RSS FeedI was tapped on the shoulder while enjoying the Predio Noah crianza 2007 from Torres Luna (another post soon) at a recent Club de Enófilos gathering. It turned out to be the ever-friendly and ubiquitous Miguel Ángel Martín of the wine-tasting and wine education outfit Enocata.com, who was whispering, “I’ve got to go and do an Enocata tasting now. How about dropping by afterwards? It’s at a new place on Calle Caballeros, Cava Siglos.”
I did just as he said, and there he was in full flow, with jolly and eager audience engaging with the wines Miguel Ángel had brought for the group. I was shy of joining in mid-session, despite his waving me over, and I am always drawn to a proper bar you can lean on and, in my case, bore the staff. I was doubly fortunate, as Marta behind the bar was tolerant and friendly, but also offered fascinating snippets of her professional life as an underwater photographer. Having been advised by the Spanish Embassy to leave Honduras following the recent coup, she decided to come back to Valencia and do a degree in her subject. It struck me she should be teaching it.
Anyway, I was delighted to see that Cava Siglos has a blackboard with the wines offered by the glass. Until this becomes a widespread practice Valencia will continue to be a place where asking for a glass of wine is a bit like Russian roulette. I ordered a glass of one the always dependable and enjoyable cavas from Dominio de la Vega (2.60 euro) to act as a bridge between the Club de Enófilos and Cava Siglos.
I was enjoying this, when Miguel Ángel popped by with one of his bottles, offering me a chance to taste it. I couldn’t refuse, and the next thing I had a pale gold glass of Muga Fermentado en Barrica 2008 in my hand. Cask-fermented whites can be rather overpowering, but this 90% Viura (aka Macabeo) and 10% Malvasía blend combined a rich viscosity with freshness and delicacy. It was voted best in its class at Enoforum 2009, where Spain’s winemakers blind-taste each other’s wines, and is still going strong in 2010.
Justifiably excited by the wines he’d laid on, Miguel Ángel was back immediately with another wine from Rioja, Cantos de Valpiedra 2006, a new wave Rioja from Familia Martínez Bujanda, all brightness and fruit with less emphasis on oak. There is plenty of acidity, and it should soften further in bottle, but I found this a fine, fresh and sinewy wine.
Hot on its heels came a Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León, Leione 2006. This wine is made with Prieto Picudo, one of those previously little-known Spanish grape varieties that are busily bringing colour and variety to the country’s wines. These are not mere novelties. This wine has 91 points from Robert Parker’s “Wine Advocate“. The grape is really interesting. It lends itself to making quite light wines, and this was a really enjoyable flowery, fresh, cheerful red wine, but also with good ageing possibilities. This example had an extra something, helped on its way by its 9 months in cask. A very interesting and highly enjoyable wine, two qualities that do not always go together. I’m keeping an eye out for more of this wine and others from Dominio Dos Tares and the (elder) sister bodega Dominio de Tares (Denominación de Origen Bierzo).
We weren’t done yet. Thankfully, Marta had silently placed a lemony and palate-cleansing tapa of carpaccio de solomillo in front of me, which prepared me for Enrique Mendoza Petit Verdot 2005 (DO Alicante). Señor Mendoza blazed the trail for Petit Verdot in Alicante, where this late-ripening variety mainly associated with Bordeaux is thriving. This wine is supple and fresh, but also offered plenty of structure in an appealing blend of ripe fruit and substance. An imposing wine to round off an evening that went on a lot longer than I originally expected.
I’m sure Miguel Ángel’s students enjoyed his very wide-ranging and impressive choice of wines as much as I did. His group included the owner of Cava Siglos. It is great to have a place in the heart of the old quarter which is not only elegant, with an excellent wine list and a nice selection of wines by the glass, but with friendly and charming people running it, too. I can’t wait to go back.
