I like climate-based cooking. Lighter dishes and salads in
spring, cold soups and garden-laced goodness in summer, grilling in autumn,
soups and stews in winter – you get the idea. The wacky weather we’ve had has
occasionally left me flatfooted.
I find it hard to plan a menu when the temperature’s swinging 40 degrees from
day to day, paired with the occasional severe thunderstorm. (And no frickin’
snow.)
Unpredictability requires flexibility, which means I have a
perfect excuse to open some Spanish reds. I’ve always thought they were great
food wines. They’re usually big enough to handle chops and steaks, but they
have enough subtlety to go with roasted or spiced chicken and some vegetarian
dishes.
Unfortunately, some Spanish winemakers have become victims
of their own success – especially in Rioja, the best known of the regions. Don’t
get me wrong, there
are a lot of good wines from Rioja, but many winemakers have gone the route of
California Zinfandels (and many cabernets) in the 90’s and early oughts – high
oak, in-your-face extracted flavors with monstrously high levels of alcohol.
There’s nothing wrong with wines like that if you’re grilling ribs, but they’re
not really for sipping and can overload a lot of foods. Luckily for us, there are
plenty of Spanish reds out there which aren’t
replications of those kind of fruit bombs. My choice for this stretch of menus
is Jumilla.
Jumilla (pronounced who-MEE-yuh) is a fairly mountainous region
in the southeast corner of Spain, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
Weatherwise, Jumilla can be a blast furnace. The constant winds from the sea do
nothing to cool things down. The average high temperature in the summer months
is north of 90 degrees (over 110 is not uncommon) with sharply cooler nights
and almost no rainfall. This climatic arrangement is a little slice of heaven
for wine grapes.
Red wine is Jumilla’s calling card. Jumilla reds are largely made from the
Monastrell grape. Never heard of Monastrell? It’s known more widely as
Mourvedre – a grape widely grown in France, especially in the Rhone valley.
Also, as in the Rhone, Monastrell is sometimes blended with Garnacha (Grenache).
Left to its own devices, Monastrell produces powerfully fruity, tannic, peppery
wines, reminiscent of Zinfandel – especially since the alcohol content is
usually north of 15%.
Where Jumilla differs from the cinder block-like subtlety of
Zinfandel is in how well it pairs with food. Wines this strong aren’t normally
considered flexible food wines, but a skilled winemaker can cool some of the
harsh, hot edge Monastrell can bring to the table. The basic Naked Vine pairing
rule certainly holds in Jumilla – people
make wine to go with food they regularly eat. Jumilla is in the Murcia
region of Spain, known as the “fruit and vegetable garden of Europe.” Thirteen
percent of all vegetables grown in Europe come from Murcia. Pork and chicken
are very common meats, and the proximity to the Mediterranean allows for a fair
amount of fish. Paellas and stews are extremely common, as are salads and a
number of gouda-ish cheeses. With a potential tapas menu that broad, a one-note
wine wouldn’t work well.
The next night, we cracked a couple of others:
Bodegas Juan Gil
“Wrongo Dongo” 2010 Jumilla ($9) – This is the Juan Gil “second label”
wine. They’ve changed the label recently – from a confused-looking man to a
geometric pattern that reminds me of a Roach t-shirt iron-on. At first sniff, I
would have mistaken it for a cabernet. The wine holds a pronounced note of
vanilla on the nose along with some leather and mild fruit. My first sips were
intensely tannic, but like its slightly more expensive cousin, it eases back a bit
into cherries and leather. The finish is more tannic than the other Juan Gil,
also.
Bodegas Luzon 2008
Altos de la Luzon Jumilla ($14) – Although this wine starts you with a
Wrongo Dongo-esque vanilla blast, it’s a much more subtle wine all in all. The
vanilla is underlain with some floral scents (lavender?) and blackberry. The
tannins are much tamer – so much tamer, in fact, the fruit ends up overwhelming
the tannin a bit initially. Like the others, it balances out after a little bit
of air. As for which is the better wine, it depends on your taste – if you like
drier, stronger wines, the Wrongo Dongo is for you. If you want more fruit, go
with the Luzon.
The following night, we had the remainder of these two wines
(it’s true -- we didn’t finish either bottle) with chicken breasts braised in a
dried fruit and olive sauce with some saffron rice. The Altos, after a day
open, had lost much of its complexity. It wasn’t great on its own and was
nondescript with the food. The Wrongo Dongo held onto much of its character
(since it was a simpler wine to begin with) and was much tastier with the
assembled plate.
Summing up -- Jumilla – it’s wine for people who like big
reds but have a varied food palate. I think these are some of the most flexible
“big reds” you’ll encounter. Definitely worth a try.
