La Sierra de Salamanca unveils its new vintage
The Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP) of wines of the Sierra de Salamanca presented their new outcrop today (27 November 2018) in the Palacio de Figueroa in the old Castilian city of Salamanca, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a grand stage on which to sample the viticultural fruits brought forth from the precipitous valleys and escarpments of the sparsely populated natural biosphere reserve in the south west of Castile and León.
For the second year running I was grateful to be the guest of the Salamanca Association of Sommeliers – an amiable collective of epicures as keen to sample the excellent local cured meats and cheeses as the fresh and interesting wines served up.
Once again we had the opportunity to sample not only the output of the recently completed harvest and fermentation but a wide range of varietal expressions of the small-scale producers who work vineyards dating back to Roman times. In the 15th and 16th centuries the Sierra de Salamanca was known for the excellence of its wines and by the 19th century viticulture was an economic pillar of the region. In the 1950s co-operative wineries were established and oversaw the introduction of new techniques and conservation of terrain under threat of abandonment due to depopulation in the rural areas across Spain. The area has been protected by DOP status since 2010 and continues to produce high quality, low production wines.
The mountain viticulture of the region is founded on very old native vine varieties, the foremost of which is rufete, a grape characterised by its small, tight bunches of black grapes with medium seeds and fine skin similar to pinot noir which produces wines reminiscent of Burgundy. It is a subtle varietal with delicate aromas of red fruit and spice, sweet and smooth tannins which give complexity and elegance to the wines. In this principally red wine terrain the indigenous Spanish mainstays garnacha (known elsewhere as grenache) and tempranillo are also cultivated, although in this area close to the Portuguese border they are known as Calabrés and Aragonés respectively.
The humid Mediterranean microclimate of the region is ideal for vine cultivation with dry summers and cool nights, short mild winters and plentiful rainfall in spring and autumn to compensate for the low capacity of water retention in the soils of sandy granite and shale clay, the latter of which introduces structure and minerality to add to the long finish imparted by the typically acidic land.
In this natural paradise of mountains, valleys, natural rock-pools and oak forests roamed by wild boar and deer, the vines are found from 400m to almost 1,000m – resulting in a yet wider range of wine characteristics, all of which were on display at a hugely popular and well attended presentation.
Among the stars of the evening for me were, en primer lugar, the delicious Pedro Rosingana from the Co-operative of the picturesque village of San Esteban, a blend of rufete and tempranillo from a selection of vines of more than 75 years old which were pressed underfoot in the traditional style, unusually with about 40% of the grapes still on the stem, and then macerated for 13 days in dry ice before fermentation. A surprisingly sweet smelling waft of aged Pedro Ximenez was first to greet the nose which gave way to black fruit, and on the palate it was velvet smooth and pleasantly tannic.
Also notable was the Tragaldabas 2016 harvest (rather less romantic in English, the name means ‘greedy guts’) from the winery Mandrágora Vinos del Pueblo, a blend of rufete and Aragonés planted in low-bush en vaso vines on slate and granite soils. The product of the terraces of three delightful villages in the Sierra, the harvest is entirely manual and the stems are partially used in the fermentation process along with indigenous yeasts before the wine is left to mature for 9 months in French oak.
With the usual outstanding output of Bodega Cámbrico – I’d highlight in particular their blends of tempranillo and rufete Viñas del Cámbrico and the exquisite 575 Uvas, which includes a small percentage of Calabrés – the excellent value wines of Bodega Don Celestino, De Balta and many others putting their best foot forward, 2019 promises to be an extremely rewarding year if you are fortunate enough to encounter the vinos serranos of Salamanca.
