Intense Three Days of Vinous Activities - Day 1

Last Friday 26th March I got up early so as to get to the winery as soon as possible because I knew I had an intense 3 days ahead of me. First I had to bottle and cork about 100 bottles of assorted wines: some young white (2009, 100% Airén), some young red (2009, 97% Garnacha 3% Cab Sauv) and some Crianza (2008, 100% Tempranillo). Thankfully the Crianza was already bottled last year, so I only had to pack it up in boxes.

Crianza Labels

The day before I had prepared sticky labels to distinguish it from the young red – as all our bottles are recycled/reused it’s difficult to tell one from the other as all the shapes, sizes and colours of the bottles are used randomly among all the types of wine!

Crianza labels close up

This is what we call in Spain a ‘chapuza’, ie a quick-n-dirty highly unprofessional job done very quickly (and perhaps effectively).

Crianza bottles being labelled

More Crianza bottles being labelled

 

On the way to the winery I wanted to stop off in Tielmes at the laboratory where they’re doing an analysis of some of our wines, to ask when the results would be in, but it was closed - Easter holidays started early for some! So, on to the winery, or rather on to the bar for a coffee and sticky bun, before starting the bottling.

I needed all those bottles for an organic trade fair in Puebla de la Sierra (Madrid) – more on this event in Part 2 of this post. Well, the bottling was quite straight-forward, as I’d soaked and scraped off the labels beforehand. While I was at it, I bottled a couple cases for some consumers and on the way back to Madrid that night I dropped them off in Perales.

State of the vineyard on Friday 26th March

It was now about lunch-time and time to go to the vineyard to do some more pruning. We STILL haven’t finished, but there’s not much left to do. After munching down a ‘bocadillo’ and a swig of wine in the vineyard, I managed to do quite a lot of pruning; when till the sun started to set, it got chilly and a cold wind came up, so I decided to call it a day even though I could have carried on for another hour or two before it got too dark to see. And besides, my back was sore.

Another view of the vineyard

Vinos Ambiz annual wine tasting event

Last Saturday (12th December 2009) was the 4th Vinos Ambiz annual wine-tasting event; this time we did it in La Dragona, a tavern run by Ecologistas en Acción, in c./ Marqués de Leganés 12, Madrid (Spain).

In 2008 it was in the El Patio Maravillas; in 2007 in Off-Limits and in 2006 in the old Seco Social Centre.

La Dragona - Alberto and some wine tasters having a chat

We would like to say thanks to the over 40 people who came the other night. I think we all had a great time and we even learned a thing or two, thanks to Alberto (from Bodegas Corral, in Navarrete, La Rioja), who led the tasting in a very pleasant, informal and informative manner and even made people participate actively (as opposed to just 'listening to the expert'!).

Juan talks about Vinos Ambiz; photos in the backound

Glass of wine, anyone? (that's me on the right!)

According to my (sketchy) notes, here are some of the comments and impressions of the wines:

Blanco Joven 2009 (100% Airén)
Colour: pale yello, slightly golden, sort of greenish
Still, no bubbles (last year the same wine was like cava or cider!)
Aroma: wine (!), alcohol, apple, vainilla, fruit, flowers
Taste: not a lot of taste!, green apples, slightly acidic, very nice, a bit like cava

Surprisingly, the young white had a lot of body, aromas and taste. Historically, Airén has been considered not suitable for making quality wine, and has always been used either for mixing with other wines or sent directly to the distillery. Well, it seems that it dosn't have to be that way, and that it is if fact possible to make quality wine with Airén (maybe due to the artisan (non-industrial) processes and/or organic ecological practices). :)

Crianza 2008 (100% Tempranillo)
Colour: very intense, dark read, almost opaque
Aroma: strong, forest in the rain, toasty, red fruit (cherries)
Taste: astringent, strong, red fruit, tonacco
Needs more time in the bottle to round off and improve

The Young White, The Young Rosé, and The Crianza

We only had time to taste two of the three wines we had: the Young White 2009 and the Crianza 2008 (we'll have to do the young rosé some other time).

Note the lack of labels. The plan is to update the previous Crianza label, and to design for the first time labels for the young white and the young rosé. Hopefully in January or February.

- Young White 2009 (100% Airén; 12% vol.)
- Young Rosé 2009 (97% Garnacha, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon; 13% vol; carbonic maceration)
- Crianza 2008 (100% Tempranillo, 6 months in oak barrel; 14% vol.)

I'm sure I've forgotten to mention lots of things that were said (what with all that tasting and chatting I had to do!), so if anyone who was there would like to add anything, just click on the "comments" below and type away! :)

Consumer Participation in Vinos Ambiz Winery

We've just launched a new way for our consumers to participate more closely with us in the wine-making process. By 'new' I mean new for us, as like most things, this has probably been done before somewhere by someone!

The idea is that a consumer (or group of consumers) finance the purchase of a new oak cask (around €300) and we pay them back in bottles of wine.

This year, because we had such a small harvest, we only have enough wine to fill one (1) additional cask, but next year we intend to buy a lot more. The financing of this year's cask has already been 'awarded' to a friend (and notorious long-time consumer of our wines), as we've been talking about doing this for years!

Our two current casks (and the space where the third one is going to go in January)

These are the terms and conditions:

The fundamental reason or motive for financicng the casks in collaboration with our consumers is not economic or financial in nature, but it is intended to be a way of facilitating consumer participation in the project, of establishing closer relations between producer and consumers, and of exchanging information.

There are no interest payments nor any other type of economic or financial incentive as the idea here is not obtain profits from an investment. Its simply another way of participating, just like helping out at the harvest or pruning or washing bottles. It is assumed that the person financing the cask in this way is doing so in order to participate in the wine-making process and to support the project in general.

We have tried to make it as simple as possible and the same for all the future participants, so as to reduce complications and 'administrative overheads' when there are many participants.

1. The cost of the cask is repaid exclusively in bottles of wine (the participant can choose if he wants the very wine produced in the cask, or any other type of wine produced by Vinos Ambiz, if and when available)

2. The bottle of wine is valued at the price set at the beginning of each year

3. The participant can choose if he/she wants to receive the bottles of wine in a single lot or if he/she wants to spread them out over the lifetime of the cask

4. The participants, like all our consumers, can come to the winery to help out with any activity involving their cask (filling, racking, washing, etc)

5. The old cask belongs to the particiapnt. If he/she doesn't want it, we'll keep it at the winery.

Crianza 2007 (I)

Last saturday 16 May we bottled the Tinto Crianza 2007. It's 100% Tempranillo and spent 10 months in the American oak barrel that you can see in the photo below:
I think I only spilt about half-a-liter of the precious liquid (and tasted a few glasses for quality-control purposes!). In the end we got 290 bottles, which are now stored here:



We're going to start distributing them at the end of June, so we have time to print and attach the labels. This will be the first time we attach labels to our wine since the project stated 5 years ago. There are exactly 250 bottles available and we're going to number them by hand. The labels are almost ready and the creatives at
Hola Por Qué are working overtime to try and make all that text I sent them fit into a rather small label!

Technical details on the Tinto Crianza 2007:

- Grape variety: 100% Tempranillo
- 10 months in American oak barrel
- 14% vol.
- This wine will definitely improve with age. The bottles should be kept (for at least 1 year) in a place which is dark, quiet, at around 18ºC, with no smells or vibrations. Unfortunately, we can't keep the bottles in the winery over the summer as it gets too hot in there and there's too big a risk of the wine spoiling.

Tasting event

Friday, 5 December 2008
Off-Limits, c/Escuadra, Lavapiés

Open invitation to anyone who would like to taste some local, organic wines.

This event has two objectives:

- to vote on a name for our wine project

- to taste (and enjoy!) the just-released young red (carbonic maceration - Beaujolais Nouveau style)

Choosing a name
After five years of anonimity and mental anguish, we just can't take it any more! The time has come to choose a name, and this is time and the place to do it!

So, send your suggestions:

- as a comment to this article;
- or by email to enestoslugares@gmail.com;
- or by SMS to 687-050-010

We'll draw up a short-list with your suggestions and hold the vote during the tasting.