Laura Sanchez Lara
Updated Monday, February 5, 2024-01:48
The Wine Edition, the Madrid Fusión wine congress, has once again been a source of interest and wisdom in the hands of those who know the most. Throughout three intense days of presentations, round tables and master tastings, some of the
trends that are changing the sector
inside and outside our borders were discovered. We turn theory into practice with
six references that perfectly reflect the current state
of the wine scene.
'Yankee' territory: Piedrasassi PS Syrah
One of the most applauded interventions at the event was that of the American Master Sommelier
André Mack
(Oregon, United States), who made an x-ray of the current state of American wine. With his characteristic casual attitude and from a personal, unfiltered perspective, the sommelier conducted a masterful tasting in which this syrah from Santa Barbara County stood out.
The founder of
Maison Noir
presented the wine styles that are most successful today in the United States: "There are different varieties that no one has tried, there is a
boom
in single varietals and we are looking to make fun wines that appeal to young people." . Likewise, he assured that the great wave of
natural wines
that the United States is currently experiencing is only comparable to the explosion of non-alcoholic wines. And with regard to emerging American markets, Mack advanced two new stops in the ranking of quality American wines: "Virginia is making a strong comeback in traditional winemaking, and
incredible wines are also being made in
Texas
thanks to the climate." .
Austrian Naturals: Gut Oggau Winifred Rosé
The growing interest in natural wines, and their added dilemmas, was one of the axes of Madrid Fusión The Wine Edition. Austrian winemakers Eduard and Stephanie Tscheppe, from the
Gut Oggau winery in Burgenland
, and sommelier Thibault Chauvet defended the benefits of this category of wines in a presentation led by Jay Strell, founder of the New York consultancy Strell & Co.
During a round table on the current state of natural wine and its future in the hands of a new generation of young consumers, Chauvet recalled that this type of wine goes beyond production: "It has to do with a vision, it is a philosophy that It begins in the vineyard; and the consumer must understand that good things take time and imperfection, volatile acidity, is part of the beauty of the natural process." The
Tscheppe
, for their part, defended the human aspect: "These wines make you feel, we seek balance in the general feeling of well-being," explained the owner of Gut Oggau. "Young people know that they have the responsibility of leaving a better world than the one they found. Thanks to the natural movement, people realize that wine is an agricultural product and begin to be interested in winegrowers and winemaking."
One of the wines presented during the presentation was Winifred Rosé from Gut Oggau, known as
the "winery of faces"
because on its labels we always find people's faces, which we highlight because it expresses the current international love for rosé wines. Theirs is a unique rosé, made with minimal intervention from Blaufränkisch grapes, very easy to drink, but no less complex. A good example that not all natural wines smell or taste "weird."
Atlantic bubbling: Ancestral Albamar
Carlota Iglesias, sommelier at the Cabanas
restaurant
(Lalín, Pontevedra), not only won the
Juli Soler Award for young talent
in this edition of the Madrid Fusión wine competition, but also participated in the last presentation of the congress carrying one of her wines favorites under your arm. "It is one of those wines that our ancestors made in their homes for the enjoyment of their entire family and their guests," she explained. This is the natural sparkling wine made by the young winemaker Xurxo Alba Padín, head of Bodegas Albamar, in the Rías Baixas area, and whose production method is named: Ancestral.
A
100% Albariño from the Salnés subzone,
very fresh and with a very fine and integrated bubble, which bottles several trends: that of minimal intervention wines, that of ancestral methods and that of natural bubbles. In addition, it is aged for eight months in the bottle.
The new Rioja: Álvaro Loza
The youngest member of
Martes of Wine
, the new generation of small producers defending the Rioja terroir that has been going strong in recent years, is a trend in itself. Despite being born in Haro,
Álvaro Loza
does not come from a family of winemakers, but his great-grandfather grew some grapes and his grandfather passed on the benefits of wine to him. After studying mechanical engineering for a year and discovering that winegrowing was his thing, he continued his training along this path with the aim of converting the four small plots of vineyard that his predecessor kept in Haro and Labastida into the base of his project.
Today, Loza returns to his homeland with the baggage of having traveled around the world learning in the best wineries in Burgundy, California, Rhône or Champagne, to make wines that are going to make a lot of noise. Wines like this blend of tempranillo and viura fermented in open tanks and aged in used French oak barrels of different sizes for 16 months, which is a reflection of the terroir in which it is born. A declaration of intentions.
Galicia is also ink: A Torna Dos Pasas
The defense that Galicia also produces (great) red wines has been another of the themes of this congress. Proof of this is this interesting r
ibeiro made by Luís Anxo Rodríguez
from almost extinct native varieties (caíño tinto, ferrol and brancellao) from old recovered plots, and with a short aging of six months in used barrels.
It was one of the wines chosen by the winners of this year's
Juli Soler Award for young talent
to present after the awards ceremony. A reference that, along with the rest of the wines, expressed a complete vision of current viticulture and the interests of this new generation of professionals: Atlantic wines, mostly small production, made from old vines and with the minimal intervention.
The other Jerez: De La Riva Macharnudo San Cayetano
There is a Sherry for fortified wines and another for still wines. They are called
grass wines
, a concept that, if you haven't heard yet, you may have to start tuning your ears. Pasture wine is the traditional mention with which Jerez and Montilla-Moriles protect white wines with static aging, that is, without heading, without going through the criaderas and solera system. An appellation that today alludes to quality wines, marked by their identity and their connection with the origin that, for experts, among them, could be the future of these appellations.
The most powerful and striking commitment to this category of wines is this liquid jewel from
Ramiro Ibáñez
and
Willy Pérez
, the most restless winemakers of the Marco de Jerez, who, in addition to managing their own personal projects, share the need to recover traditional productions and Jerez soils in De La Riva. The renowned brand owns 53 hectares of vineyards in the coveted Macharnudo estate, which Ramiro and Willy decided to acquire in 2017 for this purpose.
De La Riva Macharnudo San Cayetano is one of the seven wines that
represent Spain in the Place de Bordeaux
(and the first in Jerez), one of the most important markets in the world, known as the Wall Street of wine, where they move and They sell the big international brands. "Wine depends on who you are, how you drink and how you feel it, that led us to ask ourselves why a non-fortified Sherry wine is less and to value the Jerez pasture wines in the Place," commented Willy Pérez about his personal experience in the Bordeaux market. "For us, Bordeaux was a way to rediscover Jerez with this great European terroir wine and put it where we wanted and had to be."