Cigars & Wine Spain 2013

This is one of those posts more aimed at helping my own memory than anything else. It is a run down of some of the interesting wines and cigars from a break in L'Escala that ended a week ago. I did a slightly similar post to this last year which you can see here.
I took a few smokes with me as I did not know how quickly I would be able to get to the local "Tabac".
On the first night having arrived and restored ourselves on pasta I lit up a Partagas Serie D No 4 (MGR May 2012), it is one of the last of a box split I did a while back and they have all been good, yes they are young but when you want to get just what you are after these deliver, rich, full but not heavy a cracking smoke.
Having gone off to get a big shop done the next morning I was really pleased to have discovered Gin Giro, not a Gin I know and as the holiday went on I saw it in a lot of bars as a "house" gin, not expensive, say 10€, it was delicious and good enough that we got through two bottles in the couple of weeks we were there. It is nothing ground breaking but just seriously enjoyable.
On the second night we had a simple supper and a couple of bottles from a producer who I imagine, I've not done my research, is a local co-op: Ramon Roqueta. All the wines we had from him were fruit forward, in no way overdone, I enjoyed them all without ever being excited, perfect holiday "drinkers". After that supper it was time for another smoke I had taken with me, Quai d'Orsay Corona (OGA Nov 2011), now this was good but they need time, proper time. And the time they need is not for them to mellow it is for them to evolve. For a wine analogy it is not that the tannin needs to drop away it is that the fruit needs to come out.
I managed, on day three, to get to a Tabac but it was not the one I usually use in L'Escala (Josep Ma.Galceran, 17130 L'Escala) but Casa Cigar - Casa Tabac, 17257 Torroella de Montgri. When I saw this new, to me, shop I was excited as the selection was good, eclectic and the humidor room a decent size but as I found out when I went back to my default L'escala supplier (Galceran) the cigars were just not so well stored. I picked up a few things though and will comment on then later in this blog.
At friends we had a real treat of a Paella following some lovely simple and well sourced tapas. With the Paella and after a large Campari and tonic we had Masia Carreras 2011 which was delicious and local, waxy but fruited and fresh...a fellow wine trader did a great googling job when I tweeted about it and I can report it is from Carinena Blanca & Roja, Garnacha Blanca & Gris and Picpoul that then sees 12 months in French oak. It was a splendid evening with several other things opened and a also a great combination in the form of Pineapple with chilli salt and pepper. The cigar to end it was a Hoyo de Monterrey Petit Robusto from Casa Cigar, it was a total "wind tunnel" completely underfilled and had I had anything else with me it would have been binned. I was jealous of the San Cristobel I had given out host!
The local wine region, D.O.Emporda, is an exciting one and one of the main, slightly more branded, names seems to be Castillo Perelada. We had one of there wines, Gigonyes 2011, which I enjoyed it was a dash clumsy but as the name suggests a definite "Gigondas-a-like". The same evening it was time to have my first proper non Cuban cigar in years (about ten years!) a Davidoff Special "R" Robusto. This was a good smoke straight into stride and very well rolled, good burn, no issues. Just below medium in strength. I liked it but felt no need to buy more.
One of the cigar finds of the trip was an aged Trinidad Fundadores, I know it was aged because it had the old band on it but I don't know how aged. We had a lucky break one day and managed to borrow a house with a pool for the day so what better thing than a nice long smoke. It was delicious, mellow opening than built a bit, always on the tea side of the spectrum, old leather too...just lovely. That same evening I followed it up with a Cohiba Behike 52, my cigar of the year a few years ago. I felt this Behike needed masses of time. It was disapointing as the tobacco is aged and whilst you can put these away they should be good straight from the box. It was a tad bitter and just had espresso and density but nothing more. I'll have to try another as I have now had two and they were very different but at 28Euro a stick it is hard to just "have another go".
The following evening was, cigar wise, a bit of a revisiting session. The smoke in question was a R&J Cedros de Luxe No3. You hardly ever see these anymore but they used to be pretty widely available. R&J (Romeo and Julietta) are a weird cigar brand, well-known but not often smoked, with some great sticks (Cazadores) and a lot of mediocre nothingness. The Cedros range are all individually wrapped in cedar. This was a lovely gentle, mellow, tea and fruitcake smoke that I really enjoyed.
When we hosted the return fixture from the Paella evening it was a time to upgrade the wines a little...they were Martin Codax Albarino 2012, Terras Gauda Rias Baixas 2011, Amic Clos d'Agon 2011 and Condado de Haza 2008. The Codax was good, steady clean fruited but not dull. The Terras Gauda was one of my wines of the holiday without doubt, it had a wonderful savoury complexity but was also very moreish, a hard combination to pull off, I could have drunk a lot of it! Of the reds on this showing I far preferred the clean fresh fruitedness of the Amic which was juicy, ripe but not bruised or degraded, lovely. The Condado suffered but comparison as I feel it was a little too young and that made it appear fruit-deficient. Having a full belly and a nice amount of the wine "onboard" it was time for smoke and the Diplomaticos Coleccion Privida RE Espana 2012 Petit Robusto (BRA Sep 2012) did just the job. This regional release for Spain is a hard one to understand as there is only one Diplomaticos in production, the No 2, but then they release this. It was espresso like but had a lovely sweetness and intensity, great stuff.
On the last night but one we went for a meal at Can Miquel, the wine list is very good. I went for a bottle of Numanthia 2006 for a couple of reasons, firstly that I had never had it before having sold a bit of it over the years but also becasue the food is good hearty and richly sauced! It is not the sort of thing I would want often, sees a fair bit of oak but was perfect here and is well made with fruit that is just the right side of being over the top. After dinner it was time for a Sancho Panza Non Plus. A cigar I have a real soft spot for as it was the smoke that first got me into cigars, it was a dash salty as ever and mellow, medium at most, delicious.
Then with unnecessary haste it was the last night and after making a "what's in the fridge" pasta dinner it was "final cigar of the holiday" time and I was not disappointed by the Bolivar Royal Corona (MUR July 2012). Always a shame when holidays are over but it was a very good one!

Some shopping, two down, two to go.

Picked these up on the way home, report to follow.

Some Sancho-magic

I might regret posting this!

Petrus, and a many others, in Yorkshire...

This could be a long write-up as it was a truly momentous day. The southern chapter of this "club" made up of Irish Pete, Chewy and Young Will (that's me...don't ask) made the train journey from King's Cross to Ilkley to meet up with the Northern Chapter - Nobby, Mr G and Ronaldo Mortino. Having dropped a bag in our rooms we convened in the Brasserie of the Devonshire Arms Hotel (recommended) for a light Burgundy luncheon.
Most of the wines through the whole day were served blind or partially so. The white we started with was Bourgogne Blanc 2006 from de Vogue, which by coincidence we had discussed a little on the way up. It is the wine made entirely from the Musigny Blanc Grand Cru site that, due to replanting, has been released as Bourgogne Blanc since 1994. I find it has a unique, oily texture, this was rich, with lime-like acidity and much more to give in coming years. A pair of reds followed and couldn't really have been much more different even if appellation and quality of the vintages might suggest otherwise. First was Vosnee-Romanee 1er Cru “Aux Reignots” 2002 from Sylvain Cathiard which I was delighted about for a few reasons, amongst them the fact that I have heard such great things but also that it is the first Cathiard wine I have drunk. There was a lovely combination of red/black fruit and mulled wine spices but with a precise freshness too, really lovely and whilst it is still a "puppy" it is very enjoyable. The later was Vosnee-Romanee 1er Cru “Beaumonts” 1999, Dominique Laurent - precision and freshness are two words you couldn't really use here. Famed for use of 200% new oak I am not sure what Monsieur Laurent used here but it over powers the fruit and leaves it dry and "exposed". There is no real length and the fruit is stewed. The bottle remained a third full, not because it was actually awful but because there was no charm or fun to be had..a strange wine.
Having eaten well and rested from the journey it was now time for a walk up to Bolton Abbey and a quick cigar for a couple of us - a Quai d'Orsay Corona - a lovely elegant day time smoke that worked well. 
After a quick 15 minute break for the dreaded blackberry we re-assembled for a brief comparative tasting.  The two wines in question being both 2007 and 2008 Gevrey-Chambertin Vielles Vignes from Domaine Roy Marc. This was a nice tasting. The 2008 was the star, an underrated or "insiders" vintage with the 2009 and 2010 over shadowing it. The 2007 was also good but lacked a little of the focus and red fruited character that you expect of 2007, it might just be in a little bit of a phase.
A brief break and then it was pre-dinner Champagne time with a Krug 1995 Magnum, this was rich and very yeasty/biscuity, I would have put it down as being at least 1988 or older such was the intensity. Had we had this with food it would have been a little more balanced I feel but it was most certainly a decadent start to an amazing evening. We then headed off down the road to the Boxtree in Ilkley. I will not dwell on the food much but we were very very well looked after in terms of both service and the food itself so many thanks to Andrew, Didier and the team there. Next on the agenda was the first of 5 blind white wines. Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese (Long GoldKap) 1995 from Prum, this was a confusing one as it had a relatively lower acidity, I was a decade or so out and actually went for Rheingau. It was soft and beautifully rounded a great drink and nice now.
From there we were seated and served a Piesporter Goldtropfahen “Feinste” Auslese 1959, Bischofliches Konvikt (J.Harvey and Sons, Fuher 9403) clearly not a wine anyone was going to get spot on!! I guessed Spatlese 1976 but confused the age with a lower ripeness. It was lovely, refined with a classy richness. Now it was white Burgundy time and first was a bottle that was a late addition from one of our hosts, thankfully so as it was delicious. Meursault 1993, Coche-Dury was the wine and the guesses were all Premier and Grand Cru and from more exalted vintages. There was that wonderful Coche character of a struck match and slight edge of reduction. Coche almost never disappoints, there was fruit, structure and a lovely texture to this, for it's "humble" status it was staggering.
The last two whites were served as a pair.  Both were Grand Cru 1992's from Neillon, first Batard-Montrachet and then Chevalier-Montrachet. The character you think of with these two Grand Cru showed perfectly. The Batard a little more extrovert and a little more initially expressive it has shoulders and a more sturdy feel. The Chevalier a dash more refined and a little less showy. The two wines got better and better in glass and opened out. These were very impressive. The 1992 whites remaining slightly under praised those I have been lucky enough to drink have been spectacular.

The wines so far were more than you would dare hope for on even a special wine night but amazingly they were really setting the scene for what was to follow. A Petrus bonanza of sublime proportions. As a warm up to this evening I had read the chapter in Neal Martin's book "Pomerol" on Petrus and I have to say it is a great read, the style works well and gives you information and an understanding without being too intense, recommended. Prior to this evening I had been lucky enough to have tasted 2010 at the En Primeur stage and drunk the 1998, 1990 and 1979 at generously thrown dinners or lunches. On this evening we had 5 vintages with one "imposter" thrown in. The first flight was Petrus 2001, Penfolds Grange 1982 and Petrus 1982. The 2001 was by a long way the youngest tasting 12 year old wine I have ever had. Having to put a vintage on it was very difficult for a few reasons. I knew that the vintage we would be having were all very good ones and I knew there would not be anything overly "young". This left me with a real dilemma as both the intensity and purity fruit were making me think of a very young wine, almost barrel sample young. I plumbed for 2003 thinking about the intensity angle. The 2001 is the year my son was born and so a vintage I have an attachment too it is also generally stunning for, especially, Pomerol. This is a generally magnificent wine, simply brilliant. The Grange was next and whilst the character was very different the texture and class was apparent. Blind I can't remember what we all went for but in retrospect (as always) there was a slight eucalyptus nose with the dark fruit. If you own Grange 1982 you can be very happy. So a legend was next and I am delighted to say that having not excelled on the blind front so far (Irish Pete and Chewy having done better) I nailed this one. Why? well mainly because this was exactly how I imaged (hoped) it would be, the 1982 had expressive and "easy" extrovert fruit combining with the high-toned Petrus liveliness. A simply great wine, so much there and so complex but at the same time so easy to enjoy...a special moment to try a special wine.
The next trio was Petrus 1975, Petrus 1967 and Petrus 1964. I was passed making many notes by now and just enjoying the wines. The 1975 is my birth year and to have this hot on the heels of the 1982 was wonderful. There wasn't the expressive exuberance of the 1982 here or in the rest of the flight as these wines were in the next stage of development. Having said that there is a very definite Petrus character, very much a character and not a style. You get no sense of wines that are "made" just fruit from a great site expressing itself. The 1975 had great balance, a drier type of fruit to the 1982. My notes simply say "very good!". The 1967 and 1964 were both in good condition holding a strong colour. The 1967 had a dark fruit character but with a savoury development as you would expect. The 1964 had a very complete feel and texture with a saline edge to the palate that I liked. It had been a simply amazing two flights of Petrus. The 2001 impressive for its youth and purity, the 1982 for its expression and completeness then the 1975, 1967 and 1964 for their array of more developed and savoury complexities. I will certainly never have all of those again in 0ne sitting.
We were almost done but first Climens 1986 and Yquem 1986 were waiting. It is always compelling to have these two great estates alongside each other and this was no exception. A little like the Batard and Chevalier earlier these performed to type. The Yquem having a little more intensity and more depth, having said this if Sauternes had 5 phases of development this would be only in the second of those phases. There will be a very long life ahead of this. The Climens is a little more feminine, only by comparison, the fruit a little less tropical and the volume turned down a notch... both very fine indeed...
Drinking great wines with great friends is what it is all about in my book and this was exactly how this wonderful day went...it does make the return "fixture" more than a little daunting.