The Spanish-Passion Group is a new group of Spanish wineries that has been recently formed to bring some of the best wines from Spain to the Asian region together with a significant level of marketing support.
This new generation of forward thinking, small to medium sized wineries are leading the way in Spain in an ever more competitive wine market. With a solid base of quality, each producer has been carefully selected to join the group. Each wine is a true representation of the "terroir" of each region and its allowed varieties. Together with the wineries the group has established an Asian office with experienced and knowledgeable people to provide the proper marketing support required in this exciting region. The GeneralManager of the group, Mr. Victor E. DeJesus , has been involved in promoting Spanishgastronomy for many years and has a wealth of experience with Spanish wines and food.
The 7 wine regions represented in the group include Rioja, the most important wine region; Almansa, Jumilla, Montsant and Toro, 4 of the newer, up and coming regions; and Rias-Baixas and Rueda, which are the 2 most important white wine regions. The 6 wineries in this group have been carefully selected after many tastings within each region, because they offer excellent quality, good typicity, competitive prices and also, exciting fruit-forward wine styles that are preferred by many Asian consumers. Following is a brief introduction to each of the 6 wineries and their principal grapes:
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Agricola
Castellana, Rueda D.O. (Verdejo, and Viura) - Rueda is
1 of 3 important white wine regions in Spain. This region is
famous for the Verdejo variety although they also use
the typical Spanish Viura and the Sauvignon Blanc to make excellent
white wines. The wines are very aromatic, fruity, fresh and
well balanced. Agricola Castellana is one of the best rated
wineries in this region and they make several wines blended
with the Verdejo and the Viura and several 100% Verdejos. The
Vacceos offers terrific aromatics with great fruit and balance
and the Azumbre Seleccion is made from very old vineyards with
very strict grape selection. (http://www.agricolacastellana.com) |
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Alvear,
Montilla-Moriles D.O. (Pedro Ximenez) - Spain has been making |
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Bodegas
Centro Espanolas, La Mancha D.O. (Macabeo and Tempranillo grapes)
- this is a medium size winery inside the biggest wine region in
the world making an excellent range of wines. They use primarily
the Macabeo grape for the whites and the Tempranillo grape for their
Roses and Reds. Their best wines include the Allozo Crianza which
is aged for 12 months in oak, the Allozo Reserva aged for 18 months
and the Allozo Gran Reserva aged for 24 months. They are very typical
tempranillo wines offering a good balance between the fruit of the
Tempranillo grape and the oak ageing. |
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Bodegas Olivares, Monastrell grape, Jumilla D.O. - another one of the so-called new wine regions in Spain, which is now producing many exciting wines. Olivares is a family winery founded in 1930 and now being run by the 3 rd generation. It has 275 hectares of old un-grafted vines at an altitude of 825 meters, which receive about 350 liters of rain a year and 3,000 hours of sun. They make 4 excellent wines, the Olivares Joven without wood, the Altos de la Hoya(90) with 6 months in French oak, the Olivares Crianza with 12 months in French oak and the Monastrell Dulce(93), a sweet wine with no oak. They also make a great value in the Pan Arroz, a young monsatrell blend which gets excellent ratings from Robert Parker every year (88-90). |
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Castro
Martin, Albariño grape, Rias-Baixas D.O. - this is
the most important white wine region in Spain and enjoys an excellent
international reputation primarily becauses of the Albariño
grape which makes aromatic, glyceric, fruity wines that are a great
match for many seafood dishes. We have looked at many wineries from
this important region and found the Castro Martin has a very good
range of wines with excellent typicity, lower acidity and reasonable
prices. They have an entry level(Avian), a basic one, a top range
and one fermented in oak which provides all the choices needed to
properly show a good range of Rias Baixas albariño wines.
They have excellent ratings from the Gourmets Wine guide, one of
the most important in Spain. (www.bodegascastromartin.com) |
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Hacienda El Espino 1707, Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, Pinot
Noir and Tempranillo grapes, Almansa D.O. - from this up n comong
new region, this winery with 230 hectares at 750 meters, has some
excellent wines from international grapes; a wooded Chardonnay(86),
an excellent young Syrah (88), 1 excellent Crianza blend (89) and
have been well rated by Parker. In addition they have a unique wine
called Variedades, which is a blend of Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah and
Pinot Noir and this year they are adding a very good Petit Verdot,
which is a very interesting red wine. Although our focus in many cases
is for wines made from the native Spanish grapes, to properly represent
Spanish wines we also need some wines from the internationally recognized
grapes, specially the Syrah, which is so well known in Asia. (www.haciendaelespino.com) |
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Bodegas
Monje-Amestoy(Luberri), Tempranillo grapes, Rioja D.O.C. - By
any measure, Rioja is the most important wine region in Spain
and also the best known. Florentino Martinez,
the wine maker used to work at Artadi before setting up his own
winery in 1995. This small family rin bodega makes high-quality,
modern, fruit-forward wines that are vey well accepted in Asia.
The wines include an excellent young carbonic maceration(CM),
a 6-mos carbonic maceration (89), a Crianza, a Reserva (88) and
a Cepas Viejas (old-vines)(94). The young CM is always among the
top 3 wines in this category in Spain and all their wines have
very consistent quality from year to year. We have done many customer
tastings with these wines and they are invariably very impressive.
(www.luberri.com) |
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Segura
Viudas, Cava D.O. - although some of the buildings at Segura Viudas
date back to the 11 th century, the production of Cavas started
in 1969. From the beginning, Segura Viudas, which is made by the
tradional method of Champagne, has been making excellent
Spanish Cava with excellent presentation. In general the Segura
Viudas Cavas are well-balanced and not so strong or dry or yeasty
as the French. We have the Brut Reserva (88), the Lavit Rosado
made from uncommon Cava grapes like Trepat, Garnacha and Monastrell,
the Brut Vintage 1999 and the Heredad Gran Reserva (90), which
comes in a special beautiful bottle and a beautiful gift box. (www.seguraviudas.com) |
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sherries
for several centuries. In addition to Jerez, the most famous Sherry
region, Sherries are also made in Montilla-Moriles, where the queen
grape is the Pedro Ximenez (PX) as opposed to the Palomino in Jerez.
Sherry wines are certainly unique and interesting wines which are
still undiscovered in Asia. The very dry Fino is great with many
Chinese dishes, while the sweeter mid-range wines, are excellent
partners for a whole range of foods and the famous PX is a great
dessert wine. Founded in 1729, Alvear is the leading Bodega in Montilla.
They make a large range of wines which are highly rated internationally,
from the Amontillado at 91 points to the PX Solera 1927 at 96 points.
