I’ve long said that finding good quality, international wines in Barcelona is difficult, but that’s increasingly less true as time passes by. The wine culture of this city is improving drastically and with it comes more options from around the world, whether it be in the form of ‘natural’ wines from Georgia and North-East Italy, French and Italian classics or some of the more exciting ‘new wave’ wines from Australasia, South Africa and the Americas. If you’ve read my guides in Barcelona by the Glass (to be drastically improved in 2019!) , you’ll have discovered 2 of the best shops to find these wines already, and I’ll be adding more as time goes on.

Now, it’s true that some of these wines are naturally going to be more expensive than their Spanish equivalents. Spain is still exporting a good 70% of all the wine it makes and despite a slight resurgence in wine consumption in 2017, we still have a lot more wine than we really need. Trying to introduce small quantities of wines from other countries into the market is always going to be a niche interest, and one that you have to pay a slight premium for. However, a silver lining of this is that many wines can be found from classic producers, with bottle age, as the wines were initially passed over and subsequently forgotten about. I bought a lot of older Australian, South African and particularly New Zealand wines this way in the last few years, whereas the new vintages disappear in a matter of a month or two in more mature markets.

So, it came as no surprise when I found some older Crozes-Hermitage knocking around in the corner of Vila Viniteca the other day, from my favourite producer of the region, albeit from a weak vintage in the Northern Rhone. Alain Graillot has been making excellent wine here since 1985 and is perhaps the most celebrated producer in Crozes-Hermitage; the flatter, richer soils around the hill of Hermitage itself. Alain owns some 20 hectares of vineyards on unusually rocky soil, closer in style to some vineyards of the Southern Rhone than his neighbours, with many vines over 30 years old. He works his vineyards organically and employs a very old-fashioned fermentation process; 100% whole-bunch in concrete and then aged in 1-3 year old oak barrels, mostly bought from Burgundy. For me, his wines opitimise what Croze-Hermitage is all about; savoury, smoky, earthy wines with plenty of zip yet soft enough tannins to be enjoyed in youth. However, a little cellaring will reward the patient and I can only imagine that the better vintages from 2000-2010 must be glorious right now!

Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 2008
100% Syrah from Alain Graillot’s estate, organically farmed and from vines up to 30 years old. 100% whole-bunch fermentation in concrete vats, partially aged in 1-3 year old Burgundian casks. Minimal sulphur additions. 12.5% ABV

This is a great example of how even poorer vintages can be navigated by the best producers. Even without the lovely, garnet colour, you’d know this was a mature wine by the sheer complexity of the nose. Ripe, slightly dried brambly fruits, plums and a touch of prune is met by smoked meat, black pepper, leather, dried violets and still a herbal, stemmy freshness from the whole-bunch fermentation. The acidity is still on the high side and I imagine this must have been a little imbalanced in youth, although it’s come together nicely now, and a of volatile acidity really lifts some of the dark, smoky flavours up, into a long finish. Lovely, mature Crozes-Hermitage. Drink it up if you have any, as it’s unlikely to get better than this! 92Pts

Purchased from Vila Viniteca for €28