Day one of the whirl wind trip around Spain…twice
Well, I don’t know how I managed to plan this trip the way I did, but it involves about 18 days, two wine fairs and crisscrossing the country twice. Anyway…Day 1 is almost civilized. It is the first day of MadWine…a. k. a. the Madrid Wine Festival, an event that is run by the Wine Academy of Spain. The fair has many exhibitors, but for me the most interesting part is the lecture/tasting series. Each day of the 2 day event has 4 different tastings presented by some of the top names in the Spanish wine world. The 2 star tastings of day 1 were “Spanish wines on an international level” conducted by 4 Masters of Wine and “Rioja: Past, Present and Future”. The MW tasting had 4 flights with Spanish plus a wine from another country. It was a fun and interesting way to play stump the people. It was interesting because there were some very international styled modern wines in the mix like Clio or Aquilon, yet they really did express a certain “Spanishness”. The other top tasting was a who’s who of the top wines in Rioja. Everything was presented from the very traditional Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia to Bodegas Muga’s Aro. The Lopez wines, red and white, were both from the 1964 vintage. They were earthy, wonderful, striking and unique. The 2001 Aro was a big bruiser of a Rioja, full of blackberry fruit and spice. The wine did have a good balance of acidity to fruit and tannin, and while very modern still had minerality and a sense of place. With all of the great changes in Spain, it is nice to see that the Riojanos want to maintain a strong sense of place in addition to pressing forward with modern innovation.
Tomorrow…Sherry for breakfast!