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.

Boutinot at the Tower of London

To the Armouries at the Tower of London for the Boutinot tasting.

I enjoy this venue as there is a lot of space as well as daylight. The layout was good, with the cheap and cheerful (ie house wines) on one long table by the entrance; then spanning the room were tables with wines from all over, many with the producers pouring as well as answering questions and fielding comments about their wines. Paul Boutinot himself was presenting his South African wines, and I enjoyed the False Bay Chenin Blanc 2008: bright, crisp, dry with lovely apply fruit.

As I tend to do at tastings with a lot on offer I hone in on particular wines, and their producers. Paul McArdle of Fonty's Pool was on hand to tell me about how carefully he monitors the fruit harvested in his vineyards in Pemberton, Western Australia since he became CEO three years ago. Fonty's Pool has come on in leaps and bounds since Paul took over - and it shows! His Sauvignon/Semillon 2008 is well rounded, dry, fruity with bright acidity.

The wines of Chile were showing very well too: as well as Cesar Moralis of Emiliana showing a range of the VOE organic wines and the exciting Novas Winemaker Selections white and red, Felipe Muller-East offered some good wines from Limari, in the north of Chile, under the Tabali label. And, of course, the Casa Marin individual vineyard wines from the coastal vineyards of San Antonio were as good as ever.

There were good wines from Spain, Portugal and Italy and then I reached France, where I met Philippe Girard again and tried his wines: two vintages of his straight Sancerre and a tank sample of Silex, made from grapes grown in flinty vineyards, showing an exciting minerality.

At the end of the morning I enjoyed meeting and tasting the Rhône wines made by Eric Monnin, Boutinot's inspired winemaker in the south of France. His Les Cérisiers (aptly named) is a pale pink rosé was dry with good, yes, cherry notes; then I tried a great full-bodied, deeply flavoured fruity 2007 Gigondas, with a long life ahead of it; and two vintages of Cairanne, La Côte Sauvage. The 2006 was gorgeous but the 2005 ("We have a few magnums left!") was even better, a great example of a warm vintage.


The tasting was completed by a good, simple lunch, though not in this fine tent pitched in the Tower.


Lunch was enhanced by this great array of fruit!



With a nod in the direction of the mayor of London, hopefully working hard for the Tidal Thames,


we set off for a much needed walk past Tower Bridge

towards Limehouse, with Canary Wharf on the horizon.

How To #1 - Open a Bottle of Sparkling Wine

1. Grasp bottle firmly and hold at 45⁰ pointing away from you, aiming at no-one.

2. Still holding the bottle firmly, grip the cork and twist it to remove. Please, no loud popping - so infra-dig.

3. Pour slowly and carefully.

4. Enjoy, with moderation of course.

© The Wine Maestro & Wine Travel Guides

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

Christmas 2008

It was great to be back at Chalet Balaena where the snow was deep and crisp and even - a positive start to the ski season.

Chalet Balaena


Chalet Balaena with the mountain towering behind...


... and the chapel in the old village, just down the road from us.


While Wink took her new tenant, Will, to show him the slopes I warmed up with a few gentle skis at Outalay


before pausing for a vin chaud!



The next day was Christmas Eve so we went down to the market in Grand Bornand to buy vegetables,


ham and saucisson (I'm not sure about that one in the middle),


as well as gazing at the seasonal specialities of foie gras, snails and Grand Bornand smoked salmon.


As always the cheery M. Bozon jnr looked after us.


To Champion supermarket, where we appreciated their best wishes for the season.


We enjoyed the cornucopia of shellfish


and bid farewell to this fine lobster.


To complete our trip to Thones we visited the Christmas market


where we were warmed by the 'ritual burning of the pallet'


before enjoying a vin chaud, warmed above this unusual log fire. Using a hollowed green log, the fire consumes it slowly throughout the day.


Cheerily served - everyone is imbued with the Christmas spirit.


Back home, we decorated the Christmas tree and strewed presents around it.



Christmas Day and the forecast was promising after a cloudy start.


We set off for the slopes and, having arrived at the top,


fortified ourselves with a hot chocolate and rum!


We skied and snowboarded till lunchtime which we enjoyed up high with Will and Hazel.



Boxing Day was even brighter and we set off again to enjoy the snow, sun and blue skies



as well as great views



with Wink in front of Pointe Percée


and me!



We rounded off our morning with lunch at La Taverne with a bottle of Apremont, the essential mountain frites, endives au gratin



and the company of Yvonne and Juliette as well as Phil.