Are Filipinos ready for premium boutique wines?

Are Filipinos ready for premium boutique wines?

By Sip Sherwin Lao
Recently, Gerard Jané hosted a wine party at the new Gaster Deli at 6750, Ayala, Makati City. The soft- spoken 37-year-old Basque from Penedes, Spain, is on an Asian tour and is passing by the Philippines for the first time. Jané is the fourth generation owner and winemaker of the boutique winery in Penedes, Jané Ventura.
One of the few critically acclaimed and truly boutique wineries in Spain, Jané Ventura only produces premium wines and at volumes that are minuscule by any winery standard. Their wines are available locally through Golden Wines Inc., ranging from their lowest of P650/bottle retail for the Vinya Palfuriana to over P2,000/bottle for the Finca Els Camps Tinto. Grapes are all hand-picked and yields much lower than even the preset minimum yields of the Penedes Regulatory Council (the governing body of the Denominacion Origen). Jané Ventura combines traditional winemaking with impeccable vineyard management. As Gerard would say, “wines should be an expression of its vineyards.”
The Jané Ventura winery owns two estates totaling around 15 hectares of prime vineyards in the Baix Penedes region. The two estates were named Finca Els Camps and Mas Vilella. The Finca Els Camps is an 8-hectare property situated in the municipality of Juncosa del Montmell, with a wonderful terroir that includes a 450-meter above sea level altitude, calcareous soils and old vines. Jané Ventura is focusing only on Tempranillo (known in Catalan as Ull de Llebre) grapes for red and Macabeo grapes for white. The Finca Els Camps is also Jané Ventura’s most prestigious wine label. Only 6,000 and 5,000 bottles of the Finca Els Camps Tempranillo and Macabeo, respectively are released per vintage year—extremely limited. On the other hand, the Mas Vilella is a 7- hectare property located in the municipality of La Bisbal del Penedes. The terroir is characterized by an altitude of 250 meters with overly stony and sandy textured soil. This stony nature is the one that limits the grape juice yields to the minimum but with much more concentrated flavors. Cabernet Sauvignon grapes dominate the vineyards in this estate. Already, the Mas Vilella label of Jané Ventura, using 100-percent Cabernet Sauvignon, is the consistent top Cabernet Sauvignon of all of Spain vintage after vintage. Only 8,000 bottles on average are released every vintage for the Mas Vilella wine. Aside from these two single estate wines, Finca Els Camps and Mas Vilella, the winery also produces the reasonably priced but still great quality Vinya Palfuriana, the Margallo (third placer in the Spanish Wine Challenge 2006–Penedes Region Competition), a Rosé wine, and their Cava—Cava is Spain’s version of French Champagne and the Penedes region is one of its major sources. Some of the juices used for these other Jané Ventura wines are bought from other vineyards also grown within the demarcated region of Penedes. Jané personally tastes the grapes during growing season and checks on the vineyards before making purchases. Occasionally, he would do a Sumoll wine. The Sumoll grape is one of those varietal grapes that has languished in obscurity, but Jané has taken this varietal and made it into a unique, bold and very zesty wine. Only three Spanish wineries are doing Sumoll, and Jané Ventura is one of them. There are only 800 bottles of these Sumoll wines. The first vintage, the 2001 Sumoll, even made it to the much sought-after wine list of El Bulli, the ultra famous restaurant of the phenomenal chef Ferrán Adriá in Barcelona.
Jose Peòin, the ‘‘Robert Parker’’-like wine critic of Spain, and probably the single most influential wine personality of Spanish wines, has tagged Jané Ventura as one of the finest small wineries of Spain. His Peòin Guia de los vinos de Espaòa (or Peòin Guide to Spanish Wines) is an annual wine guide book considered the foremost authority on Spanish wines in the world. The book has been translated into several languages, and is like the reference bible of Spanish wine buyers globally. The Jané Ventura Finca Els Camps and Mas Vilella wines are rated 90 points and above every year! In the Gaster event, Jané personally guided the enthusiastic guests in a tier-by-tier wine tasting of his latest vintages, including the Finca Els Camps Blanco (Macabeo) and the precious Sumoll wines, which Jané personally hand-carried from Spain just for the event.
The wines tasted were as follows:
1. Jané Ventura Finca Els Camps Blanco 2004— ‘‘a 100-percent Macabeo single vineyard wine, vanilla, chrysanthemum, melon, petrol, intense nose, apricot and honey taste, dry but seems sweeter because of ripeness, and long supple finish’’
2. Jané Ventura Vinya Palfuriana 2005—‘‘ a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha with Merlot, grapey, nice cherry fruit, medium-full bodied, easy, soft tannins, and a silky finish’’
3. Jané Ventura Margallo 2004—‘‘a blend of Tempranillo with both Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, very alluring nose, zesty, lively, medium-full bodied, meaty, some burned fruit-like taste, and very juicy on the finish’’
4. Jané Ventura Mas Villela 2002—‘‘a 100-percent Cabernet Sauvignon single vineyard wine, over-riped berries, intense aromas, eucalyptus, closer to semi-dry, full-bodied, thick and viscous, powerful, a very heady muscular wine, with so much more development to gain if patiently cellared for many years to come’’
5. Jané Ventura Finca Els Camps Tinto 2003—‘‘a 100-percent Tempranillo single vineyard wine, sweet scented, anise, nicely spiced, strong cherry flavors, full bodied, silky, dry, and a nice echoing minty aftertaste; a truly exceptional Tempranillo’’
6. Jané Ventura Sumoll 2004—‘‘a unique 100-percent Sumoll varietal wine, licorice, cigar box, cherry, tangy nose, medium bodied, dry, zesty, plummy and black currant on the taste, some minerals, and long zesty red berries on the finish; a must-try if lucky enough to get hold of one’’
Gerard Jané may have left Manila already, but his wines are here to stay. Jané Ventura wines are available in leading restaurants, including Gaudi, Casa Armas, Mezze, Gaster, Las Paellas, French Corner and many more. You may also contact Golden Wines Inc. at 638-5-25/27 for inquiries.
By the way, I will be conducting two wine seminars on Sept. 29 and 30, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Rockwell Tent as part of the Feria Española (Spanish Fair) 2007. If interested, call the Spanish Chamber of Commerce office at 886-7643 and 886-7854. Look for Grace or Mai. Limited slots only.
Origin: Manila Standard Today