Spanish Wine Sale

Stop by this Saturday to taste a few fantastic Spanish wines and enjoy discounts on any Spanish wine in the shop – 15% off on six or more bottles. It will be an ideal time to replenish the cellar, grab yourself a special bottle that has developed with some age, or just stock up on everyday wines for the holiday weekend.

John Radford, author of The New Spain, makes the claim that Spanish wine is more vibrant, happening, and fascinating than it has ever been. We could not agree more.

Although Elie Wine Co. is first and foremost a French wine shop, we are fiercely proud of our thoughtful selection of Spanish wines that include everything from inexpensive, easy-drinking wines to cellar-worthy, world-class wines. It’s a selection with an emphasis on small producers that control the winemaking process from vineyard to bottle.

Like husband and wife team, Irene Alemany and Laurent Corrio, true garagistes producing a range of world-class wines in the Alt Penedès, the most inland and mountainous subzone of the Penedès wine region of Catalunya. The two are recognized as being among the top winemakers in all of Spain. All of their wines show classic French techniques expertly executed with a Mediterranean soul. With plenty of big fruit up front, a deep structure, and long finish, their cuvée, “Pas Curtei” (~$24), is much like a Grand Cru from Saint-Émilion. It is a small production blend of 60% Merlot, 20% Carinyena, and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon.

Like brothers Carlos and Juan Rodríguez, along with star winemaker Fredi Torres, who started Sílice Viticultores to harness the soaring slopes of the Ribeira Sacra appellation for the purpose of making great wines. Production is tiny, only 1,020 cases of their cuvée “Sílice” (~$25) were made in the 2015 vintage. It’s a blend of 80% Mencía, 5% Garnacha Tintorera, 5% Albarello, 5% Merenzao, and 5% Godello. The grapes are hand-harvested (there is no alternative in these vertical vineyards) and vinified using indigenous yeasts. The wine is matured in a 17-year-old, 4,000-liter oak foudre they purchased in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The result is a wine of ripeness, concentration, and balance, with aromas of juicy wild forest berries, sweet cherries, wanton flowers, smoked tea, and loamy earth.

Like visionary winemaker Raimon Badell of Masia Can Tutusaus who makes more than his award winning Cava from the mountainous Penedès sub-zone of the Massís del Garraf, where soil and microclimate yield fruit with superb concentration and balance. The native Xarel-lo grape is considered the backbone of Cava’s unique character, Raimon extracts all the intense aromatics, yellow fleshy fruit, and freshness that the variety has to offer for “Ona Penedès White” (~$14) a still wine. For “Ona Penedès Red” (~$14) Marselan, a rare grape variety created by crossbreeding Cabernet Sauvignon with Garnacha is used. The wine shows both the exuberant red fruit ripeness of Garnacha and the elegant structure of Cabernet Sauvignon, its vibrancy and freshness illustrating why a new breed of winemakers have begun planting this variety across the Mediterranean, although it is in the higher altitude, cooler regions like Massís del Garraf where it shines.

And many, many more.

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Posted on 2017.06.28 in Saturday Sips Wines, Spain DO, Penedes, Ribeira Sacra