2001 RAIMAT TEMPRANILLO

Introduction

In a comment back in April, my old friend Pat Cooper had recommended that I try a Tempranillo. I actually did try it back in May, but am just now getting to discuss it. I was excited to try it not only because Pat recommended it (and he knows what he is talking about!), but because I had not heard of it before and I was anxious to try something new.

I found this bottle in the liquor store that I go to most often. At the time, it was only Tempranillo I saw in the store. I paid $13.99 for a 750 milliliter bottle (definitely in the higher end of my range as I like to pay about that for a 1.5 liter bottle. However, I have found, since beginning this blog, to experiment a bit, I do need to be a bit more flexible on price. The wine has the D.O designation, which is Denominacion de Origen. This is roughly Spain’s equivalent of the DOC designation in Italy.

Wine Impressions

The bottle said that this wine had a “Ruby red color with purple reflections.” It was certainly true as its color was very enticing. It also had a strong, pleasant aroma. Its taste was excellent and not too sweet.

The bottle has a European look. It had a natural cork. It did seem to me that the last glass from the bottle, which had been sitting opened for several days, seemed a bit bitter. It has inspired me to look at alternative closures for opened bottles that may help preserve their taste better than just sticking the cork back in. I have seen systems that let you pump out the air and other systems with which you can inject nitrogen into the bottle. It would seem to me that the one you pump the air out of would be better for when you need to reopen the bottle several times over several days (as is usually the case for me) whereas the nitrogen-injecting one may be better for one reopening that would occur some time after the initial opening. I hope to try the air-pumping one shortly and will report my results.

The Company: Raimat

I found the company to be very interesting. Its web site has much interesting information. The company is apparently a very modern one that places a strong emphasis on research and development and innovation.

Raimat was founded in 1918, after its founders had purchased 3200 hectares of barren land in 1914 in northeast Spain in the Costers del Segre wine region. The land was transformed into a productive vineyard and the winery was built by a modernist architect (Rubio I Bellver).

In 1988, the winery underwent a major expansion and renovation. A small hill representing tons of earth was removed and a modern winery constructed in that location and the earth was replaced over the winery. The hill now looks much as it did and the winery has excellent control over the humidity, temperature and light required at each stage of wine production.

The company has an extensive research and development program involving about 20 projects. Among these are water-efficient irrigation systems, Partial Root Drying (an Australian method) irrigation, the use of satellite imagery and Global Positioning Systems in vineyard management, the installation of weather stations throughout the vineyards to ascertain the conditions and times of year when outbreaks of disease are most likely to occur, innovative pest management techniques to minimize pesticide use. The company uses other innovations related to pruning, training vines for optimum sun exposure and harvesting (which it does by machine at night and gets the grapes to the winery within 10-15 minutes).

The Region: Costers Del Segre

This wine is from the Costers Del Segre region of Spain. It is one of 65 wine appellations in Spain. According to Oz Clarke’s Encyclopedia of Wine, the DO designation was declared for Costers Del Segre in 1988.

Costers Del Segre is part of Catalonia, which is located in the northeast corner of Spain along the border with France. Catalonia is one of 17 autonomous communities of Spain, according to Wikipedia. Its capital is Barcelona, a city which I have had the good fortune to visit way back in 1975 when Generallisimo Francisco Franco was still in control of Spain. Its population is 6.8 million.

Catalonia has a significant separatist movement. It was recognized as a nationality in the Catalan Statute of Autonomy enacted in 1979 following the the adoption of the Constitution of Spain in 1978. As recently as June 18, 2006, Catalonia adopted a new Statute of Autonomy which includes a provision defining Catalonia as a nation (Wikipedia). Annother interesting fact, Catalonia recently enacted a ban on bull-fighting.

Costers Del Segres derives its name from the Segres River, which flows from the Pyrenees along the French border parallel to the coast, but inland. Raimat is located northwest of the city of Lleida.

WINE AND GLOBAL WARMING

If you have not yet been alarmed by the prospect of global warming (or climate change), an article in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimates that if climate change proceeds as projected, wine growing regions will be reduced by 80% by the year 2100. Southern Spain is already being affected. Places like Napa and southern France are imperiled. In fact, according to one article, some think Napa is already too hot for premium grapes. The temperature has risen 5 degrees in Napa over the past 75 years and if it had not already been planted with vineyards, one expert would advise people not to plant one now. Often grapes must be harvested at night when it is cooler. Of course, there are always positive and negative impacts from most events. Many wine regions have been producing better grapes in recent years because of warmer temperatures, but that is likely to be short-lived. England now has many wineries for the first time since the 1300's due to the warming. If Napa goes, some of the regions with potential to replace it are British Columbia's Okanagan valley, Washington's Puget Sound area, upstate New York and Long Island, Michigan's coastal zone and Virginia.

Update: 12/26/21: CBS 60 Minutes just did a show on this very topic 15 years after this post. They spoke with wineries in France whose yields are plummeting but quality is increasing. Also, sparkling wine in England is growing like crazy and is now one of the fastest growing wine regions in the world!