A quirky Spanish white with aromatic allure

This is the sort of wine that I used to drink at the great El Bulli restaurant, says Matthew Jukes.

Matthew Jukes
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published
in Features

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2013 Lapola, Dominio do Bibei,Ribeira Sacra, Spain (£19.95, Caviste, 01256-771080, caviste.co.uk).

I have found you two Spanish whites this week from one of the most talented outfits in the country, Caviste. Lapola is a godello, treixadura, albario blend, which I had never tasted before this summer and now will never forget. This is the sort of wine that I used to drink at the great El Bulli restaurant, on special occasions in times gone by, but which I never expected to find on our shores.

Succulent, juicy, layered and exotic, this is an epic example of a top flight, quirky white wine, and it could only come from northwestern Spain, such is its unique aromatic allure.Designed for languid, al fresco sipping,accompanied by top end tapas, this is a unique and spellbinding creation.

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The second wine, again from this part of the world, is 2013 Leirana, Albario Joven, Forjas del Salnes, Ras Baixas (£16.95). I am always taken by the albario grape variety, but few wines set the pulse racing like this one. Aromatically, there are similarities between this wine and Lapola, but texturally this is a leaner, edgier creature, which could handle spice and also chilli. Both amazing, both eccentric and both memorable don't choose between them, buy both!

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com).

Matthew Jukes
Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy.  His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.

 

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