“Off the Beaten Track Spain” Case Offer

Spain offers so much more than Rioja, so we have put together an “Off the Beaten Track Spain” Case Offer; this is a great way of discovering six distinctive and delicious wines from less well known areas of Spain, or in the case of Rioja, a rare white grape. All these wines are from small family-run producers who use organic practices.

Discover “Off the Beaten Track Spain” Case Offer with accompanying notes

Sip your way through – three white wines – one is made from the rare Tempranillo Blanco grape and the other two come from old-vines in DO Manchuelo and DO Cariñena in Aragon.  The three red wines range from a fine young Mencia and the oak-aged deliciously complex Mencia, both from Bodegas y Viñedos Merayo in DO Bierzo in the North West, and a terrific fresh Garnacha from Calatayud, in Aragon, NE Spain. There is much to Discover in Off the Beaten Track Spain.

Entero Old-Vine Macabeo 2023 (Organic) DO Manchuela 12.5% (1 bottle)

Lightly floral, pear and tropical fruit aromas and honey notes. A nicely textured, dry white with flacours of pears, melons and tropical fruit with balancing citrus aciditiy on the finish. This is a refreshing, easy-drinking, organic white with good length and depth of flavours. It is made from Macabeo grapes from old vines (at least 25 years old). Grapes from these older vines produce a vibrantly flavoured dry white. It comes from vineyards at 700 metres in DO Manchuela and is produced by the San Antonio Abad Co-operative, together with a group of English winemakers. If you like white Rioja, you will enjoy this wine.

Medievo Tempranillo Blanco 2023 DOCa Rioja 12.5% abv (1 bottle)

Made from Tempranillo Blanco which is a relative newcomer to the world of vines. It was discovered in a Tempranillo (red grape) vineyard in Rioja in the late 1980s. This is quite a rare occurence but it has happened with other grapes like Garnacha and Garnacha Blanca.

It has attractive aromas of pears and nectarines and just a hint of lychees and limes. These aromas follow through to refreshing flavours of pears, nectarines, white peach and nuances of limes and tropical fruit. It has an excellent balance of fruit and acidity, with a nice mouthfeel, some complexity and very good length. It will make a perfect, refreshing aperitif.

Bodegas del Medievo is an exciting, innovative winery in Aldeanueva de Ebro 50km South of Logrono, just in Rioja Oriental.

Care Garnacha Blanca Nativa 2023/24  DO Cariñena, Spain 13% abv(1 bottle)

This is a deliciously different white wine produced from the Garnacha Blanca grape by Bodegas Añadas in Aragon. Your attention is immediately drawn to its very intense nose with greengage and orange peel aromas, coupled with tropical fruit and attractive minerality. It has terrific, full flavours of tropical fruit with hints of orange zest, and nice minerality. It has outstanding balance between freshness and structure and it has a long, mouth-filling, smooth aftertaste. It has spent just 2 months in barrel which has given this wine body without taking away any freshness.

Nacho Lazaro and family, who run Bodegas Añadas, chose the name Care (pronounced Karey) for its link to the Romans who used this name for who the nearby town, now known as Cariñena, which gives its name to the oldest Denominación Origen (DO) in Aragon. Bodegas Añadas choose eye-catching labels for their wines, using artwork from a local artist Enrique Torrijos, as they say their wines show the modern face of Cariñena.

Merayo Mencia 2023  DO Bierzo  13% abv (1 bottle)

(91 points Penin Guide: Independent wine guide in Spain: 16 Points Jancis Robinson MW)

Made from the lovely Mencia grape with aromas of cherries and smooth, cherry fruit and spice flavours. It is a flavoursome, savoury red with good length. Pedro Merayo has 25 hectares of well established and immaculate vineyards, which includes 80 – 100 year old bush vine Mencia. This Mencia has some grapes from mature vines as well as from 10 year old trellaced vines.

This young red has been aged “sur lie” for six months before bottling and is a terrific example of the lovely medium bodied, refined wines this grape can produce. Similar to Cabernet Franc with a bit more substance; it has been described as the Pinot Noir of Spain and is definitely worth discovering.

Langa Pasion Garnacha 2021  DO Calatayud  14% abv) 1 bottle)

Double Gold: 90 Points, Gilbert & Gaillard International Challenge 2024, Gold Medal, Grenache du Monde 2022

Made by family-run Bodegas Langa situated in situated in the westernmost part of the province of Zaragoza in the foothills of Mont Moncayo. It has enticing aromas of ripe strawberries and dark fruits and there is a lovely freshness and complexity that invites you to taste! It has an intense, but refined peppery, strawberry and black fruit flavours combining with nuances of liquorice and balsam; smooth, warm yet finishes fresh, complex and savoury. It has good structure, silky tannins and great length. Langa Pasión is an attractive Garnacha made from grapes from vines of 25 – 40 years old, which provide a full-bodied, but very well balanced red wine with real finesse.

The vineyards are at 700 – 800 metres with relatively low yields. The grapes are hand-picked and fermented in stainless steel using indigenous, wild yeasts. It also has a malolactic fermentation and is aged for 4 – 6 months in American oak barrels.

Merayo Tres Filas 2023 DO Bierzo 14% abv (1 bottle)

(Wine Merchant Top 100 Award 2024)

This is a real step up from the wine above, and it gets its name from one of Pedro Merayo’s vineyards which has gnarly bush vines aged 80 to 120 years old, where the grapes for this wine were harvested. The quality of fruit from these very old, low-yielding vines shines through this savoury red. It has soft and silky tannins, hints of spice and excellent balance, structure and length. This is an intense, fresh and elegant red with flavours of strawberry, raspberry, dark cherry, light vanilla oak. Its flavours reveal a lovely combination of freshness and complexity.  It has been sensitively aged in French and American oak for 6 months to produce a complex, delicious and stylish Red.

Only 35,000 bottles are made annually.