October: The harvest is in full swing! Visit any major vineyard, especially those harvesting red grapes at this time of the year and you’ll find a very busy time for most vignerons and wine-makers. Harvesting the grapes is always a delicate negotiation with the weather; the fact that the 12th October would be ideal according to your plans isn’t always factored in by mother nature, who is quite prone to rain at this time of the year, promoting both fungal rot and dilution of the grapes, forcing workers to pick earlier than otherwise desired. The winery itself will be working hard everyday and, in big commercial operations, around the clock to clean, select, destem, press and start the fermentation process for the incoming grapes. Hired hands mix with experienced, full time staff, the fields are alive with the sounds of picking and all this time, whoever owns the operation is praying that this year will see enough healthy, ripe grapes to make a reasonable profit. One of the real beauties of wine is this reliance on the basic crop; the humble grape. With the right phenolic ripeness, balance of acidity and sugar and the attention of a skilled wine-maker, the sky is the limit.

Hello Wine Lovers! It’s lovely to be back organising wine tastings for you all again, and this month we have 3 lined up, with the potential to even include a 4th should there be enough demand! We’re going to kick off on Thursday 11th October by discovering some lesser known grape varieties in Spain, 6 in total, and learning a bit more about wine off the beaten path. Then on the 13th it’s time for another wine lunch, this time focusing on ‘natural’ wines from around the world, and learning about the definitions (or lack thereof) in this category. Finally, what month would be complete with another opportunity to blind taste classic wines from around the world, which we’ll be doing on Thursday 25th October, with the potential for a pop-up event on Saturday 27th. There’s a lot to choose from but tickets are still flying quickly, so get in touch if you’d like to attend and have a wonderful beginning to your Autumn 🙂

For more details of these events, be sure to check our Maestrazgo Wine Club page.

Events: Maestrazgo Wine Club:

11th October– The Lesser Known Varieties of Spain – 30 euros p/p
13th October – ‘Natural’ Wines of the World – 30 euros p/p
25th October – International Blind Tasting – 30 euros /p

Articles: I probably spend too much of my time reading online articles about wine. However, as a result I can find and select a choice few to share – here are my three favourites from last month!

1. ‘2018 – Biodynamic’s Stiffest Test‘ by Jancis Robinson MW. Just in time for our ‘natural’ wine tasting later this month, here’s a very level-headed view of biodynamic viticulture from Jancis Robinson, looking at the practical applications and importantly, who are the big names in biodynamic viticulture around the world. Whilst the science of biodynamics is still very much up for discussion, it can’t be denied that some of the worlds greatest wines are made from biodynamically produced grapes!

2. ‘How I fell in love with wine‘ with Emily Campeau. I hope you’ll forgive me for sharing this again, but it’s such a wonderful piece of writing it feels like a real shame not to. Emily recently won Jancis Robinson’s competition to write a piece about how we all fell in love with wine, and Emily’s blew the field away with this soulful, skillfully written piece about her own adventure. If you haven’t already, I urge you to take 5 minutes to read it.

Wine of the month: I’m constantly on the look-out for wines of real quality and value; here is my favourite wine of the month:

Bodega Lopez de Heredia Vina Gravonia 2008: Despite only writing about this wine recently, it’s easily my best wine of the month and in terms of price, one of the best bargains as well! Like most of Lopez de Heredia’s white wines, this is a gorgeous, deep golden colour and jumps out of the glass before you even get a chance to pick the glass up! Aromas of lemon-pie, dried peaches, apricot and wax come to the fore, supported by toasted oak, almonds, walnuts, pine, dill and bay leaves. Wonderfully complex and savoury, yet despite the clear age and oxidative style, this is still so fresh and clean on the palate, with vibrant acidity and a long, persistent flavour profile. A touch bitter on the finish but such a vivid wine, and absurd value for the money.

Rants and Musings
Some off-beat topics about anything related to wine.

So, I’ve been blind tasting a lot recently, and it’s got me thinking a little about why we do what we do; and by that I mean, why do wine students put themselves through this nonsense? Why try to memorise all these different facts about soil, climate, viticulture, winemaking, appellation/regional laws and local developments. Why bother learning to taste under blind conditions until your teeth are falling apart and your head is melting with useless knowledge? Why spend all this time learning about the world of wine, when there’s often very little in the way of commercial gain?

I can’t speak for everyone but for me, it’s purely a matter of nagging curiosity. I want to understand why wine tastes the way that it does. I want to know that when I pick up a glass of wine, when I look at it, smell it and taste it, that I can appreciate the various aspects of what makes this wine the way that it is; what makes it different to the rest. As I go through the wine world, I find more and more people like me, who just want to learn and share information through different mediums, and it gives me energy to keep doing what I do, to keep trying to find some sort of truth in wine and to share as much of it as I can with other people. For every tasting I do, hours of work and preparation have gone into it, and I love watching people enjoy new wines from around the world on a regular basis. If you’ve ever attended a tasting with me before – thank you. You’ve given me more momentum to keep going and I hope to keep creating more tastings to inspire you in your own wine adventures.

Social Media
These newsletters only come out once a month and there is a limit on space for content. If you use Social Media and want to keep up with regular wine updates and occasional rambles, feel free to connect with me on any of the following platforms.

Facebook: Wine Cuentista
Twitter: @Wine_Cuentista
Instagram: wine_cuentista

That’s it for this months newsletter. I hope you enjoyed it and please, if you have any suggestions or things you would like to see get in touch! Either respond to me here or email to fintankerr@winecuentista.com I can’t wait to see you all soon for more wine, food and good company.
Fintan Kerr