Tag: Spanish wine

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Sipping Aged Albariños with Bodegas Fillaboa

 

Albariño wines from Rías Baixas in Spain are aromatic wines with zesty tropical and citrus notes and zippy acidity that tap dance on your palate as you savor them, perhaps with with a plate of fresh-caught Galician seafood.

But, as we learned tasting aged albariños from Bodegas Fillaboa, that time spent on fine lees with the steady stir of bâtonnage creates wines more like a graceful pas de deux of flavors and complexity.

We tasted three different selections from Bodegas Fillaboa, a family-owned estate in Galicia. Located in a 15th century Romanesque castle near the border between Spain and Portugal, Fillaboa produces some of the finest and rarest estate-grown wines in D.O Rías Baixas.

Bodega's Fillaboa's name translates in the Galician dialect to “the good daughter” and references a local story that a Count left his best lands to his youngest daughter. Since, 2000 Fillaboa has been owned by the Masaveu family.
Bodega’s Fillaboa’s name translates in the Galician dialect to “the good daughter” and references a local story that a Count left his best lands to his youngest daughter. Since, 2000 Fillaboa has been owned by the Masaveu family.

Estate grown wines in Rías Baixas are still uncommon, according to Isabel Salgado, winemaker at Bodegas Fillaboa since 1998. “We feel having estate grown fruit is important for maintaining full quality control.”

Fillaboa is located near the Portuguese border (150 feet) and bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (22 miles) and the Tea and Miño Rivers. “This is a very windy and rainy part of Spain with granite-rich soil and round rocks from the river. Here we use “en parra” (pergola) system to elevate vines six to seven feet to protect the fruit from the damp soil and increase wind flow through the plantings,” Salgado noted.

Isabel Salgado, winemaker for Bodegas Fillaboa

Salgado believes albariños have great aging potential. “At the beginning of my career, everyone wanted fresh albariños to drink. Over time, I researched the aging potential of white wines in bâtonnage. I was inspired to keep some albariños on fine lees to see how they would evolve. No one in the region had made wine like this in the past. In 2000 we released our first Seleccion Finca, and it showed how well albariño can age.”

What we tasted

Bodegas Fillaboa Albariño, 2020 (SRP $20) This wine spends at least four months on fine lees. This is an aromatic wine with refreshing notes of pineapple, lemon, mango and apple with bright acidity. Consider pairing with boiled seafood, lightly grilled or poached fish with citrus sauce, mussels in garlic and white wine. Salgado feels this wine has three-year aging potential.

Fillaboa Seleccion Monte Alto

Selección Finca Monte Alto, 2018 (SRP $26) This is a single vineyard wine from Fillabao’s Monte Alto plot of just seven hectares with 28-year-old vines. The wine is aged on fine lees for one year. Annual production is limited to 10,000 bottles, depending on the vintage. This wine has fuller flavors of tropical fruit, apple and light toast with a smooth finish. Consider pairing with blackened redfish, Spanish tortas with jamón and queso, fish stew. Salgado sees its aging potential for five years.

Fillaboa 1898Fillaboa 1898, 2010 ($58) This is a complex wine made only in the best vintages. Albariño grapes are sourced from eight estate plots; the wine is six years on lees with regular bâtonnage. This wine delivers unctuous notes of ripe tropical fruits, baked apples and brioche toast with a long finish. Savor with roast pork, coq au vin, butter-poached lobster.

Tasting through these three albariño selections gave us a greater appreciation for these wines and the complexity they can develop with age. Bodegas Fillaboa wines are imported in the U.S. by Folio Fine Wine Partners.  www.BodegasFillaboa.com

Follow and connect  @masaveubodegas

In addition to the winery and vineyards, the Fillaboa estate features a Roman bridge, a stone chapel built in 1909, and a Romanesque palace that houses works of art by Spanish painters from the fifteenth to twentieth century.

Listen here to our conversation with Bodegas Fillaboa Winemaker Isabel Salgado on The Connected Table SIPS.

 

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Botas De Barro- The Story of the “Muddy Boots”

Nicola Thornton grew up in the U.K. but fell in love with Spain after attending university there. She moved and entered the wine industry. We first met Thornton when she was working for a well-known producer in Toro.  We’ve stayed in touch over the years and were delighted to spotlight Thornton in two podcasts for The Connected Table SIPS.

 

 

The first podcast discussed the expert set up called Spanish Palate. Thornton says she looks for independent producers that are “magical little gems with great stories,” giving them a voice and introducing them to international markets. Working with a largely female team, Thornton has helped over 100 wine producers from 20 different regions in Spain find their place in over 40 countries, al in under three years.  www.spanishpalate.es Facebook/ Instagram: spanishpalate

 

But that’s just the start of Thornton’s efforts. While working the business she said she became acquainted with local grape growers and aware of the hardships they faced.  She created Botas de Barro (named after the farmers´muddy boots) to help give them renewed hope and support, encouraging them to continue to nurture their low-yield, ancient vineyards, many over 100 years old. Grapes are sourced from small independent grape growers throughout Spain to produce its portfolio of wines. www.botasdebarro.com. Facebook: botasdebarro

 

Nicola Thornton with one of Spain’s many old vines

Listen now. Click link below or here

Listen now or click here

 

This podcast is part of our special series recognizing women in wine and spirits. A donation has been made to Les Dames d’Escoffier, an organization to supporting women in the fine food and beverage industry through education and advocacy www.ldei.org . For information on featuring a dynamic women for this series, contact melanie@theconnectedtable.com.

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Meet “Mr. Spain” at Kysela Pere et Fils

 

Jen Riis, aka “Mr. Spain,” scouts wines for Kysela Pere et Fils’ Spanish wine portfolio. Based in Madrid, Jen discusses some of Spain’s most well-known wine regions like Rioja and Ribera Del Duero, as well as smaller regions he says everyone should have on their wine drinking radar, such as Alicante and Jumilla. Jen underscores the increasing popularity of Spanish Sherry and white wines from D.O. Rueda, in addition to red wines made from Mencia, Monastrell and Garnacha. www.kysela.com  The Connected Table SIPS

 

Scene from the Duero Region of Spain (Photo: Wines from Spain USA)
Scene from the Duero Region of Spain (Photo: Wines from Spain USA)

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His Wine Reporting Rates 100 Points- Tom Matthews- Oct 7 The Connected Table LIVE

What’s it like to oversee one of the world’s most read wine magazines? How much wine can you taste in a week?

Wine Spectator Executive Editor Thomas (Tom) Matthews has spent the better part of thirty years reporting on the wine industry. He joined the magazine in 1988 starting as a reporter in the London office and moved to New York in 1989.  Appointed to executive editor in 1999, Tom oversees the magazine’s staff of writers, editors and art directors for both the print and online operation. He is the lead taster for Spanish wines and one of the magazine’s principal restaurant reviews and travel writers.

Tom’s passion for wine began back in the vineyards picking grapes in Bordeaux during the 1979 vintage. He learned the business side as a wine buyer for New York restaurants, Odeon and Cafe Luxembourg, in the 1980s.  His book, A Village in the Vineyard, written with wife Sara, a photographer, chronicles their life in France.

Tom Matthews
Tom Matthews

Tom and his team have helped build Wine Spectator into the world’s #1 wine focused magazine, by not just reporting on trends, but often, through its superlative journalism, helping to forecast them through in-depth interviews with industry mavericks and the lifestyle they help invoke to readers. While many look to Wine Spectator for the extensive wine ratings in the back of the magazine, it’s the profiles and destination reports of places we long to visit that fill our files.  Some of the most highly anticipated issues of Wine Spectator each year include the annual “World’s Greatest Wine Lists” dining guide published in August and the upcoming “Top 100 Wines” guide.

WS RESTAURANT

Tom joins The Connected Table LIVE October 7, 4pmEST, to discuss his career, wine trends, his recent cover story on Spain and give a hint or two about the Top 100 Wines to be unveiled later this month.

We’re deciding what glass of wine to have with this interview! We know it will be Spanish since this show will air from Wines from Spain’s Great Match in Manhattan and in anticipation of our second guest, Alvaro Palacios, the esteemed winemaker whose, in the words of Wine Spectator’s October 15th cover story, “leads Priorat to new heights.”

ws- palacios2

 

 

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