Hand Picked Selections in Spain

Spain had a good 2nd Millenium. For a few centuries it ruled half the world. It was simultaneously marred and enhanced by Arab conquest. America was ‘discovered’. Then democracy lost the Spanish Civil War and Spain disappeared into a faded, dusty sepia photo under the bootheel of Francisco Franco, Spain’s self-proclaimed ‘savior’. The two richest and most restless regions (Vizcaya and Catalonia, which ironically don’t speak Spanish) were locked into a cultural straightjacket.

Franco died, democracy was restored and a rainbow of brilliance covers the land. Membership in the European Community brought prosperity unknown since the Middle Ages. Creativity that had been repressed under dictatorship emerged to impress the world. This creativity expressed itself most strongly in food and wine.

Wine

Until recently, Spain had one well-known district, Rioja, and one ‘great’ wine, Vega Sicilia. Vega Sicilia is emphatically outside the Spanish or any other wine mainstream. It comes not from Rioja but from neighboring and previously unknown Ribera del Duero. Cabernet is a large part of the blend. The top bottling receives 10 years or more of barrel age, yet it is miraculously fresh on release. This is one of the world’s most expensive wines and with a track record of over a century it merits and easily commands its price.

Food

About 10 years ago a chef named Ferran Adria opened ‘El Bulli’ (‘The Bulldog’) restaurant in Catalonia. Today it is considered the best restaurant in the world. Dinner consists of 30 courses. The restaurant is famous for ‘foams’, in which previously solid elements are liquefied and then beaten into foamy broths. Hot and cold elements can appear in the same dish. Dinner is $169 at today’s exchange rates – less than half the price of a French HHH, and wines are correspondingly fairly priced.

Wine

As the country prospered, Vega Sicilia got company. Pesquera, again in Ribera del Duero was the next winery to make a splash. Soon the old Rioja Bodegas were hurriedly upgrading their previously sloppy, tired winemaking. Prices rose with quality. The sleepy Denominacion of Priorat exploded on the scene with three expensive ‘Clos’ wines – Dofi, Mogador and Erasmus, soon surpassed in price by L’Ermita. Ribera del Duero struck back with Pingus, today Spain’s most expensive wine. The policy of some new growers is to refuse to be oversold.

Food

‘El Bulli’ inspired other talented Spanish chefs, in some cases to mimicry but more often to either mine their own fertile imaginations or to achieve astoundingly high levels of quality for traditional foods. There are now several Michelin HHHs along with a large number of HHs and Hs. At one restaurant, a traditional marinated sardine ‘escabeche’ has been enhanced by pistachios, grated honeydew rind and coffee aspic! At another, a young pastry chef presents a swatch of paper impregnated with a famous perfume, then a dessert whose flavors mimic the perfume’s aromas.

These chefs are out there, but not out of control. Spain, with only 40 million people, can now fairly be considered a leading candidate for the title of ‘Food Mecca of the World’. Cured hams are awareded 1 to 10 stars. Dishes that would be considered cutting edge anywhere are widely available. Meals in the most basic restaurants can be wonderful.

Wine

With a huge vineyard area of mostly old, low-yielding vines, Spain has always had the raw materials for quality. Progress at rocket speed has unfortunately been accompanied by an epidemic of ‘California Disease’ (scientific name: Three-figure first-releaseitis). All of the wines mentioned above retail for $100 - 300. Are they worth it? Fortunately not my decision to make (I bought some Vega Sicilia a long time ago when the $50 price tag was a fortune to me – I didn’t regret it).

The push for quality has happily extended down the economic scale. Old vineyards yielding just a few tons per acre can produce enough for a winegrower to earn a living from wines that retail in single digits. While Hand Picked Selections now sells Spanish wines that retail for as much as fifty bucks, most of our efforts are as usual with wines for under ten.

The new top Spanish wines are beginning to set world standards for quality. More power to them. What astonishes me is the amount of richness, flavor, personality and character that Spanish growers and Cooperatives can pack into an inexpensive bottle of wine. These are wines for a song that make me want to sing. May they continue to flow!