Liquid Love Letter: New Discoveries
Photo by Matthew Kaner
Early in my wine career I came across a wine grown in Vinos de Madrid by Bernabeleva. Old vine Garnacha from a place I didn't know they made such excellent wine. That memory stuck with me for 15 years, until I recently had the opportunity to get back to Madrid and visit wineries in the Vinos de Madrid D.O.
It started off with a stay at the Four Seasons Madrid, where the photo above was taken during an insane sunrise from their rooftop restaurant, Dani. That view woke me up daily for three days as I sipped my espresso and enjoyed insane food from their breakfast buffet.
The wine visits were setup by Madrid Experience, a full-on wine tour company with experiences in and around Madrid, Barcelona, and surrounding areas. We did two day trips from Madrid into the subzones of Vinos de Madrid D.O—each day curated with unique winery experiences that allowed me to see a range of small family companies, to larger more luxury brands.
The most unique wines I found were Albillo Real grown from over 100 year old vines at Las Moradas de San Martin, Melbar (from 1983 and 2022) from Bodegas Jesús Díaz, and Reserva style from mostly Bordeaux varieties made by Valquejigoso. In each case the wineries were about an hour outside of the city of Madrid, and I went in without expectation so the wines could truly have an opportunity to speak to me.
Albillo Real, originally known as a golden table grape that was revered when it was harvested and treated as a special event, makes exceptional wines of balanced acid, great texture, and a mineral edge.
Melbar, a variety I'd never heard of prior, ages like White Rioja (Viura) or Chenin Blanc and is so supple on the palate. In its youth it has a freshness and fruitiness, not too dissimilar from Verdejo but less grassy. Seeing the aged version in the same tasting as a fresh option really opened my eyes to the potential of a grape I'd previously not encountered. I WILL BE WATCHING.
Lastly the V2 from Valquejigoso was a total surprise. 2008 vintage, made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Syrah. A total stunner, aged in oak, then in bottle quietly for years before it was ready for your lips to savor the essence. All it was missing was lamb chops, grilled in the vineyard over red hot canes pruned freshly off the vines.
We all know Madrid for being Spain's capital, a city of art, high fashion, and excellent universities. I challenge you to get to know the wine history and wine culture in and around this majestic city. Vinos de Madrid, por vida.
Courtesy of Unsplash | Photo by Arno Senoner
When we talk about cities and wine production, what comes to mind is likely the wine production areas that are in close proximity to cities.
As in, Napa and San Francisco. Champagne and Paris. The Barossa Valley and Adelaide. Tuscany and Florence, to name a few.
“Close proximity” are the key words here, with the cities supplying both the flow of tourists to the wine area as well as the restaurants and retail shops within easy reach who would carry the local wines.
But this week, Matthew and I wanted to zoom in even closer, to the wines that are produced within actual city limits, specifically, the city limits of Madrid and Vienna.
Unusual? Yes. Hyper-local? For sure. Do they deserve to be known better? Absolutely.
But therein lies the catch, and the irony of these wines: their hyper-local production means limited growing capacity. Which means there just isn’t much of them produced. Which means that our best chance to get them in our glasses is to visit the cities where they are created.
In other words, let’s consider these wines added to your wanderlust.
Let me start with Vienna, and the urban-produced wine called Gemischter Satz. There is an ideal moment each year when Gemischter Satz wines are showcased and highlighted: during designated “hiking weekends” in September, that is, when upwards of 100,000 guests (mainly locals) walk through the vineyards within Vienna’s city limits, and visit wineries and their hurlingen, or attached “wine halls” where local food specialties are also served.
It doesn’t get much more local than that, to have your enotourism experience of wine, adventure (exercise within the vineyards!) and food practically within walking distance of your home.
There is multi-generational appeal here, being quaintly old-fashioned and also ultra current at the same time. There is wide geographical and cultural appeal too in our examples this week, from Austria to Spain and back, though urban areas as far away as Los Angeles have also recently seen a renewed interest in vineyards (sometimes historical) planted within their city limits. And there is the appeal of discovery, of new ways to visit a city for one, and the hyper-locally grown grapes for another: Rotgipfler and Traminer in Vienna, and Melbar and Albillo Real in Madrid.
