this week

Bulls, bells and baloney
By Georges Meekers

While it’s most doubtful that any vinous love potion will bring a rush of blood to the loins, tales of such wines have always been about.

Mediaeval newly-weds, so it is said, used to slip out of the reception early and take a couple of jugs of mead upstairs with them.

This concoction, a fermentation of honey and water, was thought to endow the husband with mighty sexual urges – ‘sufficient to rend the codpiece asunder’, as a sharp-eyed wedding guest once remarked.

But since then, both mead and codpieces have fallen from favour.

A playboy friend now swears by a sensitising Spanish red wine from Navarra called Castillo de Tiebas. It’s described by the shippers as full-bodied, fruity and mature and comes, as you might expect, in a handy long thin bottle.

Navarra, the Northern DO in Spain, is centred on the macho bullfighting town of Pamplona and is effectively a north eastern extension of Rioja.

True, traditionally Navarra is renowned for powerful, heavy reds and also for dry rosé wines from the light-coloured Garnacha (Grenache) variety.

But things have moved fast here, too, especially on the technical front. The Navarrans realise it would be unwise to build their future on demand for simple pink wine.

In the past couple of years, Navarran vignerons have received considerable support from their local government. So, today they are capable of producing red wines that rival those from neighbouring Rioja, where prices are often higher.

In sharp contrast with Maltese politicians who believe they can ignore the Maltese wine industry’s pleas for help, Spanish government officials did finance a research programme for the evaluation of the growing of noble varieties.

More substantial aid to vignerons and winemakers has meanwhile yielded concentrated wines, typically aged in American oak, ready for the export market.

One fine, locally available red of good tight structure from the appellation Navarra DO is the 1996 Navarra ‘Las Campanas’ (12.5% vol.) by Vinicola Navarra.

This warm climate, medium-weight red is a value example of an innovative and well-balanced Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Garnacha blend. As a light cherry-coloured, one year barrel-oaked Crianza Tinto, it delivers elegant fruit, vanilla and berry flavours.

Although the label shows chiming wedding bells, couples tying the knot please do note that this unpretentious red travels in a squared-off claret bottle.