Spain: Rest of Spain, including Jumilla
2014: Gold 0 Silver 3 Bronze 7 Commended 6
2013: Gold 2 Silver 3 Bronze 8 Commended N/A
Must-list status: 15%
Overall SWA performance 2014: E+
To paraphrase that great 21st-century sage Forrest Gump, the Rest of Spain section of SWA is a bit like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re going to get. Though on this evidence, it’s tempting to add ‘…but it probably won’t be pretty’.
Made up of entries, broadly speaking, from Madrid downwards, it’s one of the most up-and-down parts of the competition, able to produce amazing wines, average wines and dreadful wines at will, and with prices often picked apparently at random.
Our tasters accept that there may well be a certain rusticity here, but while they don’t mind ‘cheap and cheerful’, ‘clumsy and overpriced’ is a no-no. And sadly, there was a lot of that this year. Many of this year’s reds were a volcanic mess of alcohol, oak and jammy fruit, and there was less to get excited about here than for several years.
‘I’d expected to find some real character and good value drinkability, with wines that would hit restaurant price points and deliver interest and quality, but this was quite a shocking flight,’ sighed team leader Annette Scarfe MW.
FOOTNOTE: Includes wines from Jumilla, Utiél-Requena, Castilla & Mallorca.
From the Tasting Teams
‘I think there were some cases here of rich people moving into wine and doing too much with it.’ Xabier Alvarez, Trangallán