Tanzer on Spain

Stephen the ";other"; American wine critic, covered Spain in his latest newsletter. Here are a few selected exerpts from his overview:

";One of the stiffest challenges facing Spanish producers is the difficulty of getting their wines from the bodega to the consumer without cooking them. Much of Spain is extremely hot for half of the year, and few importers have mastered the art of getting their wines from their clients to the coast without exposure to heat. Spanish truck drivers, it seems, are virtually required by law to break for lunch while their wines simmer in the afternoon sun.";

";Critics of New Wave Spanish wines bemoan the fact that much of today’s market has lost interest in the best old-guard producers of Spain, particularly of Rioja....But as with topnotch older Bordeaux, the finest Riojas of yesteryear were always the exceptions, and there were far too many lean, green, dried-out or downright dirty wines released during the same decades. Diehard fans of traditional Spanish wines who bemoan the new style and valorize the old are often talking about the wines of their memory, which have a tendency to get better every day.";

";Are Spain’s New Wave wines balanced, and will they age? Sure, they’re darker, richer, riper and more extracted. A lot of them are also hot, shapeless, and lacking in freshness. But the best of them are also reasonably balanced and loaded with ripe fruit. It’s tempting to compare some of Spain’s superrich new bottlings to high-octane shirazes from Australia, but I find that the better Spanish wines have more Old World savoir-faire and suaver textures. They are also far less likely to come across as overly manipulated.";