PRIVAT “Opus Evolutium” Brut Nature Gran Reserva. 12% Alc. 100% Chardonnay
HACIENDA MONASTERIO Crianza’97 14,5% Alc. 75% Tinto Fino

Hermanos Pérez Pascuas VIÑA PEDROSA Cr’99 13% Alc. 18m French & American
PAGO DE CARRAOVEJAS Cr’99 (25% C-S) 13,5% Alc. 12m French & American
HACIENDA MONASTERIO Cr’99 (15% C-S+5% Merlot) 14% Alc. 16m Allier

Friday I headed for the Bodega San Sebastián slightly before 5pm. Little did I guess then that I’d not be leaving until well after midnight. No less than two bottles of each wine were opened, at least four of the cava. Nikola had prepared a table with food like his only daughter was getting married. I was greeted with a glass of cava, the planned star of the evening. Now, I’m not one of those proud Spaniards who claim that Cava is just as good as that expensive and overhyped French bubbly thing. If I don’t drink Champagne it is exclusively from a practical determination NOT to incur in financial suicide (What if I like it?). For the same reason I don’t make supermarket-level incursions in either Bordeaux or Burgundy. What I know, I know; what I don’t, I will. To claim Bordeaux knowledge from a couple of low-profile generic Bordeaux experiences would be childish, I believe. I’m only 30…
Must admit I’ve been a bad boy with bubbly and not done my homework properly. I rarely drink it outside Xmas (though I always order it BTG in the rare places where it is poured). It sure has to do with my lone-drinker habits: harder to split a bottle throughout the weekend than with still wines, which often even improve.

But this cava is absolutely spectacular.

Bs. CARMENET Cava PRIVAT “Opus Evolutium” Brut Nature Gran Reserva (1997). 12% Alc. 100% Chardonnay.

The package alone would turn many an Italian marketing director green with envy: cardboard tube worthy of the best single malt, high conical bottle WITH date of disgorgement (in April 2002). Very fine bubble and excellent mousse. Intense aromas of apple, dried apricots, herbs, touch of flower petals and refreshing acidity perceptible even in the nose. Medium body, very easy to drink too much of, but not from lack of complexity as cava goes, it is much more ambitious than my now second best. Could have polished a bottle per head … and almost did (2 for 3 before 7 pm). White fruit and citrus predominant but the overall impression is that this is incredibly fresh for a gran reserva: these old-style cavas are sometimes heavy with dough/yeast and nutty aromas (not nutty as here but leaning toward rancio, stale bread). I began to wonder about my previous experiences with cava: ever had NV Champagne from a large supermarket chain [ill-preserved] and thought it didn’t justify all the fuss? Just as supermarket champagne isn’t the real thing, the odds are that cava works very much the same, and this small-producer, almost garagiste cava is for me the door to a new world of quality cava, and I don’t know its price yet, but it’s easy to be anxious about it… certainly no less than 20-25 € from distributor’s accounts. Production is truly artisanal: this winery is the personal project of the oenologist who’s behind PARXET, but whereas Parxet releases almost one million bottles per year this house splits 75,000 bottles among five different types. To put this in context, CODORNIU produces 35 million bottles…
Anyway, in the current cava landscape, which I know only superficially as I said, I’d give this wine a clean 92. And in more absolute terms I’d say this is not short of a 90 pointer for a blind tasting anywhere. By the end of the night I had contributed VERY enthusiastically to the emptying of four or five bottles, and ended up refusing more refills out of a sense of waste.

Compared to this beauty the red wine, Privat Cabernet-Sauvignon Unfiltered 1999, 12,5% Alc matured in French and American oak, could not be up to scratch: though it improved a good deal with some air, my initial impression that it wanted more stuffing was indelible: the Cab vineyard is deliberately planted in the highest part of Penedés for that touch of elegant non-Mediterraneanness achieved by the best local Cabs (the Mas La Plana has been recently praised by many forumites), and indeed it has pleasant aromatics and a touch of complexity, but is missing some body & tannic backbone, and could be crisper in acidity. Overall it is a promising effort to watch. The right plan is there already, but is wanting consolidation. 86

And here is where the conversation turned to the HACIENDA MONASTERIO thread. I told David I had got hold of the Crianza’97 and the Reserva’98 (much against my will, morally forced by the insistent demands of several forumites…). So he decided we should not wait any longer for the Crianza’97 TN and asked Nikola to crack one open, even though he wants the remaining bottles for himself: now I know why! Man, this is SO intense upon opening I almost didn’t like it. It needed a good 30’ before the nose began to resemble wine.
For the sake of comparison: I posted last week about the Pago de Carraovejas’99 (90) that it’s ripeness didn’t come as exceptional in the 1999 context so I liked better the perfect balance and concentration of the Viña Pedrosa’99 (91+) and the Hacienda Monasterio’99 (93). WELL, the 1997 vintage certainly didn’t excel in ripeness, but that’s because ALL the sun shone on the HM vineyard! The HM’97 is so pruney it’s hard to believe it’s balanced. But sure it is, in spite of its 14,5% Alcohol. Plummy/pruny, sweet and intense nose of jammy black fruit adorned with faint smoky oak, bacon fat, and a pleasant earthy rusticity with chocolate and tobacco. Fullbodied and velvety in the mouth with savory finish. Agree with WS 90, but then coherence will demand the Crianza’99 fetches at least WS93…

By 8 pm or so David had to leave, and I was getting ready too when Nikola said a group was coming so I could stay anyway… so I did. The feeling of alcoholic déjà vu when my eyes saw Nikola handing me another glass of cava at 8:30 was such a great laugh. I couldn’t believe I was in for two Fridays in one. Introductions were made, plenty of handshaking, great conversation, and even better wines… Well, we went through the entire CBC Ribera portfolio after more glasses of cava! The three new guests were deeply impressed by the bunch of Ribera Crianzas from 1999, and they cheered the half-decanted HM’97 as truly dramatic.
Personally, I had a much-appreciated opportunity to confirm my opinions in last week’s Ribera’99 post, and will stick to my ratings though by the end of the night almost every 99 was pushing for a 93. Call it sporadic overindulgence. Not a bad thing once in a while, and (hardest to believe), this cava-Ribera tipsiness left no hangover whatsoever.

Hey Gastro, no complaints! While I was having a wine-loaded weekend, it looks like you didn't stay on dry grounds either!

Very interesting notes. Maybe I'll give the spanish cavas another chance. I've never had one that exceeded the usual italian Prosecco.

Interesting also your oppinion on the 1997 HM Crianza. I didn't really like it when I had it about one or two years ago. It was a bit overdone and it's tannins where really coarse grained, so I thought it would be a dry monster when it comes of age. Is the 1999 as heavily loaded with drying tannins? Maybe I'll get the chance to try both of them soon at the great annual autumn tasting in Zürich.

(edited): By the way: your quote on HM Reserva’ 98 "much against my will, morally forced by the insistent demands of several forumites" - that must have been me ! You're not playing scottish on this one, aren't you? Grab it out of your moldering cellar and bring us the hopefully good news!

[ 09-29-2002, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: Marc ]

Not at all: the 99 is pure elegance for a Ribera. The 97 indeed must have been a beast a couple of years ago [overdone, perhaps], but this is what we've been saying about the house style for quite a bit: imagine the RE'95 upon bottling? I don't! There's plenty of fruit and acidity to balance these raw beauties. The 99 doesn't seem to need any calendar-glancing anyway...

The cava truly is a beauty, though if you're a champagner you may appreciate it mostly as QPR. For me it sure was a revelation.

"much against my will, morally forced by the insistent demands of several forumites": What a shame I don't have gremlins in my MS Word... you can imagine the 1/2 dozen I'd have used... I think I began playing martyr with the Murcia al Vino thread...

Saturday I opened an unoaked toro "Monte Toro" 2000 that was excellent QPR at only 4€!! and the HM Crianza 97 I had bought. I cracked them for friends at their home, and drank these while sitting on the windowsill like a parrot (SMOKERS).
They opened Pesquera Crianza '96, past its prime, if it ever had any...

Gastro,

I love your tasting notes!! Because we can't get the Hac. Monastario in Vancouver, can you tell me where in the Ribera it is located? I have been to Penafiel(Protos) and a couple of other small places through there and we are definitely going back. Friends just returned from a visit to Arzuaga and loved the '99 CR. Quite a fancy place too.

Thanks,
Tim

Timcan,
Check this website for some photos of the vineyard:

http://www.cephas.co.uk/recent/spain/ribera/monast/mona.html

The winery is somewhere halfway between Pesquera de Duero and Valbuena de Duero (those are tell-tale names, ain't they). Right now vineyard size is about 68 Has. and they do not buy grapes since 1995 (arrival of P. Sisseck). Luxury treatment includes egg-fining, Allier barrels, 1,5 Kg of grapes per vine maximum, average of 18m in barrel for most cuvées and 6m in bottle prior to release... Right now its crianza may easily hit 25€, but the 99 is so good and they no longer label it crianza, so there's no need to compare it with apparently equivalent bottlings from other wineries. It simply is superb in 99 again, and as far as I'm concerned that's all I need

BTW, Arzuaga is indeed a fine winery and impressive Estate, as far as telly reports go. This year politicians and soccer players have been spotted relaxing in the grounds and gulping a nice deal of Crianza in the dining room. The estate is surrounded by woods where stags run freely, quite a curiosity here, and the owner's daughter, Amaya Arzuaga, is a well-known fashion designer, so you can imagine the decor is impeccable... In my still forthcoming Ribera'99 tasting there is a fixed place for Arzuaga Crianza'99, if only because it has suddenly become affordable (the others have made it affordable, I mean). Never tried this producer before, so I'm pretty curious, and there's quite a difference between the more radical ratings I've seen for its 99. Ummmm....controversial wine...