Spanish Wine 2004 & 2005

This past weekend was the second annual Spanish barrel tasting in Washington DC, organized by my friends at Wide World of Wines. There were 105 wines, generally barrel or pre-release samples from both the 2004 and 2005 vintages. In most cases, the winemakers were present. These included such celebrities as Mariano Garcia, Alejandro Fernandez, and Sara Perez as well as some of my other personal favorites such as Joaquin Galvez, Gregory Perez, Victoria Pariente, Isaac Fernandez and Joan Soler.

Broadly speaking, my impression is that the 2004 vintage will be spectacular in the Duero valley and Priorat in particular. The 2005 vintage is very good, but lighter, more focused and typically showing a brighter acidity. Oddly enough, Rioja was somewhat under-represented in the mix of wines offered and it therefore was more difficult to draw conclusions, although there were certainly some fine examples, such as the wines of Pujanza.

Perhaps the best wines that I tried were the 2004 Palomero, the 2004 San Roman and the 2004 Clos Martinet (which, even if it were not poured by the beautiful and delightful Sara Perez, I would have thought clearly better than the ’04 Mogador in a glass-to-glass comparison). But many producers are likely to reach a benchmark in this vintage (e.g., the best ever Gran Elias Mora). For value, my top selections were the offerings of Bernabe Navarro ( the ’04 and ’05 Beryna, Beryna Seleccion, and Leva Daniel), and from ’04 a new lower price wine from Uvaguilera SL called Manjar de Silos, Neo Setido from Bodegas J.C. Conde, and Martinet Bru. (In addition, while not a new offering, the very inexpensive Arrocal is now made by Isaac ";Picasso-of wine"; Fernandez and is worth special attention.)