The UnCorker

Weird Wine of the Week-NV Bermejo Brut Nature

April 22, 2009 | In WINE REVIEWS | No Comments

These are boom times for the Canary Islands, emigration to the U.S. and E.U. has slowed, meaning the depopulation of the archipelago has stopped, the government has started subsidizing the wine industry in an effort to move it forward, and has had a measure of success, and most importantly, Anthony Bourdain has visited with his show, No Reservations, making the world aware that the place exists, and that people live and work there.

Traditionally, viticulture in the Canary Islands was focused on sweet wines, often called Malmsey, for export; Shakespeare called it “an absolutely penetrating wine,” in Henry IV. Robert Louis Stevenson writes that “a little good canary will comfort me the heart of it.” The Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV, drowned in a barrel of Malmsey in 1478. With modern tastes turning from sweet wines, vintners in the Canaries had mostly focused on crappy mediocre dry wines for the tourist trade, and almost none of their production was exported anywhere. The last decade has seen some big changes, modernization, and the number of denominated zones(do’s) making wine of real character. Lanzarote, the island farthest east is where our WWOW hails from. It is on the forefront of the Canaries wine revolution, and Bodegas los Bermejo is one leading the charge.

Viticulture on the islands is difficult; the winds are legendary, driving the weaker of the population barking mad, and driving wineries to dig zocos, little half craters for each indivdual vine- And the soil, wow, black volcanic pomice covers most of Lanzarote- over a half of the island was covered by ten feet of black lava in the 18th century. This has had its benefits; phlyoxera never got a foothold, the vines roots go deep into the soil, the volcanic pomice holds water and air, important since rain and water is scarce.

Malvasia is more of a family of grapes then a single identity, though there are usually some commonalities, for instance they all tend to be on the aromatic side, orange blossoms, peach, flowers-generous, even when bone dry. The NV Bermejo lacks that aromaticity-rather a honeyed, leesy nose is found, with a rich color to match. And boy is this bone dry- Brut Nature indeed(3 grams of residual sugar max per liter, and no dosage) Sherry and hazelnut dominate the palate, with a fine, almost sharp, persistant bead that reinforces that sense of dryness-Not our favorite sparkler, but pretty weird and unusual stuff.