Bobal

Wine tourism the hard way: Requena by train

Wine tourism the hard way: Requena by train

Posted on by Pat and David
The ease of wine touring in the United States has spoiled us. Wine tourism in the Valencia region requires more planning. The wineries are largely rural and unreachable by public transit, and visits and tastings are usually by reservation. Most serious oenophiles book a tour of several bodegas and lunch with one of a handful of companies in Valencia. We decided to do it on our own. Reasoning that the most important district was D.O. Utiel-Requena and that Requena had the most wineries, we headed there on the C3 local train. That's the old city plaza at the top of this post. Requena is about 40 miles inland, but the trip takes nearly two hours. The train backtracks on one spur and negotiates some slow...Read More
Bobal brings friends to the barbecue

Bobal brings friends to the barbecue

Posted on by Pat and David
Our previous posts on D.O. Utiel Requena (see here) have concentrated on wines of the indigenous Bobal grape. Finca San Blas (fincasanblas.com) in Requena makes a well-regarded 100 percent Bobal. But the bodega also has extensive vineyards planted in Merlot, Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay. Its 2014 Lomalta blends 40 percent Bobal with 30 percent each of Merlot and Tempranillo. The resulting wine is a world apart from the black cherry and resinous spice profile of traditional Bobal. The Bobal characteristics are largely overshadowed by the other two grapes. We had to double-check the label to make sure it wasn't an experimental bottling from Rioja, which has had a love affair with French grapes for 150 years. The nose has the pronounced hot-climate menthol of...Read More
Finca La Beata shows Bobal at its meatiest

Finca La Beata shows Bobal at its meatiest

Posted on by Pat and David
Regular readers know we've been doing a survey of Bobal wines from the Utiel Requena region of Valencia. As we contemplated a dish to eat with the 2013 “Finca La Beata Bobal” from Dominio de la Vega (dominiodelavega.com), we faced a quandary. The sheer weight of the bottle signaled a Very Important Wine. (Empty, it clocks in at 1.2 kg/2.7 lb.) When it arrived at our door, the weather was cold and dank; now it's hot and steamy. Based on the other Bobal wines, we suspected that it would cry out for very beefy beef. But steamy summer is not the time for rabo de toro, the classic Spanish braise of oxtail. Then we remembered that Andalucían superchef Dani García used oxtail in the scrumptious...Read More