Monday, 18 June 2012

Spanish wine made from an Italian crossing

This is a wine made from Incroccio Manzoni from the Cans Rafols dels Caus winery in Penedes. Incroccio actually meaning a crossing and Prof Manzoni had a few that were commercially successful, including Manzoni Bianco and Manzoni Nero. This is presumably Manzoni Bianco, a crossing of Riesling with Pinot Blanc. most commonly found in northern Italy, this example however comes from Spain. Can Rafols dels Caus is a winery in Penedes on the outskirts of Barcelona. Since 1979, the current owner bought out his siblings and rebuilt his grandfather's estate whilst replanting the vineyards. He introduced the well-known international varieties as well as keeping the traditional Catalan grapes. Well, where does this grape fit in? To be honest, I don't know. All I know is that this is a single vineyard wine from El Rocallis which is planted with Manzoni Bianco, and the grapes are handpicked, fermented for 40 days before aging in French barrels. Old gold in colour with a meaty tuna nose, the wine was off dry and woody on the palate with hints of fruit. Acid was evident too on the palate, turning into a more lemony citrussy finish. The nose slowly evolved some honeyed notes. Interesting!

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