A Return From The Wine Fairs
Some takeaways from Barcelona Wine Week and Anteprima di Toscana
I’ve just returned from a month in Europe—you know, those places that used to be America’s closest allies? Anyway, it’s been quite a month, and I’ve been refilling the content tank with reporting and tasting, meeting dozens of winemakers and sampling hundreds of wines. Today, I’m sharing my quick takeaways from two wine fairs I attended, Barcelona Wine Week and Anteprime di Toscana.
These are just a teaser—there is much more to come that will be exclusively for Everyday Drinking readers. Over the next few weeks, I will go deeper, with features on exciting wines from Catalonia, Chianti Classico, Champagne, Rioja, natural wines from the Veneto. And moving further into spring, we’ll have features on Loire Valley, Beaujolais, Canary Islands and elsewhere. This is, of course, in addition to new essays and travel stories from me.
All of which is to say this is the spring rebirth of Everyday Drinking. I already announced a soft relaunch a few months ago, and there are several new perks that I’m planning to unveil as we move into spring and summer, including a new book by me that will be available to paid subscribers. And I have some even bigger news coming that I will be able to share in a few weeks.
What I’m saying is: If you haven’t already upgraded to paid, now is the time. I am offering a deep spring discount right now.
Barcelona Wine Week
As I wrote in The New Wine Review:
Over three days in February, more than 25,000 wine professionals and nearly 1,300 wineries from all around Spain filled the Fira de Barcelona exhibition hall. It was slightly overwhelming: I tasted hundreds of wines during the event. Yet after a few days processing things, I’m doubling down on the notion that Spain currently has the world’s most vibrant and dynamic wine scene.
A few takeways:
• Always a New Grape to Discover
One thing I love about Spain is the endless amount of indigenous grape varieties that one encounters. On a regular basis, some winemaker is reviving a forgotten grape from a century-old vineyard. I’m always tasting something that’s new to me.
This year’s Barcelona Wine Week did not disappoint. How many of us have tasted the red grape mandó from Valencia from Celler del Roure? Or how about red derechero de Muniesa from Jorge Temprado in Calatayud? Or how about esperó de gall from the island of Majorca, from numerous up-and-coming producers?
But if I had to pick favorites, I would choose two. First, the red grape rufete, from Malahierba in the mountainous Sierra de Salamanca region in western Castilla y Leon—grown in 70- to 120-year-old vineyards at over 3,000 feet elevation. Malahierba’s rufete is a magical, juicy, light-bodied red with a savory backbone, reminiscent of gamay, or even pinot noir
Second, I loved the red moristel from Bodegas Fábregas, in high-elevation Somontano? I don’t know what moristel is supposed to taste like, but from 80-year-old vines grown at nearly 2,000 feet elevation, it’s savory like Loire Cabernet Franc.
• Don’t Sleep on Majorca
At last year’s Barcelona Wine Week, I dipped my toe into the island wines of Majorca, tasting the native red grapes Callet and Mantonegro and the white grape Prensal from wineries such as Can Majoral and Celler Mesquida Mora. This year, the Majorcan contingent seemed even bigger.
Two standouts for me were 4 Kilos and Soca-Rel. Tasting Soca-Rel winemaker Pep Rodríguez’s single-varietal wine from the totally obscure Escursac native was a revelation in its vibrancy and crunchiness, and was one of the most memorable wines of the week. Meanwhile, natural-wine star Francese Grimalt’s 4 Kilos wines drew big crowds at the tasting table, and delivered on the hype.
• The Rise of Garnacha Blanca
You’re seeing more and more garnacha blanca (aka grenache blanc) planted in Spain. Terra Alta, in southern Catalonia, already is home to a third of all grenache blanc in the world. But it’s also being planted in places like Rioja, Navarra, Aragon, and elsewhere.
Why? Well, two reasons. First is the growing worldwide demand for white wines. The second reason is climate change. Garnacha blanca is widely seen as a grape that’s well-suited to drought and heat of the Iberian peninsula.
I went to a fascinating tasting of top producers in Terra Alta, including Celler Frisach, Herència Altés, Edetaria, and Bàrbara Forés. The standouts for me were Herència Altés’ 2021 La Serra Blanc—aged in a mix of concrete, amphora, and Austrian foudres—and Frisach’s 2022 Vernatxa, which sees one week of skin contact and is aged in concrete and large barrels.
Stayed tuned for more on these wines in my Catalonia feature in the coming weeks.
Anteprima di Toscana
I will be writing in depth about Chianti Classico in the coming weeks—based on my dive into the appellation during my time at Anteprima di Toscana.
But this past week, I wrote about “Alternative Tuscany” in The New Wine Review:
Of the various tastings I attended over four days, one of the most exciting was called “L’Altra Toscana.” There I tasted wines from eight appellations that we might call Alt Tuscany, including Carmignano, Montecucco, Cortona, Maremma, and Chianti Rufina, as well as a hodge-podge of innovative wines bottled as IGT Vino Toscana.
Takeaways on Alt Tuscany:
• Seek Out the “Other Chianti”
I spent a good deal of time tasting the eye-opening wines from the Chianti Rufina subzone, with its high-altitude, cool-climate vineyards and long history of quality winemaking.
Chianti Rufina (not to be confused with the giant Ruffino winery) may not be a total secret: Frescobaldi makes wine here, after all. In the 18th century, the wines were so popular and respected that Cosimo de’ Medici made a decree in 1716 to protect Chianti Rufina from counterfeiting.
I’ve always enjoyed the wines of Selvapiana, Frascole, and Tenuta Bossi Marchesi Gondi. A really good natural producer in the region is Fattoria di Lavacchio.
For years, Chianti Rufina had been trying to gain a classification for its top wines—similar to the Gran Selezioni classification in Chianti Classico. Now that’s happening under the Terraelectae mark that producers can elect to cite on their bottles: the wines must be 100 percent Sangiovese, must come from each winery’s top single vineyard site, and must be aged for 30 months—at least 18 months in oak and another six months in bottle.
The results are serious Sangioveses that can stand with the best Chianti Classico Gran Selezioni, and even some Brunello di Montalcino. Even with the significant oak aging, these are cool, balanced wines that are worth seeking out—especially if you’re someone who’s written off big Tuscan wines.
• Ciliegiolo, the Cherry of the Tuscan Coast
Many overlook the fact that Tuscany has a coast. Maremma is its name, and it’s one of Italy’s newest up-and-coming wine regions, having only obtained recognition as a DOC in 2014. One of the most innovative and exciting trends in Maremma is the emergence of red wines made from 100 percent ciliegiolo (which takes its name from the Italian word for “cherry”).
Traditionally, the indigenous ciliegiolo grape was blended with sangiovese because of its aromas, its juiciness, and how it softens sangiovese’s acidity. The best ciliegiolo is cool and crunchy, with ripe red fruit, and a touch of smokey minerality.
Ciliegiolo may find its best expression in the Maremma, and a critical mass of producers here are making amazing single-varietal bottlings. I tasted more than a dozen examples at Anteprima di Toscana, from wineries such as Alberto Motta, Mantellassi, Poggioargentiera, Sassotondo, and Tenuta Montauto.
• Surprising Syrah
In Cortona (best known as the place where Frances Mayes had her villa in Under The Tuscan Sun) producers are making some incredible wines from syrah. You heard me right: Syrah. How the well-known Rhône variety ended up in Cortona is a bit of a mystery.
Regardless of syrah’s murky origins in Cortona, it’s well established there by now, with syrah accounting for 80 percent of the region’s half-million annual bottles. Cortona may be making some of the most exciting syrah outside of the northern Rhône right now.
The top producer here is Stefano Amerighi, who’s frankly making some of Italy’s best wines at the moment. His beautiful, brooding, dark, fresh, ageworthy syrah set a high benchmark. Other Cortona wineries to watch are Doveri, Fabrizio Dionisio, La Braccesca (from Antinori), and the Dal Cero family’s Tenuta Montecchiesi.
Click here to read more of my report in The New Wine Review.