June's region of the month
Spain!
Spain & its wines
Spain is a relatively late bloomer in the wine world - or at least, in the modern world of wine. More vines are planted in Spain than just about anywhere else in the world, but until fairly recently most of the wines made there were domestic-consumption only and didn't make much of an impact on the global stage.
This has, of course, changed drastically over the past couple of decades. Warm climates but high altitudes mean easy ripening but still fresh, delicious wines. A - mercifully brief - fixation with overwhelming amounts of oak has given way to a more nuanced use of it (though they're still one of the biggest buyers of French oak in the world), and the UK consumer is starting to get to grips with Rioja in particular. What were originally seen in most British eyes as quality designations - Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva - are now understood as ageing terms instead, and the younger Riojas with their fresh, fruity flavours and aromas have had something of a resurgence as people feel more confident they know what will be in the bottle.
But Spain isn't just Rioja - far from it. Priorat, in Catalunya, makes some of the best wines in the world in my humble opinion. Down in Andalusia a centuries old tradition of making sherry is beginning to surprise people who wrote it off as "gran's Christmas tipple" and gain a younger audience of fans. Galicia - and particularly Rias Baixas - makes some of the best white wines in the world with the Albariño grape (which we featured under its alias, Alvarinho, in our Portuguese month to great effect) the undisputed star of the show there.
Pop in and try something new!
Cap Classique
South Africa isn't just famous for still wines - Cap Classique (aka Methode Cap Classique or just MCC) is South Africa's contribution to the world of sparkling wine, and it's a firm favourite of ours.
Sparkling wines can be made in a few different ways - the traditional method is the way Champagne, Cava and Crémant are made and is by far the most time consuming - and thus expensive - of the ways to do it (Prosecco, by comparison, is made via the tank method, which is easier, faster and cheaper). The wines are generally fermented as whole bunches and pressed very gently so only the best quality juice (the cuvée) is used. They undergo their first fermentation as most wines do - in oak, in concrete, in stainless steel depending on the grower's choices and aims - but then crucially they are decanted off into bottles the yeast still alive in the wine. Topped up with a little sugar to give the yeast a boost, they're capped and aged in the bottle while the yeast does its thing and adds alcohol, drying out the wine by using up that sugar, and then dropping to the bottom of the bottle and breaking down gently.
It's that breakdown that gives traditional method sparkling wines their complexity - as the yeast breaks down it adds texture and body and creamy, buttery, brioche-y notes, and what sets them apart from Prosecco and other tank method sparklings.
Cap Classique can be excellent value, especially when compared to Champagne with its premium label, but it also varies more widely than Champagne does. Unlike Champagne the grapes used can be almost anything (though the Champagne trio of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier are "suggested") and ageing can be for just 12 months (vs Champagne's minimum 15). It's typically a little more fruity than Champagne, and sometimes not as fizzy (Champagne has to be bottled at at least 6am of pressure while Cap Classique only has to be above 3).
