By AJ Linn
Anyone who owns a restaurant here will tell you they have difficulty choosing what wines to put on their list. There are simply too many. And that's only the Spanish ones. They cannot even try all the sample bottles they are given. If you want to be safe but boring you will do what most do: stick to the established red favourites from Rioja and Ribera del Duero, and whites from Penedés and Rías Baíxas. Ignore the El Bierzos, Somontanos, Prioratos, Valdeorras and Gaditanos. Who's ever heard of them anyway?
Even on the Costa del Sol, some of Spain's best wines, from Ronda, are hard to find. And who can blame the restaurant? Perhaps only 10 per cent of their customers understand wine, and even fewer want to be considered anoraks. There is simply too much wine on offer, making a good argument for reducing the number of officially denominated wine regions. There are nearly 80.
Ever heard of Arribes, Bullas, Méntrida, Pago Guijoso, Valles de Benavente, Monterrei, Cangas or Finca Élez? No real reason why you should, but they are all first level wine regions with their own Consejo Regulador governing council.
The producers in each region pay for these regulatory bodies. If you are appointed to one it really is a grand job. If you also happen to make wine, the opportunities for conflicts of interest are endless. You also get to attend a lot of official functions and enjoy endless lunches – on full pay and expenses.
This surfeit of classifications explains why we miss out on some of the best wines. For example, there is a miniscule region sandwiched between La Rioja and Ribera del Duero. This must be one of Spain's best-kept secrets and you have never seen it on a wine list or in a store. The wines are superb, obviously, and because it is a new and practically unknown classification prices are nonsensically low.
There is absolutely nothing the slightest bit unusual about the history of the Arlanza region. In fact it is typical of any wine region. Records show that wine was produced here in the 10th century, and there was sufficient coming out of the vineyards and sold direct from the barrel to satisfy local demand. Nothing much happened until the dreaded phylloxera bug struck in the early part of the 20th century and wiped out every vine and consequently the entire wine business.
Re-establishment of bug-resistant vines took its time but by mid-century things were almost back to normal – just as the region took another big hit, this time largely predictable. Spain's burgeoning industrial revolution was gearing up and factories offered better wages than vineyards so, unsurprisingly, agricultural workers upped sticks and swapped agrarian drudgery for industrial drudgery.
Since most of the bodegas were small family-run businesses, they were hard hit, and the temptation to give up winemaking in favour of other more profitable crops made it look as if Arlanza was due for a second potentially terminal eclipse.
Happily, around 1995, much like in Priorato and a handful of other regions where it was worth the effort, a group of enthusiasts resolved to resuscitate Arlanza's wine culture. The initiative was so successful, thanks in good part to the sheer quality of the wines, that in 2007 the zone was officially granted its own Denomination of Origin, one of the most recent authorised in Spain (www.arlanza.org).
Unsurprisingly the dominant grape variety is Tinta del País, otherwise known as Tempranillo, although Petit Verdot, Garnacha and Cabernet Sauvignon, among others, together with a couple of white varieties, also contribute. However, Tempranillo is the favourite national grape and notably it is here that it grows at the highest altitude in Spain.
Now boasting 23 bodegas, most of them quite small and many producing wines of limited production, this region has an unusually bright future in the opinion of many experts. The bodegas making the most interesting wines include Bodegas Lerma, whose winemaker splits his time between the well-known Ribera del Duero winery of Arzuaga and Lerma. Among a fascinating selection ranging in price between €3 and €15, the Gran Vino Lerma de Autor stands out (€15).
Another bodega whose wines amaze is the tiny operation of Alonso Angulo, started in 2010 and just now bringing wine to the market. The Flor de Sanctus (€14) is pure Tempranillo and only 3,700 bottles were released. The Sanctus (€24) is also Tempranillo and more exclusive still with 1,300 bottles only.
Bodegas Arlanza in contrast is a large concern, producing a range of seven wines, but, again, at very reasonable prices, from €2.50 up to Tinto Selección Especial Dominio de Manciles at €17.30. This was one of the first bodegas to operate commercially in the region, and it exports much of its production. In Spain there is a comprehensive distribution network extending to the Costa del Sol.
