December 2024 Crianza Club

Dominio de la Chencha 2021 Garnacha, Campo de Borja Regular Price: $11.99 Club Price: $ 10.19 Buy Now

Let’s face it, sometimes you just need a comfort red. You know the type: soft, supple, round and easy to drink. Don’t misunderstand us, this wine still overdelivers for its price point, and while you may have seen it on our shelves prior, we liked this vintage so much we had to book it for the Wine Club. So sit back on your couch, pull your dog close (if you have one), pour a glass of this wine, and let us tell you about the hidden gem of Dominio de la Chencha Garnacha. 

Funnily enough, this wine actually marks a great representation of one of our favorite deeply underrated wine regions. The Campo do Borja D.O. lies in the northwest corner of Zaragoza and is just south of the La Rioja and Navarra regions. The climate here is arid, with gentle influences from the Atlantic and Mediterranean depending on the time of year. Grape vines planted here rest on a series of plateaus that range from 350 meters to 750 meters in elevation. To the south, lies what’s thought by many historical enologists to be the birthplace of Garnacha, Aragón. To the enologists' credit, Garnacha loves to grow here. The soils are surprisingly nutrient hearty, and are generally a blend of clay, lime stone and organic matter. The resultant wines are plush and supple, a stark contrast to the Garnacha from Spain's premier Priorat region, whose profile is generally deeply structured, hefty, and savory. 

Dominio de la Chencha’s 2021 Garnacha evokes this region beautifully. The estate is located in the small municipality of Ainzón, and boasts 70+ year old vines. The wine is fermented in massive 20,000 liter vats to allow the character of fruit take the lead in the wine, but the oak shows up again on the finish in the form of a kiss of vanilla spice. Look for notes of rose, blackberry, red cherry and a hint of dusty earth. This is a versatile house red, and will go a wide variety of fare, but if we had to choose a general pairing direction we would recommend roast meat and vegetable dishes, especially those with cumin, allspice and Asian five spice.  - JL

Lastly, a note on the label. Three close friends decided to found this winery and Chencha, one of the trio’s rescue dogs, was selected to not only be featured on the label, but be the inspiration of the winery’s namesake. Chencha lives in Oakland, CA to this day and you can find her Instagram here.

Prior Lucas Fénix 2022 Baga Bairrada Regular Price: $29.99 Club Price: $ 25.49 Buy Now

I first met Lady Baga in the company of pretty famous Portuguese winemaker Filipa Pato during her brief tasting visit at our Berkeley store.  Lady Baga, who’s that, you ask?  It’s the rock star red grape from Portugal that few have heard about, but many love once they get into the music she makes.  "Ok, what are you babbling about?", I hear you ask.  Ok, time to get serious. 

This months’ second Crianza wine is the 2022 Prior Lucas Fenix Bairrada Baga.  Prior Lucas is the winery, Bairrada is the region, and Baga is the grape.  Both region and grape are not as well known as they should be given the quality of wines they produce.  It took some research to find good crisp descriptions. In her excellent 2013 piece ‘Bairrada: The Baga Beyond', wine writer Sarah Ahmed of the Wine Detective beautifully wrote this about Baga:   “Likened to Nebbiolo in its surly, tannic youth, with age Baga shrugs off its imposing cloak of tannins. Artfully combining the structure and charm (iron fist, velvet glove) of top Burgundy in great vintages, it develops a heady bouquet of incense and forest floor. Sweet yet precise red fruits come to the fore. With a sweep of fine but firm tannins, the finish builds inexorably in the mouth.”  It usually presents aromas of red and dark fruits (cherries, raspberries, blackberries), dried herbs, earthy notes, tobacco, and sometimes floral hints like violets. On the palate, the wines typically have high acidity, firm tannins, and medium to full body. In youth, they can be austere, with flavors of tart red fruits and earthiness. With age, they develop complexity, showcasing leather, dried fruit, and spice.  Traditionally  made in tannic high extraction wines, Baga’s are now often made in a more modern, more lightly extracted style. While the abovementioned Filipa Pato makes some of our favorite Baga, we thought we’d branch out and try other producers, and boy, did we get lucky when our favorite wine distributor brought in Prior Lucas’ Fenix.

In the words of our Portuguese expert importer, Marc West Texeira, here is a bit about Prior Lucas.  “Situated in the village of Souselas in southern Bairrada, the warm and charismatic Rui Lucas has assembled an inspiringly personal project sourced from 8 different sites throughout the surrounding landscape, totaling only 7 hectares. Rui produced his first vintage in 2013, but wine is nothing new to his family. His great-grandfather and his brother were winemakers in Coimbra and his father was keen enough to preserve some of the family’s vineyard which Rui now tends. He doesn’t just talk the talk of sustainability, but is on a tireless mission to find, create and hone new practices to further that goal. The modest winery uses only renewable energy sources, the bottles he uses are as light as possible and made locally. For domestic sales he often utilizes reused bottles and even reclaimed boxes. Many of the winery’s aging vessels are made by Rui, some with available local woods (mahogany, eucalyptus, etc) and others with poured concrete (also a local resource). The vineyards are farmed without herbicides and often using animals instead of machines.”  

The Bairrada wine region is situated between the cities of Coimbra and Aveiro, in the province of Beira Litoral.  The region has a strong Atlantic influence, which means mild temperatures and high rainfall. This maritime climate is key to the high acidity and freshness of Bairrada wines but also presents challenges with achieving consistent ripeness in certain vintages.  The dominant soil types in Bairrada are clay-limestone (argilo-calcário), which is ideal for growing Baga, as well as sandy soils. Here, vineyards grow in an ancient limestone sea bed, made of calcareous clay soil filled with ammonite fossils that stretches all the way through the region of Champagne. These soils contribute to the wines' minerality and structure.

For this Baga, winemaker Rui Lucas uses estate made acacia, eucalyptus, and chestnut wood barrels.  The result is crunchy, fresh red fruit with a nice immediacy but with that 'something' else that adds interest.  The tannins are there, but due to the barrel aging they are well-moderated.  Just like in Filipa Pato’s wines, the Baga grape shines with a wonderful balance between fruitful freshness, intensity, and structure.  What may add to this sense of freshness is that this wine contains 15% of the 2023 vintage aged in concrete.  We don't often see cross vintage blends, but here, it works well. This wine is a great wine by itself, a truly appealing sipping wine, but its lively red fruit will also pair well with holiday fare.  In its home region, Baga is often paired with roast suckling pig, but will pair nicely with any other roasted white meat.  - BMS