‘Viñateros’ brings Spain’s terroir crusaders to London

Inspired by the terroir manifesto of Telmo Rodriguez, the first ‘Viñateros’ tasting will bring 50 terroir-focused Spanish wine producers to London in February.

The Viñateros tasting to be held in London in February features many of the growers who signed the manifesto of Rioja producer Telmo Rodriguez in defence of Spanish terroir

Driven by Indigo Wines and involving six other merchants – Alliance Wines, FMV, Les Caves de Pyrene, New Generation Wines, Carte Blanche Wines and Dynamic Vines – the tasting has been inspired by the so-called ‘Club Matador Manifesto’ event – a roundtable discussion organised by Rioja producer Telmo Rodriguez in November 2015 at Club Matador in Madrid.

The discussion sought to take a stand against what some see as the restrictiveness of many appellations in Spain and to promote the country’s terroir-focused producers. At the event almost 150 wine professionals, including producers, journalists and wine merchants, signed a manifesto in defence of terroir.

The 50 growers attending Viñateros on 21 February at the Tate Switch House in Bankside, London, will present around 300 terroir-focused wines from 26 different Spanish regions. The tasting will be complemented by a seminars exploring subjects related to terroir including appellations, the effects of climate change and indigenous grape varieties.

Doug Wregg of Les Caves de Pyrene, who is involved with the organisation of the event, emphasised how far Spain had come in recent years in terms of the quality and diversity of its terroir-focused wines.

“We’ve seen a lot of changes in the ways in which wines are made,” he said. “Rather than a reliance on oak to age the wine, we see more youthful, exuberant, exciting, energetic natural wines, wines that are less confected, less heavy, less alcoholic.

“Spain has amazing potential, there’s so much land under vine, they have the altitude, there’s no disease pressure, but it remains relatively undiscovered. For us, if you go to France or Italy, everybody’s snapped up, you have to join the queue, but in Spain there’s gems and we’re discovering new things every year.

Wregg added that the hoped the Viñateros tasting would be an antidote to the large generic tastings and would attract people from all sections of the wine trade to discover what the merchants involved are billing as ‘a Spanish wine revolution’.

“When you go to a mainstream Spanish tasting it’s all very, very samey. Here it’ll be incredibly diverse,” he said. “There’s so many different regions being represented, loads of indigenous grape varieties, which you don’t see very often … so to bring them all together is actually quite good idea. It’s to show that there we’re at the beginning of something quite interesting.

“Getting 50 growers, and the quality of growers is so high as well, I think that’s a real draw. I think it will draw all sections of the trade to it as well because people will be curious. Yes, there’s the Wines of Spain tasting but it’s the classic, generic bunfight that these tasting are. It’s so difficult to orientate yourself.

“I’ve always said this thing with the generic tasting and the rise of the targeted, focused tasting, that people can really learn so much more when there’s less there to see and they can really engage with growers properly. It’s a bit more real in that sense.”

To register or further information please email contacto@vinaterosldn.com.

The growers who will be attending Viñateros include:

4 Kilos (Mallorca), Abel Mendoza (Rioja), Adegas Guímaro (Ribeira Sacra), Alemany & Corrio (Penedès), Alvaro Palacios (Bierzo), Barco del Corneta (Rueda), Bodegas Bentomiz  (Malaga), Bodegas Bernabé Navarro (Alicante), Bodegas Marañones (Sierra de Gredos), Casa Castillo (Jumilla) Celler Batlliu (Costers del Segre), Celler Comunica (Montsant), Celler Credo (Penedès), Celler del Roure (Valencia), Celler Pardas (Penedès), Cellers Joan d’Anguera (Montsant), Colet Vins (Penedès), Comando G (Sierra de Gredos), Coto de Gomariz (Ribeiro), Daniel Landi (Sierra de Gredos), Domaines Lupier (Navarra), Dominio del Bendito (Toro), Dominio del Urogallo (Cangas), Dominio do Bibei (Ribeira Sacra), Envínate (Ribeira Sacra), Equipo Navazos  (Jerez), Escoda-Sanahuja (Conca de Barbera), Familia Nin-Ortiz (Priorat), Fedellos do Couto (Ribeira Sacra), Loxarel (Penedès), Gramona (Penedès), Juan Antonio Ponce (Manchuela), Luis Anxo Rodriguez (Ribeiro), Bodegas Mustiguillo (Valencia), Nanclares y Prieto (Rias Baixas), Norrel Robertson (Calatayud), Olivier Rivière (Rioja), Quinta Milú (Ribera del Duero), Rafael Palacios (Valdeorras), Raventós i Blanc (Penedès), Remelluri (Rioja), Suertes del Marqués (Tenerife), Compañia de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez (Valdeorras), Terroir al Límit (Priorat), Vidal Soblechero (Rueda), Ximénez-Spinola (Jerez), Zárate (Rias Baixas)

Viñateros
21 February 2017, 10.30am–17.30pm
Tate Modern – Terrace Entrance
Switch House Level 6
Bankside, London SE1 9TG
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