Archive

=================================================================

JR's notes:

The title, of course, is taken from a song in the ill-fated musical 'Man of La Mancha' with Rex Harrison badly miscast as Don Quixote in a film he would probably have preferred to forget. The wines, however, are something else. This was published in DECANTER in October, 1998. The DECANTER website is at www.decanter.com

La Mancha: The Impossible Dream

John Radford examines how a region which was written off as a wine-lake wasteland has not only reinvented itself but come to represent much of what is best in new-wave Spanish winemaking.

Twenty-five years ago the new Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen La Mancha found itself with nearly two hundred thousand hectares of land, mainly planted with Airén vines, widely spaced in the marco real pattern and turning out low-yield, low-cost and, frankly, low-calibre wine. Quality was an impossible dream.

Most bodegas found themselves in the vicious circle in which low wine prices means low profits which means little or no money for reinvestment, but if some of the bodegueros were caught on that treadmill in the mid-1970s, there were others, outsiders who had money to invest in this large, reliable, and (above all) low-cost environment. The first to see the potential was the Rumasa Group, as it was then. Rumasa came to Manzanares in 1977 with all the bells and whistles of twenty-first century winemaking: stainless steel, computers, state-of-the-art laboratories and top winemakers from the north of the country: this was, and is Vinícola de Castilla. Indeed, looking at the bodega today, with its spotless marble corridors, tiled floors and gleaming fermenting halls, it's hard to believe that this winery has already celebrated its 21st birthday. Other bodegas joined in with a will and, if some of them had more enthusiasm than money then so much the better. Concrete tina jas were scrubbed out and coated with neutral linings, ingenious methods were created to cool the wine during fermentation, and grapes were simply picked earlier to retain more of their natural acidity.

So far, so good: but if La Mancha could achieve this with its existing varieties, what could it achieve with a little experimentation further afield? The early success of the new-wave wines had encouraged the Consejo Regulador to sponsor further research, carried out for the most part by the Centro Regional Vitivinícola, an experimental establishment in Tomelloso. New varieties, new styles of wine, new methods of pruning, training and picking and - something which would scarcely have been whispered 25 years ago - a measured approach to drip-feed irrigation have transformed La Mancha beyond recognition and turned the old prejudices firmly on their heads.

Meanwhile, the Consejo Regulador itself had been developing its own new ideas towards a new reglamento - the set of regulations which governs its activities. This was published in 1996 and allows for a reduction in the area under vine, encouragement of new varieties in the vineyard, as well as new methods of pruning, training and irrigation, and the extension of the DO La Mancha to include sparkling wines made by the método tradicional. These changes started from the 1996 vintage and now, with the 1998 safely in the bodega, we can see something of the way 21st century La Mancha wine is likely to be.

The new permitted varieties are Cabernet-Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Macabeo (Viura) this last primarily for sparkling wines. So far a number of bodegas have produced excellent examples of Cabernet-Sauvignon, and in a wide variety of styles. Veronés from Bodegas Santa Rita in Mota del Cuervo is in the light, fresh, gorgeously-fruity whole-grape-fermentation style which used to be the preserve of the Cencibel. Another piece of received wisdom which has been turned on its head is the belief that in this kind of summer heat it's impossible to make good red oak-aged wines. Casa del Monte in Campo de Criptana is turning out a classic 100% Cabernet-Sauvignon 'sub-crianza' (in other words, with less than the legal crianza minimum of six months in oak) as well as a 1995 crianza called Monte Don Lucio, which show considerable promise, and Juan Ramón Lozano makes an excellent 6-month crianza and a superb 12-month rese rva from 50/50 Cabernet-Sauvignon/Cencibel, whilst the great pioneers Vinícola de Castilla are listing a sublime Señorío de Guadianeja 1986 gran reserva made from 100% Cabernet-Sauvignon with three years in American oak - and a 1985 gran reserva from 100% Cencibel. In 1985, even in La Mancha itself, most bodegueros would have told you that this was impossible.

One of the most encouraging developments has been the way that older and, especially, co-operative bodegas - often pilloried as dinosaurs in the winemaking world - have re-equipped an reinvested for the new-wave wines. The giant Co-op Cristo de la Vega in Socuellamos (Est. 1955) processes grapes from its 1,700 members at a rate of 700 tonnes per hour at vintage time and yet still turns out everything from the delicate, fresh rosado El Yugo to the generous and magnificent Siglo XVI from its modern, stainless-steel winery. The Co-op Virgen de las Viñas in Tomelloso (Est. 1961) has 2,000 members but has been something of a pioneer itself for many yearsat both ends of the scale, with a Cabernet/ Cencibel Don Eugenio reserva 1989 and a vino nuevo ('nouveau') white called Lorenzete made from 100% Airén - that grape which was once so despised. And one of the oldest stagers of all, Bodegas Ayuso in Villarobeledo (Est 1947, privatised as a limited company in 1992) has reinvented its classic Cencibel Estola - now a 1985 gran reserva with 48 months in cask.

This is a just a snapshot of the revolution which is sweeping La Mancha. More and more of this vast region's bodegas are signing up for the new deal, and one of the most fascinating new-wave wines is La Mancha Espumoso - made by the método tradicional, of course and, too, dismissed as completely impossible just a few years ago. The climate was too hot; the soil was wrong; the grapes would fry on the vine... Plantations of Macabeo grapes are coming to maturity and, already, one or two bodegas are starting to break into export markers - notably Vinícola de Tomelloso with Mantolan Brut Nature and Vinícola de Castilla with Cantares - both already showing a refreshing, crisp, if slightly rustic style. By the year 2001, these vineyards will reach maturity and start producing top-quality grapes, and La Mancha Espumoso may very well do for the sparkling market what La Mancha still wines did for the supermarkets in the early 1980s.

But, of course, that's an impossible dream.

Just like it was before.

Body Copy - 1,011 Words