road by the Lac de Bourget, the trickiness of which was compensated by terrific views of the lake.