Tasting Tardana, Gracias to Gratias. Better Late Than Never
Bodegas Gratias was founded in 2007 in the village of Casas-Ibañez in the province of Albacete by two couples, José & Silvia and Iván & Ana. All four are enologists. It´s clear from speaking to Silvia that there´s not just a passion for winemaking in this project but also a real desire to preserve the past. Many of the vines in the 16 hectares they work were long ago abandoned and identifying the varieties they found became a labour of love. There´s a mixture of field blends here, reminiscent of Portuguese vineyards, and also single-variety plots. Quite how many varieties they have at their disposal is not really known but it numbers double figures for sure. There´s a long ripening season with so many varieties so picking the grapes can start in August and easily finish in November and it must be one of the few parts of the world where a white variety is picked long after the reds.
There are 6 wines in total tasted so we´ll be putting the tasting notes in two separate articles. The bodega falls into the Manchuela DO by location but, at least for the foreseeable future, they prefer to work outside the DO. The wines were bought through the Bodeboca website.
¿Y tú, de quién eres?
2020 – 12.5% - €8.75
This wine was my introduction to the bodega when it was served to me in the excellent El Galgo restaurant in Elche around 4 years ago. It´s such a welcoming wine. From the label showing the bodegas “mecenas” or patrons to the crunchy red fruit that hits you immediately upon opening this wine says much about the project; collaboration, hard work and the ambition to create wines that are at once honest but never dull. Starting out as a crowdfunding project to recover various forgotten local varieties the wine, which includes up to ten different varieties, has become the face of the bodega. Aside from the now well-known Bobal, this wine contains the white variety Marisancho (more commonly known as Albillo) and myriad red varieties such as Moravia Agria and the wonderfully named Teta de Vaca. Pull the udder one, I hear you say! Following full bunch fermentation it is aged for 4 months in a combination of inox, clay tinajas and oak. The result is a very primary, fluid, fruity red that makes for a delicious summer wine slightly chilled.
Terra
2019 – 12.5% - €21.75
A revelation! Made from Tardana, a little known late-ripening local white variety, this wine is made in the orange wine or brisado style. Many orange wines I´ve tried rarely have any orange notes but this is a welcome exception. Along with the almost ever-present apricot notes in Spanish brisado this has ripe mandarin too. The grapes come from a small parcela on north-facing slopes in the village of Villatoya. Tardana is often picked as late as November, hence the name as “tarde” means late in Spanish. After a period of skin-contact the wine is aged in clay tinajas. There´s some serious grip here with the typical gritty tannins from ageing in clay. It´s a great gastronomic wine. My only complaint was that our AirBnB host at the time didn´t have wine glasses but does orange wine need great stemware? I´m not sure it does. There were only 200 bottles of the ´19 but I´m told by Silvia that there will be less Sol and more Terra in future years. I´ll drink to that!
Sol
2020 – 12% - €11.75
This is the bodega´s entry level Tardana. It comes from the same area as Terra along with grapes from chalky soil around Cilanco, next to the Cabriel rivier. It´s pretty austere. Grassy notes dominate along with a touch of pear. This isn´t a variety known for its acidity so don´t go expecting that bolt of lightning on the palate that certain Albariño can provide. If there´s one thing that seems to unite Valencia´s white varieties (Merseguera being another) it´s often a lack of bite on the palate. Perhaps we´ll see Tardana being increasingly made into skin-contact wines which seems to be where its real potential lies.