Wine of the Week
Líbero 2018 - Bodegas Contreras Ruiz
D.O. Condado de Huelva
Varieties - 50% Zalema, 50% Listán del Condado
ABV - 13%
€16,30 from Bodeboca
This week I take a further look at wines made with the indigenous Zalema variety in the province of Huelva in Andalucía.
Líbero is a wine made at the family-owned bodega Contreras Ruiz in the town of Rociana Del Condado.
Contreras Ruiz describe their wines as “vinos atlánticos del sur” (Atlantic wines from the south). “Atlantic wine” is a term often used to describe wines in Galicia. But this is an entirely accurate description as the grapes used to make Líbero come from 50-year-old vines in a finca in the Donaña National Park, a natural reserve of marshes, streams and sand dunes that form the delta of the Guadalquivir River as it flows in to the Atlantic Ocean.
Doñana has one of the few remaining colonies of the endangered Iberian lynx and a captive breeding programme in the park has significantly increased its population. Why mention this on a wine blog? Well, the cork oak forests of south-west Spain and Portugal are the natural habitat of the Iberian lynx and many other mammals and birds. Buying wine with natural corks is one way to help to preserve the diversity of species in these areas.
Líbero isn’t a wine that’s easy to find. It’s not currently featured on the bodega’s website, and the most recent añada available is from 2019.
Like many bodegas in the Condado de Huelva, Contreras Ruiz are committed to Zalema as a variety that not only expresses the essence of the vineyard’s terroir, but which also has the capacity for greater complexity when aged.
The bodega told me that while Líbero is normally 100% Zalema, in the 2018 añada it was made with 50% Listán del Condado, a variety related to Palomino Fino.
The grapes are harvested manually after a rigorous field selection. Whole bunches are fermented in stainless steel tanks, followed by biological ageing on its lees and under flor for five months in new French oak barrels.
This was a wine that played around with my palate and taste memories. It slightly resembled a memorable fino en rama from Montilla-Moriles that I tasted in an old bar in Córdoba last year. Yet it’s quite distinct from the biologically-aged finos and manzanillas from Montilla and the Marco de Jerez.
Líbero has a medium amber colour. The nose has notes of unripe apple, as well as subtle aromas of dried stone fruit, ripe banana and bitter orange.
On the palate it is dry, full-bodied, slightly oily and tangy with hints of minerals and citrus. The finish is medium length with some salinity.
Bodegas Contreras Ruiz also make a young, aromatic 100% Zalema, Viña Barredero (12%, pictured below), and a sparking Zalema, Lumé Brut (11.5%). Both are good introductions to the variety.
