Marques de Rojas: a super bargain from Spain
By John Schreiner
December 14, 2005
One of the most over-used phrases in the wine world is “over deliver.” Yet it is exactly the term to describe a recently-listed red wine, Marques de Rojas, from Bodegas Piqueras in Spain.
The wine is only $10 a bottle but it tastes like twice the price. It is a dark, robust red, with aromas of leather and prunes, flavours of pepper and black cherry and a youthful acidity on the finish. Unoaked, this wine, made solely from Grenache grapes, is a satisfying mouthful of ripe fruit. It has the guts and the character to handle many hearty dishes. I have several great stew recipes mind for subsequent bottles.
The wine is also the muscular little brother of a family of wines in British Columbia and various other Canadian markets, for Canada is the largest export market for this winery.
The more familiar label is Castillo de Almansa ($12.99 in B.C.). Others are Almansa Reserva Terra Grande ($13.99) and Castillo de Almansa Selección ($22.99).
The difference among the various wines in the Piqueras family involves both grape varieties and oak treatment. The Castillo de Almansa is made with Garnacha (Grenache), Monastrell and Tempranillo. Terra Grande has Monastrell, Tempranillo and Syrah while Selección has the three found in Almansa plus Syrah.
Bodegas Piqueras was “discovered” some years ago by a small Vancouver wine agency called Forbes Fraser (after Jim Forbes, then a commerce professor at the University of British Columbia, and Scott Fraser, his star student). This agency built its business initially on digging out interesting Spanish wineries. Piqueras was one of these.
The winery dates from 1915. It began bottling wines under its own label in 1961 and began to export only in 1987. The winemaker and owner is Juan Pablo Bonete, son of the founder. It is a medium-sized producer, with 190 hectares of its own vineyard and another 500 hectares contracted from growers. Piqueras moved into a modern new winery three years ago.
Today, after several corporate changes, the Forbes Fraser agency is Grady Wine Marketing. Formerly part of Cascadia Brands Inc., it became a subsidiary of Andrés Wines Ltd. in May when Andrés took over Cascadia. The agency has been left with a good deal of autonomy and it continues to search out good imported wines.
The Marques de Rojas brand was developed for this market at the suggestion of Peter Lindenlaub, who now runs Grady. (Forbes has retired and Fraser is an Andrés vice-president.) Lindenlaub tasted the wine during a recent trip to Spain and had the same “wow” reaction that I had.
In Spain, the wine is sold as Castillo de Almansa Colección. Lindenlaub thought it needed a different label in this market so that it would stand apart from the rest of the family. So he rifled through some of the winery’s old labels until he hit on a rather baroque label from 1954. The label includes a pair of crests and a reproduction of the Almansa castle, which is used these days as a public facility.
The name, De Rojas, dips into another bit of Spanish history. Almansa in south eastern Spain was a Republican area during the civil war. The women who joined the Republican cause were known as Las Rojas. This is recounted on the back label of the wine. This is a deft touch that helps the wine stand out – but it is the excellent value that really makes this wine stand out.
goodgrog@shaw.ca
|
