Spanish Wine Tasting here at Resolute! Ends Tuesday after Labor Day!

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Spain is unique amongst the largest wine-making countries in that they focus predominantly upon local, indigenous wine grape varietals. Due to its isolation during the Franco dictatorship that lasted until the mid-1970s, the introduction of international grapes, like Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Merlot got a late start in Spain, and have never over-taken Spain’s major grapes, such as Airen, Tempranillo and Garnacha. The strong local pride each of Spain’s regions holds over their food and wines, also plays an important role in what grapes have been grown and how their wines get made.
Luckily, this has allowed Spain to be a hotbed of unique and important wines that are rarely seen off the Iberian peninsula. Exciting flavors, and opportunities for food pairing, make a lot of these wines some of our favorites here at Resolute. Today, we are going to highlight three of them, from three different regions, and three very different wines.
Pouring all three in a flight for $22!
Wine 1
Rías Baixas, a region on the Atlantic Coast, just above Portugal produces some of the worlds most interesting light bodied, high acid white wines. Albariño is the main grape here, and with its hallmark salinity, and fresh citrus fruit flavors, it is an ideal wine to pair with shellfish, seafood and other light to medium savory dishes. Here at Resolute, we are serving a Rías Baixas Albariño from Burgans, a collaboration wine created from Martin Codex, a family co-op made up of about 50 farming families. As they mainly get their grapes from slightly more inland than some of the wines closer to the beach, the wines are slightly fuller, but retain that big acidity and hefty salinity.
We are pouring from this region:
Burgans (in collaboration with Martin Codex) Rías Baixas, Galicia, Spain 2016  
$12/glass,  $50/bottle to drink here, $30/bottle to take home

Wine 2
Moving inland and straight east from Rías Baixas, we land in Rioja. A land known for Tempranillo, this area also produces some amazing white wines. Most importantly, Viura, a transplanted grape that is used in Cava production (known as Macabeo in Cataluyna) is the most important. As the quality in Rioja varies pretty dramatically (depending on where the grapes are grown) the best come from the areas near the Ebro River. The two more refined regions, Rioja Alta are situated in the Castilian speaking region, and Rioja Alavesa in the Basque country on either side of the Ebro river. The Viura grown in these regions are known for making elegant, well structured white wines with higher acidity and mineral backbone.The white Rioja we are pouring is from this region. Is grown near the banks of the Ebro River The soils are very similar to those of Rioja Alavesa (above the river on its right bank) - predominantly chalky limestone. Viura expresses itself with a heady mix of delicate fruit coupled with a muscular mouthfeel and terrific length. Flavors of apple, melon and green-papaya flavors with a chalky, tangy-lemon finish.

We are pouring from this region:
Alegre Valgañón Blanco Rioja, Spain 2016
$14/glass,  $58/bottle to drink here, $38/bottle to take home

Wine 3
Moving east again, we come to the Penedès, just south of Barcelona. This area makes about 95% of all the Cava produced in the world. But the region isn’t only sparkling wine focused, some of the best grapes go into still wines (non-bubbly) including one of the most interesting grapes grown (and subsequently is the grape that makes Cava so unique) is Xarel-lo. It adds flavors of lemon curd, cucumber, fresh cut white flowers, and churned butter to the bubbly mix. By itself it’s far more textured than other grapes in Cava production. Xarel-lo has a deceptively pale straw color, with a round and big finish.The Xarel-lo we’re pouring is from 60-year-old organic vines from a calcareous rocky outcrop on the coastal side of the Penedès. Can Rafols dels Caus has been working his previously abandoned family vineyard since the 70’s. It’s aged in chestnut barrels (versus oak) which balances the herbs and butter texture of the wine. Flavors of peach, apricot, and marzipan. It’s big, fascinating, and powerful!

We are pouring from this region:
Can Ràfols del Caus Blanco “Pairal” Garraf Massif, Penedès, Spain 2011
$19/glass,  $68/bottle to drink here, $48/bottle to take home