Querids Amics, What an intense week! The Pirates have been quite busy lately. Yet, they won't stop us from doing what we love. The wines of Rafa Bernabé are on the water!
For those of you who don't know Rafa yet, below are a few words about the man. (Via the esteemed Wine Terroirs.) "I got the chance recently to taste a few wines from Spain, and from a region (D.O.) which you could think is very hot for wine: Alicante. The winegrower Rafael Bernabe is doing there a very careful job on both side of the winemaking, that is the vineyard (not herbicides, no synthesis products) and the cellar (no correction, no lab yeast, no enzymes and no SO2 adding). The wine I liked particularly among the ones I tasted from this winery was the cuvée Los Cipreses de Usaldon 2010, a 100 % Garnacha Peluda (or Grenache Gris). Is it the altitude (700 meters) or the age of the vines (50) or the careful winemaking and semi-carbonic maceration, I don't know but the wine was a very nice experience with an overall feeling of velvety tannins and complex aromas of garrigue and dry leaves. You wouldn't have guessed the wine was made in a region which you imagine as hot, it was balanced and easily drinkable. Another cuvée I liked was El Morron, a similarly velvety wine with well-integrated tannins and a good length. Made from Garnacha and samely unfined & unfiltered. The winery is also making a rosé named Musikanto 2011 which is a relatively-easy drinking wine in spite of its alcohol, giving a feel of liveness and truth. This wine went through two fermentations in 450-liter amphorae with natural temperature stabilization outside in the open. Check that wine too if you have the opportunity." - Wine Terroirs Comments are closed.
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