Secret Syrah in Spain
Re: Secret Syrah in Spain
Ver mensaje de Iñaki Blasco";After some glasses of wine I will ask them about syrah in their wines...";
Or perhaps the best way to raise the issue is to ask, after some glasses of wine, whether they think any OTHER winemakers are secretly using it. I would love to hear the results!
Ooops!
Ver mensaje de WaltZalenskiOf course, the matter will be the syrah and OTHER winemakers. Of course , of course... :-))
Re: Ooops!
Ver mensaje de WaltZalenskiBut by now they ALL know that you plan to ask them :-))
MaJesus
Re: Secret Syrah in Spain
Ver mensaje de WaltZalenskiPersoianlly I can’t imagine that anyone would use a non-permitted grape if they valued their denominación status.
And if they don’t, then they’d be calling their wine vino de mesa or vino de la tierra anyway!
Re: Secret Syrah in Spain
Ver mensaje de WaltZalenskiWell Walt, if you take into account the highly restrictive regulation of the DO’s it is not probable what you say. For instance, most producers I know from Rioja are not willing to risk themselves to be expelled from the DO doing this kind of experiments. Too much risk for an unknown benefit....
However there are DO that explicitly allow the use of syrah, and in this DO I´ve also noticed the increase in the use of ";foreign"; varietals, such as petit verdot, syrah, and others....
Re: Secret Syrah in Spain
Ver mensaje de Paco HigónPaco, you mention ";the highly restrictive regulation of the DO’s."; I understand there are rules, but do you have any idea whether there is any enforcement of the rules? I confess that I do not know how the DOs enforce the rules, or if they enforce them at all. Certainly, people from the DO can’t be physically present in every bodega all the time. Cheating on varietals would appear to be easier than cheating on your taxes.
Re: Secret Syrah in Spain
Ver mensaje de WaltZalenskiWell, during harvest the ";veedores"; (more o less the ";controllers";) are -like God- in every place enforcing the regulation with singular tenacity. They also control the relationship between ";permits"; to produce grapes for winemaking and their destinations.... It’s really something to see and they’re really difficult to deceive!!! In addion there almost no vines of syrah in the area and the transport of grapes from other areas are heavily controlled....
Re: Secret Syrah in Spain
Ver mensaje de Paco HigónVery interesting. I’ve never heard nor read about how this works in Spain.
Perhaps the use of syrah is rare, but I still would bet that at least one Toro and two Riojas that I can name do have some syrah. With respect to one, I have hardly any doubt - based on taste, smell AND the winemaker’s humorous behavior, as I described above.
I realize that it would be easier to discuss this issue specifically if I would identify these wines. But because I am not 100% certain, I would never do that. In fact, even if I were 100% certain, I have no reason for doing so. I like all three wines - I like two of the three VERY much - and I don’t want them to change.