Spain: Cava Cabré & Sabaté.

Cabré & Sabaté is yet another packaging guise created by bespoke-label Cava maestro Jaume Serra for Mercadona and other supermarkets in Spain; this impressive winery also produces very good fizz for several UK retailers (Asda, Aldi, Morrison's...).

Lockdown bubbly of the moment

Prestige Cava Rosado & Prestige Cava Brut

At first, I thought this dynamic duo were the usual Marks & Spencer Cavas with flashy new labels and a price rise, but they are additional to the range and definitely noticeably tastier and toastier quality-wise for the £10 price tag.

Spain, Catalonia: posh Cava

In light of recent independence aspiring events in the region, there will probably be as many who are unhappy as are happy with the post title above placing Spain and Catalonia together on one line separated by nothing more than a simple comma. That's enough topical politics on WineWriting.com, which will remain neutral except to say that there really are some delicious examples of the classic Catalan fizz out there offering great value for money, especially if you pay a little more for better bottles such as Vintage or Brut Nature styles...

Spain: 'wines of the moment'

Catalonia

Vintage Cava 2011 Brut Nature Jaume Serra (Xarel.lo, Parellada, Macabeu, Chardonnay, 11.5% abv) - Attractive drink-now and dry version ('nature' here means zero added dosage) of the popular favourite, with oily roundness and a touch of style. Tesco 'finest' £7.

Marqués del Norte Vintage Cava Brut 2013 (11.5% abv) - Asda has been knocking out this own-label fizz at a ludicrous bargain £4! Also made by the Jaume Serra winery, less developed and fresher than above although more off-dry.

Frares Priorat 2014 (Garnacha, Carinena, 15% abv) - Tasty example of this often very expensive Catalan red from the hills behind Tarragona, full-on spicy liquorice with oomph and plenty of lush fruit. Marks & Spencer £13

Montilla – Moriles

Fresquito PX 2014 Perez Barquero (Pedro Ximenez, 14% abv) - Deliciously different dry white with the lively yeasty almond edges reminiscent of Fino Sherry, but a touch 'lighter' in style (despite that quite high alcohol). Marks & Spencer £9, on offer at £42 for 6 bottles online (late April).

Rioja

Marqués de Valido Reserva 2010 Bodegas Muriel (Tempranillo, 13% abv) - Always reliable Co-Op own-brand Rioja, not the greatest Reserva style around but has plenty of maturing charm and smoky smoothness for the price. £8.99

Perez Burton Tempranillo 2013 Telmo Rodriguez (14%) - A touch classier and more concentrated version from this well-known consultant winemaker. M & S £11.50.

Yecla - Murcia
Tapa Roja old vines Monastrell 2014 Bodegas del Mediterraneo (14.5% abv) - Same delicious unoaked style as the previous vintage featured on this blog a year ago (click there), layered with earthy dark fruit and black olive flavours. M & S £9/£7 on offer (late April).

Jerez/Sanlúcar de Barrameda - Andalusia

12 Year Old Oloroso Sherry Emilio Lustau (Palomino Fino, 20% abv) - Labelled as 'medium dry', but I think its inherent characteristic richness makes it taste less dry than it actually probably is. Towards stunning aged sherry for a bargain price, rich and baked walnut-y with complex lingering flavours. Sainsbury's 'taste the difference' £8 50cl.

La Gitana Manzanilla Bodegas Hidalgo (Palomino Fino, 15% abv) - Classic style dry and lively sherry with roasted salted almond notes and tangy finish. 50cl £8 Sainsbury's/widely available.

Spain, Catalonia: Priorat, Montsant, Terra Alta, Penedès, Empordà

Hot on the heels of the last post about my updated Cava guide (click there), here are fifteen more tasty Catalan recommendations sourced from fashionable (and dear) Priorat and the (better-value) neighbouring wine areas of Montsant and Terra Alta (inland and west of Tarragona), Penedès (west/north-west of Barcelona) and the perhaps lesser-known (name- and wine-wise at least as it's very touristy) Empordà region (Catalunya's north-eastern corner bordering France Med-side). Some of the prices indicated below were taken from Wine Searcher.

From facebook.com/lafouceller

Priorat
Clos Mogador 2010 (Garnacha, Carinena, Cabernet, Syrah) - a "famous" vineyard I believe, owned by René Barbier. Dense rich red, fair amount of coconut oak but it's intense concentrated and extracted, firm and fresh mouth-feel layered with dark cherry/berry fruit and savoury flavours, powerful and still young on the finish. Expensive naturally: about €70 in Ireland, at least £50 in the UK and $75-$100 in USA.
Álvaro Palacios 2012 Camins del Priorat (Garnacha, Carinena) - Delicious wild berry and herb fruit, pure and tasty, concentrated too with nice grip and lively finish. €27, £17.50, $21-$23
Cartoixa de Montsalvat 2009 Mont Classic (Garnacha, Carinena) - Baked maturing liquorice and tobacco aromas, extracted and concentrated, big vs softening, power and length; quite a mouthful! €22, $32-$34
Bernard Magrez 2010 Herencia del Padri (Carinena, Garnacha, Merlot, Cabernet, Syrah) - Light coconut tones and fairly perfumed ripe berry and cassis, beginning to mature turning savoury and tobacco, powerful vs soft tannins, quite elegant actually. €21.25, $20
Bernard Magrez 2005 Alegría (Garnacha, Carinena, Merlot, Cabernet) - Fairly oaky still actually vs smoky maturing dark fruit, quite concentrated, some grip still although nice texture and balance, coconut hints merge with lush spicy fruit. €49.50

Montsant

Cellers Baronia del Montsant 2010 Cims del Montsant (Garnacha, Carinena) - maturing smoky tobacco nose, sweet liquorice fruit vs a touch of grip, attractive savoury finish, drinking well now. €16.99, $15-$20

Catalunya

Ramón Roqueta 2012 Vinya Nostra Nit de Tardor (Garnacha, Samsó) - Dark berries with liquorice and spice, nice fruity mouthful, fairly soft yet quite concentrated with lingering dark fruit and wild herb flavours. €17

Ramón Roqueta 2013 Vinya Nostra Xarel.lo (100% Xarel.lo) - Aromatic green fruit with yeast-lees edges, crisp and zesty mouth-feel vs fuller oilier side, fair weight and flavour in the end. Nice white. €17

Catalunya/Penedès
Torres 2013 Vina Esmeralda (Moscatel, Gewurztraminer) - Aromatic Muscat nose with a touch of lychee, light and off-dry with zesty finish. €13.99, £7.50-£8.50
Torres 2011 Coronas Crianza (Tempranillo, Cabernet) - Vibrant berry fruit and subtle oak notes, tasty fruity vs savoury palate, lovely balance and style. £8-£9, €13.99
Torres 2010 Gran Sangre de Toro (Garnacha, Carinena, Syrah) - Smoky with a touch of oak and nice lively spicy ripe black fruits, quite concentrated with smooth tannins plus an elegant touch despite the Grenache oomph. €13.99, £8-£9.50
Torres 2009 Gran Coronas (Tempranillo, Cabernet) - Concentrated and stylish, savoury tobacco notes vs chunky and dark-fruity, drinking well now but will last a bit longer, very tasty red. €19.99, £11.50-£12.50

Terra Alta

Lafou Celler 2012 Els Amelers (Garnacha blanca) - Juicy and honeyed, zesty and lees-y vs quite rich, pretty intense with steely vs weighty finish. Very good white. €22, $20

Lafou Celler 2012 El Sender (Garnacha, Syrah, Morenillo) - Perfumed wild herb/violet aromas, lovely blackberry/cherry, soft tannins, lush vs powerful. Delicious red. €22, $18-$20

Empordà

Clos d'Agon 2010 Amic (Garnacha) - Maturing wild dark fruit nose, big mouthful with chunky vs maturing finish, quite good although not exactly a bargain. €23.75, £15.95

Spain: Cava guide updated

From www.crcava.es

I've updated and tidied up my now 15-page mini-guide to 'Creative Catalan Bubbly' country featuring new 'entries' from these wineries, big and small: Vallformosa, Chozas Carrascal, Segura Viudas, Freixenet, Marqués de Monistrol, Campo Viejo, Jaume Serra, Castellblanch, Marqués de la Concordia/The Haciendas Company, Castillo Perelada and Juvé y Camps. Also includes some latest thoughts and figures on Cava export markets and updated profiles on a couple of stand-out cellars.

This Cava mini-guide isn't viewable on WW.com, so you can buy the full PDF report for just £1.99 emailed to you once I get confirmation of payment. Hit the PayPal button below (select it in drop-down menu first) to pay by card or with your own PP account, although you don't need one to do so! More about card payments and general T&C by clicking HERE.

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Spain: Cava guide

Cava mini-guide: 'Creative Catalan bubbles...'

"I'm not going to over-bore you with the full-monty geographical or technical stuff, as the Cava region is pretty vast and extends beyond Catalunya in fact (although there is some of this in it: a hint of winemaking talk and fascinating export stats). This gradually expanding wee guide, originally published in 2008 and updated a few times a year since, is more about bringing your attention to a few lesser-known sparkling gems and hopefully also encouraging you to explore beyond Barcelona and the region's nice beaches and coastal towns, out into real Cava country... head for those green hills!"

Includes wines from these featured stand-out Cava wineries: Llopart, Carles Andreu, Perelada, Parxet, Raimat, Bach, Lavernoya, Mont Àrac, Blancher, Parató, Loxarel, Enric Nadal, Vallformosa, Chozas Carrascal and many more...

Updated August 2015 - buy this mini-guide for just £1.99 (GBP) - click here for more info and to buy it with PayPal...

Spain: Loxarel - Catalunya

Based at their Can Mayol estate near Vilobí del Penedès in the hills just to the north of Vilafranca (about 40-50 km west of Barcelona), the Mitjans family produces, following organic and biodynamic techniques, an interesting mix of 'local vs international' whites and reds, in addition to a variety of different rosés. From classic Catalan rosat (even if containing a large splash of Pinot) to an "extreme" style made from high-altitude late-picked Merlot; and a quirky barrel-fermented one from Xarel.lo vermell, a virtually extinct red-skinned version of this indigenous variety, which I wasn't that keen on though. And let's not forget the great range of traditional method sparklers (I won't call them Cava, as they've dropped that term...), most of them made in the Brut Nature style, i.e. no dosage added (= unsweetened). Check out their wild '109' at the bottom; hard to find fizz with much more flavour and complexity, except Bolly RD perhaps! € prices quoted are cellar door/online: click on the web link below the photo for more info.

Goat pruning method - from loxarel.com

2012 Xarel.lo (fermented in amphorae, 13% abv) - nutty 'mineral' nose, crisp and steely palate with light yeast-lees and pear notes, intense mineral bite vs lightly oily texture and bruised pear fruit; elegant and long. €12

2012 Petit Arnau rosat (Pinot noir, Merlot; 13% abv) - lively cherry fruit, full and creamy mouth-feel with fair weight vs crisp dry and tight with attractive raspberry and cranberry fruit. Nice dry rosé style. €6.40

2011 Gal Gran Arnau rosat (Merlot, 14.5% abv) - described as "extreme rosé", this has earthy, smoky even, raspberry and black cherry fruit, ripe vs crisp with a touch of grip on the palate, big mouthful; unusual! €12.50
2011 Eos Syrah (from a single vineyard in the upper Penedès at 600 metres altitude farmed organically, eight months in new Hungarian oak 500 litre barrels; 14.5% abv) - pure spicy/floral black cherry Syrah style, nice sweet fruit vs grippy texture, fairly intense finish; attractive "modern" red. €10.70
2008 '790' Reserva (single estate Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% abv) - maturing savoury 'oily' notes vs peppery cassis with cedary edges; quite smooth palate with enticing 'sweet/savoury' finish vs still a little firmness too; developed a bit of complexity as well. €13.80

2008 Cava Reserva Vintage Brut Nature (now labelled as D.O Penedès, old-vine Xarel.lo & Chardonnay; 12% abv) - light bready oat cake notes, crisp and dry mouth-feel vs rich and classy, long fresh finish with subtle toasted flavours. Very nice fizz, great value at €7.40.
2002 'Cent Nou' Gran Reserva Brut Nature (95% old-vine Xarel.lo: 'new' sparkling D.O Penedès style which isn't disgorged, i.e. fine lees sediment left in the bottle. Cent Nou = 109 in Catalan, as in 109 months bottle-ageing on the yeast lees!) Full-on rich nose, oat biscuit and chocolate with more exotic fruit too (dried apricot!) vs very yeasty, freshly baked bread notes; very intense flavour with nutty toasty finish vs lean mineral bite. Wow, not tried anything like that before! €64

Plenty more from Spain, Catalunya and Cava HERE.

Spain: Garnacha / Garnatxa, red white and rosé.

Following in the red-stained footsteps of my 'World Grenache Competition' series (part 1, part 2, part 3), this time we're turning the spotlight on Garnacha / Garnatxa from different parts of northeast Spain (Rioja, Aragon, Catalonia) with a little vinous wandering beyond the timeframe of the WGC event, which took place in Perpignan, south of France (Catalan side) recently.

Spain: Catalan "wines of the moment"

Specialist Spanish wine importer Oliver Burridge & Co. (based in the UK but they also sell to wine merchants in Ireland; click on that link to go to their site) has just added to their burgeoning selection from Catalan country, including two Cavas, white and rosé, and a few reds and a white from the lesser-known regions of Terra Alta and Montsant. These two wine areas can both be found in Tarragona province (about 100 km/60 miles southwest of Barcelona) on the higher ground (the red 'Cims del Montsant' below means MS Peaks) away from the coast, and I've featured three wines from here. The red and white from the Edetaria winery are particularly sexy, made from black and white Grenache or Garnacha or Garnatxa Negra and Garnatxa Blanca in Catalan. And the two Cavas tasting-noted and reviewed are made by Capesa and are pretty typical good examples of this tasty refreshing sparkling wine.

Cava Olivella Ferrari Brut Rosé Capesa (mostly Trepat, 11.5% alc.) - tasty refreshing style, fruity and elegant with lovely fine frothy mousse; has delicate oat biscuit flavours vs red fruits and rose aromas, drier than some rosé Cavas with crisp lively finish. £11.50 Spirited Wines.
Cava Olivella Ferrari Brut Reserva Capesa (Macabeu, Xarel.lo, Parellada; 11.5% alc.) - subtle delicate style with refreshing fizz and mineral notes vs very light toasted almond and floral fruit, gets even more refreshing and quaffable as you sip it. £10.50 Spirited Wines, Merchant Vintners, Flourish and Prosper.

2010 Cims del Montsant Garnatxa i Carinyena Cellers Baronia del Montsant (13.5%) - better than their 2011 Codols del Montsant Garnacha (a bit over-extracted and lacking roundness), this one is smoother with a layer of vanilla/coconut oak, quite lush dark and spicy fruit with dry vs rounded tannins. £11 Spirited Wines.

2011 Via Terra Garnatxa Negra Edetaria, Terra Alta (14.5%) - rich punchy and peppery, black cherry/berry with fig and liquorice notes and savoury black olive edges; light touch of coconut/vanilla oak but it's well done, lovely dry/firm vs ripe texture, powerful yet balanced. Nice lingering dark fruit vs meaty savoury side. Yum. £11.50
2011 Via Terra Garnatxa Blanca Edetaria, Terra Alta (13.5%) - attractive juicy pear notes vs nutty oily side with mineral bite, a tad honeyed and weighty too vs crisp and juicy, nice subtle length and style with lingering almond and pear flavours. £11 Guildford Wine Company; The Wine Library; Spirited Wine (with own label Vinya d'Irto); Liquid Pleasure.

Lots more Cava and Spanish wine HERE.