Sometimes reserved and a bit austere, Spanish red wines combine passion and quality, while still leaving a little room for the wine lover’s imagination. A flirtation with one of these gems could wind up in a lifelong affair.  Combine them with the grilled and smoked meats of the Iberian Peninsula and you’ll be lost forever in a gustatory dream state.

The red wines from Rioja have taken center stage in an American market still limited in Spanish imports, but those from the regions of Jumilla, Ribero del Duero, Penedès, and Priorat deserve focused attention, too. All these work wonderfully with the grilled sausage, pork, and beef that are the center of attention at summer barbecues.

José Andrés has brought Spain to Washington with his ever popular Jaleo and Café Atlantico – not to mention the Greek-influenced Zaytinya and Mexican-driven Oyamel. The wine list at Jaleo is too long to recite here, but Pesquera Crianza (from Ribera del Duero) and Finca Valpiedra Reserva (Rioja) are heavenly matches for grilled meat.

With a nod to Andrés recent success, Taberna del Alabardero remains D.C.’s original and traditional leader in authentic Spanish cuisine. One of my favorite examples is Taberna’s Grilled Beef Tenderloin with mushrooms and red wine sauce. The subtle flavors of Spain’s delicious red wines meld beautifully with the combination of grilled meat and mushroom aromas.

But if you’re grilling out rather than eating out, here are some wines recently tasted and available locally that you can serve at home:

Abadia Retuerta 2006 Rivola Sardon de Duero (Duero, $15, 60% tempranillo and 40% cabernet sauvignon). Bright red fruit flavors, long and satisfying.

Abadia Retuerta 2006 Sardon de Duero Seleccion Especial (Duero, $20, 75% tempranillo, 20% cabernet sauvignon, 5% merlot). Softly fragrant and forward, this wine is seductive and smooth on palate, hints of chocolate and dark fruit.

Bodegas Faustino 2007 Faustino VII (Rioja, $12, 50% tempranillo, 50% garnacha). Raspberry flavors with strawberry highlights. A touch of licorice adds interest.

Other Spanish producers to recommend:

Marques de Riscal

Vega Sicilia

Marques de Arienzo

Dick Rosano has offered his insights on wine in many publications and radio shows, and is a regular contributor to WeeklyWinePick.com.

While most Americans know Spain’s famous Rioja region, they can expect to increasingly find high quality–and often valued priced–wines from Navarra. This region lies in the north of Spain between Rioja and the border of France not too far from the Bordeaux wine region. Bordeaux has influenced winemaking in this this region, particularly starting in 1880s. At that time Bordeaux winemakers took their skills to Spain to escape the outbreak of phylloxera, an insect that nearly destroyed Europe’s wine industry until it was finally brought under control. Both Rioja and Navarra benefited as French winemakers shared some of the best winemaking expertise in the world at the time.

Like Bordeaux, these regions often blend various grapes (Bordeaux always blends) to make their wines, except in Spanish winemakers use native varieties that give their wines a unique character and style. Key among these grapes is Tempranillo, a grape that can produce soft, fruity and relatively light reds to big bold, oaked and aged reds. This grape is often blended with the Spanish Garnacha, which is the same grape as Grenache used to make southern Rhone Wines in France. Garnacha–which tends to be light, spicy, and high in alcohol–adds wonderful spice and fruit elements. It is also used to make dry and off dry (slightly sweet) rose wines, several lovely examples of which were available at the event. In addition, Navarra is also making blends that include more well known international/Bordeaux varietals like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and other grapes, often blended together or with Tempranillo.

At the event were wines produced by Bodegas Campos de Enanzo, the largest winery in Navarra. They produce a host of valued-priced, high-quality wines. A personal favorite was their incredible value wine: the unoaked Tempranillo, which retails for just $9.99. Even with the absence of oak, this is an unusually rich wine that is soft, fruity and a bit savory. Another treat is the 2004 Tempranillo-Cabernet Sauvignon, Crianza, which retails for just $14.99. According to Winesearcher you can find Enanzo wines in New York, but the Weekly Wine Pick learned at the tasting that the winery has just located a D.C. distributor. Look for these wines on store shelves and on wine lists soon in D.C.!

One table down the row was the Castillo Monjardin, which offered a number of lovey wines at great prices. Their Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot Crianza, 2005 (which also includes some Tempranillo) is a fantastic buy with retail prices around $12. Aged in French and American oak, this wine was grown in an excellent vintage year and offers soft and fruity notes. The Wine Advocate rates it an 89, and gives equally high ratings to their Tempranillo and a blend called Dejo as well as to their other wines. These wines surely are well-made. Keep an eye out for them at your local retail shops.

“After decanting the bottles, I was elated to find that the wine was in pristine shape.  Out of the glass came aromas of violets, cardamom, clove, cedar, campfire and crushed cherries. It had a sumptuous flavor of ripe baked cranberries, goji berries, all spice and Szechuan pepper on the finish.   Viña Valoria’s maturity and depth on the palate were remarkable, especially for the price (less than $100).  Comparable wines such as the 1964 Gaja, Barolo or 1969 Guigal, “La Mouline,”  and Cote Rotie can range from $500 to $3,000.

“I can say that Viña Valoria is among the greatest wines I have sampled.  Ten years from now – 50 years since its debut – I would not be surprised to find it equally alive, ripe and delicious.”  ViñaValoria only releases wines from the best vintages.

Thomas Jefferson’s love of wine is reflected in the restaurant’s Private Cellar, featuring walls lined with wine display cabinets and private wine lockers, along with an extensive collection of over 1,000 labels.  Chef Damon Gordon  applies modern twists to traditional dishes that draw heavily on the fruits, vegetables and herbs of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello gardens.

  The wine’s principal varietal is Garnacha (Grenache), which is blended with Merlot and Tempranillo.  The wine is aged in a combination of American and French oak barrels for a minimum of ten months, a process which imparts the smooth tannins.

  This bottle retails between $11 and $16, a price that Taylan remarked, “shouldn’t make someone feel guilty about drinking it as their Monday-Friday house wine.”  Taylan operates an impressive program at Stonehedge, maintaining New England’s largest wine collection of over 100,000 bottles and offering over 2000 selections on The Left Bank (Stonehedge’s fine dining restaurant, formerly Silks) wine list.  Taylan’s father, Levant, was quoted in a 2004 Food & Wine article as wanting “to see a bottle on every table.”  To that end, wine prices at Stonehedge are extraordinarily low.  Guests may also notice that recent releases are hard to come by on Taylan’s wine list, as he endeavors to offer wines at their peak drinkability.

  Check out Wine-Searcher.com to find this Crianza at a retailer near you.

2004 Closa Batllet label, courtesy of WineLibraryTV.com

  Tucked away in the hills of Catalan, Spain, not far from Barcelona, the unique soils (licorella) of Priorat create wines capable of achieving “cult” status.  Since the Priorat region is just slightly over 4000 acres, only America’s most robust wine lists normally feature them.  Only about 6% of that land is planted for white wine grapes, principally Garnacha Blanco.  If you find a white Priorat, you might take advantage of a rare buying opportunity. 

  Andy Chabot, sommelier and wine director at the Blackberry Farm resort outside of Knoxville, Tennessee, jumped at the chance to offer his guests a small batch from Closa Batllet.  Andy described the wine as “just stunning” and noted its stand-out qualities of “acidity and power with minerality and richness.”  Andy had tasted this wine during a visit to the winery in Gratallops a couple of years ago.  He noted that the winemaker, Marc Ripoll, only made 3 barrels of white wine, ”needless to say I was surprised and delighted when my importer told me he had and allotment.”  Andy pairs the wine with dishes that feature Spring vegetables grown on the farm, cheeses produced from the milk of Blackberry’s sheep, and morels and ramps foraged locally.

  Other white wines from Priorat that are currently available on the American markert are La Conreria d’Scala dei Les Brugueres, Mas d’en Compte Blanco and Clos Nelin Mogador Blanco.

  Described by Mark as “clean, crisp, and refreshing,” this Spanish sparkler from the Segura Viudas estate in Cava is pressed from Macebeo, Parellada and Xarello grapes.

  You can find more of Mark Phillips’s recommendations on his video blog, and the PBS television show Enjoying Wine with Mark Phillips.  Keep an eye out for his upcoming book, Swallow This – A Whole New Approach to Wine.

  Retailers with ARIA Cava in stock can be found at Wine-Searcher.com.

  For around $10 a bottle, you can afford to stock up too.  This wine is a light-bodied red that shows hints of vanilla, making it an ideal companion to many dishes like this recipe for chicken with black-pepper maple sauce from Epicurious.com.  Thus far in 2009, our wine experts have recommended the wines of Spain more often than any other.  These wines are often just as good a value as the much heralded Malbecs from Argentina, but carry with them a history rich in old-world tradition.

You can find the Sierra Cantabria Rioja at Phil Pratt’s favorite wine shop, Grand Wine in Astoria, or at one of the many retailers on Wine-Searcher.com.

  Mr. Gorevic points out the wine’s dark golden color, strong citrus notes and sherry-like oxidized flavors.  These flavors ought to mature over a number of years despite the vintage being nearly 10 years old.  For the amount of time and effort put into a bottle of this wine, it is an incredible value at around $23 a bottle.  New Yorkers can find it at Frankly Wines, and the rest of us can obtain it from a number of retailers listed on Wine-Searcher.

  To teach people more about wines like this, Mr. Gorevic created the Wine Class in a Box which offers 6 wines specifically chosen to hone your tasting skills.

Trey Christy remarked that Sherry is under-appreciated. Its production is labor-intensive and time-consuming, yet bottles are passed to the consumer at very modest prices. Sherry is offered in a number of styles, and Trey recommended the Lustau Almacenista Amontillado Fino de Jerez 1/47 Florido as an aperitif to accompany stews and soups, or other appetizers rich in garlic and herbs. Hard cheeses and cured meats pair exceptionally well to the high acidity in Amontillado Sherry, which offers complex and fully ripe aromas of hazelnut and coffee.

Lustau Amontillado Fino Label

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