Innehållsförteckning för April-June 2016 från Selectus Wines

DIVERSE PLACES, DIVERSE WINES In this issue, we will be taking a look at a small “great” Champagne house. The Chiquet brothers produce champagnes that have gained worldwide recognition, by taking a very special approach to winemaking and respecting certain criteria, which, as they put it, are “to their taste”. If you have not yet tried their champagnes, you should... they will not disappoint! Andorra is an unknown entity in the wine world. This “principality” nestled between Spain and France has seen its ups and downs over the years and they have had to work hard to get to where they are today. Our contributor, Pedro Ballesteros MW, introduces us to some wonderful scenery and wines that really should be tried in order to appreciate the patience of those producers…

Cuvée nº 738 - BASE WINE / VINO BASE 2010 18% PINOT NOIR, 21% MEUNIER AND THE BALANCE CHARDONNAY. The most vinous and energetic of the champagnes, as well as being the most discreet, fine and fresh. 18% PINOT NOIR, 21% MEUNIER Y EL RESTO CHARDONNAY. Es el vino más vino, el más enérgico, y al mismo tiempo el más discreto, fino y fresco. Cuvée nº 737 - BASE WINE / VINO BASE 2009 27% PINOT NOIR, 26% MEUNIER AND 47% CHARDONNAY. A fuller-bodied champagne. 27% PINOT NOIR, 26% MEUNIER Y 47% CHARDONNAY. Es el vino más vino, el más enérgico, y al mismo tiempo el más discreto, fino y fresco. Cuvée nº 736 - BASE WINE / VINO BASE 2008 29% PINOT NOIR, 18% MEUNIER AND 47% CHARDONNAY. A…

Four wineries, four styles, many wines, few bottles, perhaps a total of ten thousand throughout the Principality. A caprice for the wine taster, an opportunity for the country to showcase the products of its land, a dream for four wine-loving families, and warm appreciation from me. May they continue to push ahead creating Andorra, the wine country. Cuatro casas, cuatro estilos, muchosvinos, pocas botellas, quizás diez mil en todo el Principado. Un capricho de degustador, una oportunidad para el país, que muestra los productos de su tierra, un sueño para cuatro familias llenas de entusiasmo y amor, un reconocimiento cálido por mi parte. Que sigan adelante, haciendo Andorra.…

JOAN ARBOIX ROURA Mallorca, 1981 @Joanet112 Professional sommelier since 2006, he began his career as a sommelier at the Moo restaurant (1* Michelin) in Barcelona. He has also worked for the Ritz Carlton in Spain and Chile as a sommelier and maître d’. He currently works at the Andreu Genestra (1* Michelin) restaurant in Mallorca. Balearic Islands Sommelier Champion 2008. Sumiller profesional desde el año 2006. Trabajó como sumiller en el restaurante MOO de Barcelona (1*Michelin). Ha trabajado para Ritz Carlton en España y Chile como Sumiller y Jefe de Sala. Actualmente en el restaurante Andreu Genestra (1*Michelin) en Mallorca. Campeón de Sommeliers de les Illes Balears en 2008. ANNA VICENS Girona, 1973 @annavicens Sumiller profesional desde 1997. Actualmente es la Presidenta de la Asociación Catalana de Sumillers.Forma parte del…

Famous around the world for over two centuries, Veuve Clicquot is one of the great champagne houses whose exciting history has made it one of the most iconic Champagne brands around. It is known for its highly distinctive yellow label, for the personage of Madame Clicquot who, with great grit and determination, made the champagne house what it is today, and of course for the quality of its cuvées that are today synonymous with quality and luxury. It has been part of the French group, LVMH, since 1986. LVMH has continued to build the brand with great efficiency, constantly innovating and careful to maintain the champagnes’ very high standards of quality. Veuve Clicquot es una de las grandes casas de champgne del territorio reconocida mundialmente desde hace más dos siglos,…

Charles Tanqueray’s brand continues to surprise the world of high-end gins, this time with a tribute to its origins. It has revived the original 1880 recipe that brought the company great fame and named it after the London borough where the Tanquerays set up their distillery in 1830. This Gin is distilled only once in order to preserve the liveliness and purity of the juniper and the grain base from which it is made, but this time, the brand’s classic botanicals are accompanied by cassia bark and angelica. The result is a special edition of only 100,000 bottles for the world market, containing the pure essence of the origin of English Dry Gin of the mid-19th century. It offers us a new style, allowing us to voyage back in time…

When Dani Casas decided to create his own gin in 2014, he was very clear about what the concept would be: a gin closely tied to its land, its environment, its people and his passions. After numerous experiments with natural macerations of botanicals, which Casas personally picked by hand, Harbour Gin was born in the geographic location indicated by its coordinates: 40º48’N, the lighthouse on the Punta del Fangar, in Spain’s Ebro Delta natural park. Using meticulous, craft methodology, Dani Casas has managed to combine the Delta landscape and his passion for the sea in a gin distilled in 100 litre copper stills and containing natural native botanicals such as sea rocket, glasswort and sea fennel, which together with the gin’s emerald-turquoise hue, transport you to the protected salty beaches…

Oriol Artigas, La Prats 2014. Alella, without D.O. 11.5%. A multi-varietal wine from a single vineyard: Subirat Parent, Garnacha Blanca, Moscatel, Beier, Sant Jaume, Macabeo, Pansa Blanca, Sumoll... La Prats (also known as la Barbassa) is an emblematic vineyard in the Alella area (Vilassar de Dalt) and connects our contemporary world with a tradition implanted by the Romans. It is no coincidence that the vineyard, planted in 1913, with an average age of the vines of about 65 years (of course, some are dead and have to be replaced...), caught the eye of Oriol Artigas. Artigas, a quiet, knowledgeable man of ancient learning, understands the land and knows that wine is born to speak of its terroir and its grapes with discretion. His aim was to revive the vineyard, to…

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The history of this winery on the Pazo Barrantes estate in the Salnés Valley in Galicia began in the early 90’s when the Creixell family (Marqués de Murrieta in Rioja) started making a white wine from the 12 hectares of vineyards that surround the majestic construction dating from 1511. At this beautiful location, on the banks of the River Umia, the winery set about making quality Albariños in the spirit that led them to great success in their centenary Rioja winery. Against this background, and after numerous trials overseen by María Vargas, they have been able to produce two serious, delicious white wines which, due to their independence, do not appear to be just the products from a subsidiary winery, but products from a winery to watch in future. El…

Few people would associate Andorra with wine. And yet, it would seem more than natural that the Principality would produce wine, if you consider some of the conditions for quality wine production. First of all there is the latitude. Andorra is famous for its snow and cold, but it lies at a much lower latitude than Switzerland, a country known for its good white and red wines, among other things. Andorra is situated, in fact, on the same latitude as Tuscany which produces Chianti and Brunello. Poca gente asocia Andorra con el vino. Y, sin embargo, parecería más que natural que se produzca vino en el Principado, basta recordar algunas condiciones para el vino de calidad. Ante todo la latitud. Andorra es famosa por sus nieves y fríos, pero su…

Termanthia is the jewel in the crown of Numanthia, which gets its name from the city of Numancia, famous for its heroic resistance to Roman attacks El nombre de la bodega le viene de la ciudad de Numancia, famosa por su heroica resistencia a los ataques romanos  A few of us were lucky enough to participate in an unprecedented vertical tasting of Termanthia organised by the director of Bodegas Numanthia, Lucas Löwi. Termanthia is the jewel in the crown of Numanthia, which gets its name from the city of Numancia, famous for its heroic resistance to Roman attacks. Since 2008, Bodegas Numanthia has been owned by the French group, LVMH, the biggest luxury goods group in the world. LVMH was looking to invest in emerging Spanish wine regions with high…

With its long wine-growing tradition spanning 20 generations, Raventós i Blanc is one of the reference wineries in Catalonia. Back in the 19th century, it was Raventós i Blanc who defined the holy trilogy of Macabeo, Xarel·lo and Parellada as the coupage at the heart of cava, which has remained unchanged to this day. Today the winery is run by Pepe Raventós. Pepe is from the generation which, without forsaking any of its tradition, has strengthened the winery’s quality roots, concentrating on a specific geographic area which defines its identity perfectly. This identity, they argued, had become somewhat diluted as the Cava D.O. covers too large an area. In 2012, they therefore took the decision to no longer be a part of it and to set off in a new…

GIN THE MOST COVETED OF MEDICINES The story begins deep in the cellars of Dutch monasteries, when monks, in their tireless attempts to discover the essence of the earth and the panacea for all diseases, infused a neutral spirit with fresh juniper berries to impart their medicinal properties to the alcohol, and people started talking about Genever (Dutch for Juniper) as being a natural remedy to the most terrible diseases of the day. The beverage soon achieved fame and social acceptance among the Dutch population, who adopted it as an after-dinner medicinal drink. However, it took its toll on society as levels of alcoholism increased dramatically. It was at around this time that the first bottled brands of Genever appeared on the market. Later Genever would be studied and endorsed…

Within the drinks industry, there is a spirits producer who can boast his own farm and family, craft production process and his name is William Chase, a potato grower in England who realized that there was a more profitable way of making a living by distilling his harvest and creating a high-quality vodka. His fame grew and he went on to create the spirit that made him famous in Spain, his potato-based gin distilled in copper stills. His gin is now available in a new style, more rooted in English tradition, Extra Dry Gin. The new gin also comes with a change of image as the usual stylized bottle has converted to a shorter, fatter shape reflecting the more classic image of the traditional dry gins. Produced with 10 natural…