Wines of Castilla-La Mancha US Tour 2014

Yesterday, February 25th, we had the delightful opportunity to attend a presentation of “Wines from Castilla-La Mancha” at the Marriott in downtown Washington DC.

The event began with an hour-long session on the Spanish wines from Castilla-La Mancha. The region is in the central part of Spain and located about 36 miles south of Madrid.

Several people from the Spanish Castilla-La Mancha region were there including Maria Luisa Soriano Minister of Agriculture of Castilla-La Mancha. She noted that they are trying to raise the consciousness of the CLM region. Currently vineyards cover 430,000 hectares and the region has more than 400 wineries, Organic vineyards occupy 118,000 acres. Spanish wine (45.5 percent of it) is widely exported. Even so Castilla-La Mancha is focused on increasing their exports to other countries including the United States.

Geralyn Brostrom President Vindeavour, CWE gave an overview of the region that included:

• South of the Castilian plateau
• Located at 2,000 plus feet elevation
• Soil is well-drained mix of sand, gravel and rocky soil
• Average rainfall is 12 inches; vineyards are dry-farmed
• Organized viticulture since the time of the Romans
• Cistercian monks helped with the grape culture

Miguel Cervantes who shares the same last name as the author of Don Quixote spoke about Don Quixote. He mentioned how the windmills looked like giants with long arms and Don Quixote tried to fight them. Symbolically Don Quixote fights against the things that are obstacles.

After the speakers, we tasted six Castilla-La Mancha wines and winemakers and importers provided a description. Of the six wineries one is focused on organic and biodynamic wines. Dominio de Punctum Organic & Biodynamic Wines offered a tasting of the FINCA FABIAN Tempranillo. This wine was 100 percent Tempranillo and had 13.5 percent alc. This dark purple wine with a light pink rim was dry and offered a fruity aroma and taste of dark fruits including cherries. The finish had mild tannins and fruit yielded to a touch of crispness on the aftertaste.

Later I’ll be writing more about the wines we tasted from Castilla-La Mancha and include one of my top ten favorite sweet wines.

Cheers!

Kathy