DOMINIO DE TARES 2007 VINTAGE

17-Oct-11 - I've spent the past three months tasting mostly Rioja for RIOJA REVISITED 2011, but I have made the effort to get out a bit and try some other new wine samples which arrive from time to time. In an earlier post (02-Jul-11) I mentioned Dominio de Tares, a bodega in the DO Bierzo, and tasted their 2009 Dominio de Tares Godello, which came in a mixed case with a selection of their current vintages of red wines. I finally unearthed them last week and got around to tasting them.

A word about the bodega first, however. I visited it in 2004 and this was its entry in THE NEW SPAIN:

Dominio de Tares, San Román de Bembibre, León. Established 2000 - another newcomer which turned thinking on the Mencía grape on its head, working with 100% Godello for white and 100% Mencía for red. The partners are a marketing expert, a former Kodak executive and Amancio Fernández, who was the winemaker at Protos in Ribera del Duero for many years. The first vintage was 2001 and the results are astonishing.

What had spurred me to visit was the big tasting I did in November, 2003, for the book, in which I had given their wine P3 19½ out of 20, tasted blind (P3 stands for Parcela 3 - a particular plot of old-vine Mencía). At the time the bodega also retained the services of consultant winemaker Raúl Pérez who has since gone on to become one of the most dynamic and in-demand young(ish) winemakers in Spain. I last met him at Bodegas Margon in 2009, where he's making wine under the DO Tierras de León.

 

Raúl Pérez at Bodegas Margon during our last visit.

Pic.: BK Wine Photography

However, back to the current vintages of Dominio de Tares. The wines are all DO Mencía unless otherwise stated:

2007 Dominio de Tares Cepas Viejas Mencía Crianza - 60-year-old vines - 14% abv - malolactic plus nine months in American and French oak - £22
Purple/ruby; lovely brambly fruit, fresh aromas, perfumed; bright Mencía fruit with fresh acidity on the fore, then the 'green' oak flavours kick in on the mid, not prominent but finely balanced. Long, delicious. 18>19/20

Pic: www.aporvino.com

2007 Cumal, Dominio de Tares, VdlT Castilla y León - 90-year-old Prieto Picudo - 14% abv - malolactic plus 15 months in French oak - €21.50 (2006)
Very dark purple; dark, dark fruit, damson with a hint of blackcurrant, austere French oak; very austere fruit with powerful tannins on foretaste, rich fruit bubbling under but the tannins are in control at the moment. needs at least another year but will be excellent. 18>19/20

2007 Bembimbre - 80-year-old Mencía - 14% abv - malolactic plus 15 months in new Allier oak
Purple, ruby at rim; dark stone-fruit, hint of caramel from the wood; big, rich, mouthfilling fruit, tannins kick in on mid but the balance is good, fresh acidity on the finish. This needs at least a couple more years but will be magnificent. 19/20

2007 Tares P3 - Mencía - 14% abv - malolactic plus nine months in oak - €42.50
Purple; dark blackberry, brambly fruit, austere, rich; bigbig tannins on foretaste but the fruit kicks in almost immediately, lots of musk on the mid, and that blackberry fruit, too. Very nice balance on the length with tannins just in front at the moment, but in another year this should blossom bigtime. 18>19/20

According to the website, the winemakers are working closely with the University of León and Dominio de Tares "has become a reference winery for the wines of Bierzo." I'm not surprised.

RIOJA REVISITED 2011

16-Oct-11 - Stop Press! The book is on Amazon already. Here's the link. Enjoy! If you don't have an e-reader I can send you a .pdf version, which is watermarked and password-protected. The price is £5/€6/$8US payable here. E-mail me (john@johnradford.com) when you've paid and I'll forward on the .pdf and the password.

MASCULINE-FEMININE?

16-Oct-11 - This is a bit of an oddity, but it crops up every time I write an article about wine waiters. At the DECANTER World Wine Awards earlier this year I was talking to Barbara Philip, MW, (below) who was on one of my tasting teams.

 She runs a consultancy with her husband in Canada, and also works occasionally as a sommelier. "Surely not," I said, "a woman cannot be a sommelier." Sharp intake of breath. "A woman can, however, be a sommelière" I continued hurriedly. "The word is French and has a feminine form." My co-Chair (note, not Chairman or Chairwoman - pictured below at the DECANTER Awards - pic. www.decanter.com) Sarah Jane Evans weighed in with exactly the opposite opinion. She, too, is an MW - a Master (not Mistress) of Wine, and has no truck with feminine forms.

 

 I argued that I believe having a feminine form of a job description adds dignity and individuality to the title: Maîtresse d', Entrepreneuse, Proprietrix, Comedienne and even Commère. There is an obsolete French word Chève, which is the feminine of Chef, but that is, perhaps, taking things a bit too far as they don't even use it in France. In English we have Waitress, Actress, Manageress and a dozen more, but there does seem to have been an increasing trend for women to use the masculine title. I'd be interested in people's opinions on this, if you'd like to get in touch. Add a comment or e-mail me direct on john@johnradford.com. There could be an article in it. Barbara, by the way, didn't seem to be bothered either way but then, she is Canadian and they are famously laid-back about that kind of thing.