Navazos Niepoort Vino Blanco 2009

Now this is an interesting wine.  I was looking for a Spanish white and my local merchant, seeing the bottle of Arbois I was buying, suggested that if I liked oxidatively handled whites, I should give this one a try.  I wanted to tell him that it wasn’t that I was a fan of Arbois – rather that I’d never tried it and so didn’t know what I thought of it.  Likewise, I just wrote about a Niepoort wine the other week, and with so many producers out there, I try not to give any one too much love.  However, this is somewhat unique and I’m glad I took him up on his offer.

I’ve done some digging, but just looking at the bottle it’s a bit difficult to discern what it is.  We have two names on the label, Navazos and Niepoort.  Equipo Navazos is a Spanish Sherry négociant, which in this case means they buy casks of Sherry and bottle them under their own label.  I don’t know the Sherry side of the trade very well, but apparently they operate at the high end.  Dirk Niepoort is a more familiar name from Portugal, both for Port and as a Douro Boy.  Below the names reads “Vino Blanco” which is Spanish for white wine.  Under that though it says “Engarrafado em 2010″ which means bottled in 2010, but not in Spanish, in Portuguese.  Also, the wine is 13% ABV.  So, we have a trans-Iberian bottle of wine, but not obviously fortified, with the names of a Spanish négociant of Sherry and a Portuguese maker of Port and still wines.  Curiouser and curiouser.

What we have here, Navazos Niepoort Vino Blanco 2009 , as far as I can tell, is a bit of an experiment.  And since I pledged to work through the grapes, region, producer, drink format, I’ll start with the grape, Palomino.  It is a white grape of Spain, primarily known for its use in the production of Sherry.  It’s known for doing well in warm to hot, dry climates, with high yields, low acidity, and generally low alcohol.  It is used to make table wines, though none spring to mind, and few are on the international market.  Where it’s been exported from Spain as a vine, it’s largely been used to make fortified wine, such as in South Australia.  It should be noted though, that while I’ve started with the grape, apparently Navazos Niepoort started with musts, or grape juice.  This is not uncommon – depending on the type of business they run, a négociant can buy in grapes, must, or wine in varying stages of readiness to drink.  I’m speculating, but my guess at the partnership is that Navazos handled sourcing the must and then sales/distribution side of the equation, while Niepoort actually made the wine.

So region is tricky here, in that I’m not sure where this wine is made or strictly where it’s from, other than Spain.  The notes say the must is sourced from “a historic albariza vineyard”, and then references the 2009 vintage in the Sherry District.  Albariza is the white  marl soil of the Jerez, and Sherry is essentially an Anglicization of Jerez, so we’re pretty safe placing this somewhere in the south of Spain, in the vicinity of Jerez de la Frontera.  If you search for that city on Google Maps and zoom in a bit on satellite view, you can see the albariza as the white patches.  While I wasn’t able to recall them both when I faced my fortified wine exam, there are two other soil types, tajón which is calcareous and barro which has more clay.  The climate is warm to hot during the growing season, though mitigated by proximity to the ocean.  Winters are mild but damp.

Producers – I wrote about Niepoort when I discussed his Douro wine last week, so it’s time for a bit about Equipo Navazos.  As I mentioned, the company is a Sherry négociant with a numbered line of fortified wines running the complete range of Sherry, from Fino and Manzanilla to Amontillado and Pedro Ximénez.  They’re quite dear, but from what I understand worth every penny.  I know earlier I said that I didn’t know them as a company, but actually on a recent stop at a Spanish restaurant, I had a glass of sherry or two that were both numbered and expensive, and now having just checked the wine list of the restaurant, they in fact were their La Bota de Manzanilla No 22 and La Bota de Fino No 18 ‘Macharnudo Alto‘.  I love the Internet – I hardly have to remember a thing when I’m online.  That said, I also love writing this blog, because the chances of me remembering Equipo Navazos next time has exponentially increased.

Between producer and the actual wine in the glass, I’m going to insert a special section today on winemaking, because this wine warrants it.  So Sherry is known today as a fortified wine.  It’s made as a still wine, fortified up to between 15% and 22% ABV, stored in untopped barrels under a flor, or protective layer of surface yeast, and if they are aged, most are fractionally blended in a solera system over the course of years prior to bottling.  Details of the above vary greatly depending on the style of Sherry.  While it may seems odd to be outlining Sherry production for a wine which is not Sherry, according to the official notes, this wine is essentially a retro style of making Sherry.  They cite a document from 1801 which suggest the addition of spirit for fortification was only required of wines that were not top quality.  Therefore, the wine we have here is essentially Sherry of a style that can be traced back over 200 years.  Palomino grapes/musts from albariza soil, fermented in oak with naturally occuring yeast, aged for ten months under flor, and then bottled without fermentation.

Right, so in the glass it’s a fairly pale but distinctly gold and clear.  That is, slightly darker than the industry standard New World white wine shade.  The nose has some apple, possibly bruised, and a bit of pear.  There’s also some honeycomb – that is, not pure honey smell, but with a waxy edge.  There’s a hint of varnish as well, which may be the oxidative handling.  I’m not, however, getting any nuttiness.  On the palate it’s rich and savoury, with more apple and a combination of toasted bread and salt – like someone left a pretzel in the oven for a bit too long.  (I like both pretzels and salt, so I say that as a quality rather than a fault.)  There is some lack of acidity, but I think I’ve been trained to this flavour profile by Sherry so as not to miss it.  Jancis warms in the Palomino entry in OCW that it can produce “rather flabby, vapid table wines” but I think this is an exception to that.  It is intensely flavourful and has a very good length.  That said, I can imagine the flavour profile might not be to everyone’s liking, so it may not be the next big thing.  However, if it is your thing, I recommend it as worth tracking down.  It looks as though they’re already selling the 2010, their third go at this experiment, so I’m hoping it will continue for years to come.

Anselmo Mendes Muros Antigos Vinho Verde Escolha 2010

I have a bottle of Portuguese white in the fridge which I had anticipated opening later this week, so as to correct the neglect of Portugal in this blog.  However, while out for lunch, there was this wine by the glass, so how could I say no.  The Anselmo Mendes Muros Antigos Vinho Verde Escolha 2010 was on offer today, and it was a lovely drop.

Vinho Verde is a wine region that constitutes the northwest of Portugal.  It’s actually quite a large region, essentially from Porto to the Douro region as recently discussed, and to the north until you hit Spain.  It borders the Atlantic, so there is a large maritime influence, and grape growing dominates the region.

Vinho Verde can be translated as “green wine” though I’m never really been clear if that refers to it being something to be drunk young or if the pale gold has particularly green highlights.  It used to be that as much red was produced as white, but the share of red is declining and little is exported.  The white is typically made from Alvarinho, Loureiro, and Trajadura, and is generally light in alcohol.  Often it undergoes malolactic fermentation which gives it a slight fizz.

Normally I would try to link to the producer’s site, but Google is telling me that it may host malware, so I won’t for now.  The producer is Anselmo Mendes, one of the best known and respected producers in the region.  He does a wide range of Vinho Verdes based on Alvarinho and Loureiro, with this being from the former grape (I believe – couldn’t see any indication on the bottle).

This wine in particular was pale lemon, with crisp lime and blossom on the nose, lime on the palate but with some tropical fruit, and a hint of melon. No spritz, which is common in Vinho Verde, but a bit of acid zing. It had a tart lime finish but was somewhat short. Good quality, but perhaps not as fresh as it would have been a year ago.

Niepoort Vertente Douro 2006

I’ve not written a single thing about Portugal, and that’s just not right.  It used to be that you couldn’t mention Portugal without it immediately being assumed that Port was the next subject, but I think that’s been changing over the last decade or so for a few reasons.  First off, I think fortified wine is by and large is somewhat out of fashion.  Now that’s a broad statement, so let me dig down a bit.  There are some fortified wines that are borderline trendy – Sherry for instance is trending toward cool in the right context, that is with tapas.  And it’s good Sherry – not the old cream stuff that still has a certain following among an aging demographic.  However, that’s very context specific.  If you then turn your attention to Madiera, I think you’re almost as likely to conjure up images of Cristiano Ronaldo as you are a fortified wine.  And as for Port, I just don’t see it being drunk so much.  Something of a shame, but fashions come and go, and I’m sure it will have a resurgence at some point.

However, where Port is out of fashion to some extent, Portuguese table wine is having a Renaissance.  Much of it is down to the Douro boys, a group of innovative winemakers who have had some great successes, first in making some excellent wine, but at least as importantly in getting their story out and getting glasses of Portuguese wine into people’s hands.  They represent a new face to Portuguese wine, with a more modern style versus what is often thought of as a very rustic style of winemaking.

The best known to me is a gentleman who goes by the name Dirk Niepoort.  Much of the wine trade in Portugal, in particular the Port trade, was dominated by foreign traders, primarily English I believe, but certainly some Dutch as well.  The Niepoort family is obvious the latter.  They arrived in Portugal sometime in the 19th century and are now on their 5th generation, having built up quite business.  They now have a broad offering of wines, both fortified and not, with tonight’s bottle being table wine.

Portugal is blessed with a handful of wine regions for a small country, from the light whites of Vinho Verde to the concentrated red styles of the Douro which I’m enjoying this evening.  The river Douro defines, and gives its name to, the region.  The river ends at the sea in the city of Porto, but the wine region doesn’t start until you go up river perhaps 80km.  Continuing through the Douro region, the river has it’s start in Spain where it is known as Duero and it is the core of several wine regions there as well.

The Douro is best know for fortified wine, Port, production and while there are over a hundred varieties officially permitted, the vast majority of grapes grown are red, and the most highly regarded are Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz (also known as Tempranillo).  Vineyards in the Douro were traditionally field blends, with different varieties within the same block or sometimes row, but I would imagine that has been changing over the last decade as reform and innovation has come into play.  Still wines have become increasingly important to the region, and with that some level of varietal specificity.  However, blending is certainly still the norm for Niepoort table wines.

This wine, the Niepoort Douro Vertente 2006 is a blend of Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca, Tinta Amarela, Touriga Nacional and others.  It’s a lovely wine, and a real credit to the region.  It’s very dark in the glass, with an intense fruity and peppery nose.  The palate is fruity without being sweet, though there is a bit of raisin flavour that brings to mind Port – that could just be in my head though and not in the glass.  Likewise, with Portuguese wine I want to make a comment about it being rustic, but that’s not actually the case.  It’s elegant with long length.

To make amends for neglecting Portugal so badly, I’ll be having another of their wines this coming week – a white I believe.  Also, I’m hoping to add a map feature with pushpins as to the origin of each wine I’ve tasted.  That should make clear which regions have been feeling the love and which haven’t.