A visit to the IV Encuentro Vitivinícola de Huelva
Earlier this month I travelled to the charming town of La Palma del Condado in the province of Huelva. The occasion was the IV Encuentro Vitivinícola, an annual event organised by the Amigos del Vino del Condado de Huelva association.
La Palma is one of 18 municipalities in the Denominación de Origen Protegida Condado de Huelva.
Each year the association invites another Spanish wine region to participate in the Encuentro Vitivinícola. In previous years bodegas from Bierzo and Somontano have taken part. This year several wine producers from Extremadura were present alongside winemakers from Huelva (including vineyards and pagos outside the DO).
I was welcomed by Manuel Jesús Lopez Robledo, the spokesman for the association. He explained that its objective was to promote the wines of Huelva, develop wine culture and wine tourism, and nurture the local wine industry as an economic driver for communities in the province. The Encuentro is an opportunity for both long-established bodegas as well as a new generation of winemakers to showcase their wines.
DO Condado de Huelva
Although grape growing had been established in this region since ancient times, its golden age was in the 14th and 15th centuries, with wines being exported to England and the Netherlands through the ports of Moguer and Palos de la Frontera. Exports to the Americas were also important and reached a peak in the 16th century.
The arrival of phylloxera in the late 19th century led to a period of decline and loss of prestige, although the main white grape variety in the area, Zalema, remained resistant to the blight.
The Condado de Huelva offers good conditions for vine growing: mild winters and springs with long, warm summers as well as a clear Atlantic influence.
I confess that before this visit my experience of Condado wines was somewhat limited (despite living in Huelva province), although I have always found the young, fruity Zalema white wines honest and enjoyable.
As well as blancos made with Zalema and other varieties, bodegas in the Condado are making red and rosé wines, sweet and liqueur wines, and fortified wines such as Condado pálido or fino, amontillado, oloroso and palo cortado made in the same stacked barrel criadera-solera system used in the Marco de Jerez.
The most original local product is Vino Naranja, an aromatised wine created by macerating dried Seville orange peels in wine alcohol for several months before the solution is added to a sweet Zalema or Pedro Ximénez base wine and then aged in oak barrels for a minimum of two years. A superb example to try is S’Naranja from Bodegas Sauci.
At the Encuentro Vitivinícola I met winemakers committed to improvement and innovation, proud of their wines and keen for them to be more widely known.
Some winemakers are recovering older, native varieties such as Listán del Condado (also known as Listán de Huelva), which is related to Palomino Fino but recently confirmed as a distinct variety.
The church of La Palma
Here are short profiles of some of the Huelva winemakers I met and the wines they had on display.
Bodegas Vega Menacho
Owner Juan Vega Menacho describes himself as a bodeguero artesano and vitivinicultor (someone who cultivates vines to produce their own wine).
The El Pedgregal finca, where he grows the Zalema variety, has chalky albariza soil and is situated in one of the highest parts of La Palma.
Juan explained his vision: “Zalema has many advantages. It is a very productive variety but has often been badly treated and poorly cared for, including the overuse of chemicals and pesticides. But if Zalema is looked after well it can produce very aromatic wines. At this bodega we aim to do new things.”
Juan Menacho
The bodega’s four wines are all blancos secos.
Viña Pedregal (12%): A basic mosto fermentado to be drunk young.
Vega Moro (13%): A dry, fruity white wine
Clementa (13%): A wine that is fermented in stainless steel tanks and then aged for three months in American oak casks.
I tasted the Vega Menacho Edición Limitada (13%): A wine fermented in barrica and then aged for 10 months. Only 1000 bottles are made.
Light gold in colour, with some oxidation from its ageing. An attractive wine with herbal aromas, that shows the ageing potential of Zalema.
Bodegas M.A.M.
Bodegas M.A.M is a relatively new project that builds on the acquisition of one of the oldest bodegas in La Palma, Bodegas Infante.
Co-owner and winemaker Manuel Astasio, who is also the president of the Amigos del Vino del Condado de Huelva association, aims to maintain the old soleras of Bodegas Infante with their Reserva and Gran Reserva brandy and rum, as well as create innovative new wines with grapes other than Zalema.
The Albaleia (12%) is an example of their outlook: the first monovarietal Colombard made in in the area using a grape with significantly higher acidity than Zalema.
A wine with a greenish hue and a nose of tropical fruit and delicate citrus, it displays a refreshing acidity from its early harvest.
Manuel Astasio
The Innocence Barrica blanco (10%) is another 100% Colombard monovarietal. After an initial fermentation in stainless steel tanks, it undergoes a second fermentation on its lees in new French oak barrels for three months. A slightly more complex wine than the Albaleia with notes of toastiness and vanilla.
Bodegas Parralo
In Andévalo Sur region of Huelva, west of the Condado and close to the Portuguese border, lies the small town of Villanueva de los Castillejos. On land transformed from oak and cork dehesa, Juan José Gallardo, his son Juan Gallardo Parralo and brother Miguel Ángel, grow more than a dozen crops. Olive groves mingle with varieties of citrus fruits, including oranges, tangerines and lemons, almond, pistachio and walnut trees, and vineyards.
The farm respects the contours of the natural landscape of the Andévalo, with its natural reservoirs and insects that act as natural pesticides.
Three red grape varieties have been planted on the finca: Tempranillo, Graciano and Cabernet Franc. In 2020 the family created nine different red wines from seven separate fermentations: a mixture of monovarietals and coupages.
I tasted the 100% Graciano (15.5%), aged for 15 months in new American oak. It was full, broad and concentrated. One of the best wines I tried at the event.
Juan Gallardo Parralo
Bodegas y Viñedos Garay
“We are always looking to do something different”, says Mario Garay. “I always heard negative things about Zalema, about it not being valued at all. We aim to take out everything from Zalema that it is capable of. It’s a variety with enormous potential; it’s what we have in Huelva and it’s well-adapted to the soils and climate. With oxidative crianza, Zalema is able to reach its fullest expression.”
Bodegas Garay, located in one of the highest parts of the region at 150m, is producing wines that are authentic expressions of the Condado terroir. The bodega was the first in the region to be certified as organic. Plant cover around the 60-year-old Zalema vines preserves humidity and prevents erosion. All work in the vineyard is done by hand, including pruning, thinning vegetation and harvesting. There is no mechanisation because of the density of the vines.
Since 2013, when Mario and his wife Ana González started to make wine, annual production has now risen to 12,000 bottles. 70% of the production is exported to markets outside Spain.
I tasted four of the Garay wines.
Garay Bleu (12.5%): A 100% completely natural Zalema from old vines with no pesticide treatments. Natural clarification and no filtration. Seven months of crianza in used French oak. Golden colour with a citrus and pear nose. Fuller, more complex and saline on the palate compared with most joven Zalema blancos.
Garay Ancestral (12%): 100% Zalema harvested early to preserve acidity. An initial fermentation with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel deposits, followed by 10 to 12 days of further fermentation in the bottle. This is Huelva’s own ‘méthode ancestrale’ wine, or Pét-Nat if you prefer. Golden-orange colour and slightly cloudy. Nose of bread and tropical fruit. Fresh, yeasty and complex in the mouth with a soft fizz. Only 1500 half bottles made.
Garay Prásino (13.5%): 100% Listán de Condado from 60-year-old vines. Fermented in stainless steel tanks with its own yeasts, followed by one month in French oak casks. No sulphites used and bottled without filtration. Yellow appearance, with citrus and flowers on the nose. Refreshing acidity on the palate. 800 bottles made.
Garay Flor de Prásino (14%): 100% Listán del Condado from 55-year-old vines. After de-stemming and pressing, the mosto is fermented in stainless steel followed by 31 months of crianza under flor in American oak barrels. At different times of the year the flor weakens and dies, and then grows again; so this is a wine with periods of both biological and oxidative ageing. A very limited edition of 226 bottles; I am the proud owner of bottle number 200!
Mario Garay
Golden yellow colour, similar to a Manzanilla Pasada. On the nose there is peach and greengage. Fresh, balanced acidity and notes of yeast in the mouth. I tasted this at the end of a long session and will come back to it again with a proper review for Spanish Wine Collective readers.