RSS FeedMapi Domingo and Dani Expósito, the wife and husband team behind Pagos del Molino, met while studying winemaking in Requena. When they last gave a tasting at the Club de Enófilos in January 2007, Mapi was heavily pregnant with their first child. They now have a second, and Mapi has plenty on her plate. She has given up her principal day job as winemaker at another bodega to look after the nippers and their (mapi and Dani’s, not the children’s) own wine.
I don’t know if pregnancy had anything to do with their opening surprise last night, but we were asked to blind taste a white wine that was described as “experimental”. I thought it might be a white wine made with Bobal, the signature red grape of Utiel-Requena and Pagos del Molino, but it was too floral and delicate for that.
It was very pale and clear, and tasty and refreshing, if a tad diluted. I wondered if they were doing something clever with a local white variety like the Tardana. To our collective surprise (all save one member who had spotted it) they announced that it was a Moscatel and Macabeo blend (50% each) with negligible 0.5% alcohol.
The removal of alcohol is done by some modern process I didn’t fully understand that does not involve heating the wine, hence retaining more aromas (the Moscatel is there among other reasons to boost the aromatic levels). But there it was, a virtually alcohol-free wine. The market they have in mind is made up of drivers, pregnant women, diabetics (the wine is made with sweetener rather than sugar and has only 6 calories per 100 ml). If the remarkable success of alcohol-free beer in Spain is anything to go by (Spain is the leading consumer in Europe where “cerveza sin” accounts for 15% of the market), they’re on to a winner. It was released in early 2010. As it was a blind tasting, I never caught the name, but I’ll find out.
The other two wines were more familiar. First up was “Fussión de Bobal” 2005 (that is how Fussión appears on the label, despite the temptation to write Fusión). As the name suggests, here we have more than just Bobal. Much more, with Bobal, Merlot, Syrah, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc all in there. The Bobal is from a century-old vineyard and is the only one of the varieties aged in oak for this wine. It was hefty, chewy wine, for me the tannins rather overpowered the fruit. It may have been the cold weather, but I found it a bit unapproachable and lacking in roundness. Perhaps given a bit more time and a few degrees Centigrade I’d warm to it more.
The last wine was a beauty. Arras de Bobal 2004 is 100% Bobal, again from very old vines. They express their passion and ambition for the grape with this wine, only making it in good years (so don’t bother looking for the 2006 and 2008 vintages in future).
