A Likable Label and Wine for the Holidays: Spanish Quarter Chardonnay Albariño 2007

Like so many wines making the scene these days, The Spanish Quarter Chardonnay Albariño 2007 debuts as a new concept wine, invented by Spanish wine giant Codorniu. Looking to be easily understood by a youthful "millennial" audience, coming of age and curious about the flavors of Spain, Codorniu dispensed with the Bodegas and DO's (Denominaciones de Origens) typically displayed on a Spanish wine label. Instead, they went with a fun, festive Spanish world view illustrated by New York artist Grady McFerrin. The varietal blend is shown right up front, like you would expect on a wine from California.

The label reminds me of Red Guitar, one of US wine giant Constellation Brands' very successful imports from Spain. There is always a risk of missing the mark with highly conceptual illustrative wine labels, but success can be had if done right. Spanish Quarter's label is attractive enough to encourage trial, and as it turns out, this inaugural vintage of Chardonnay Albariño is very likable wine.

In the spirit of the Niña, Pinta, and the Santa María, as opposed to the Mayflower, you might consider serving this white blend with your Thanksgiving turkey, turducken, or tofurkey and the trimmings. Being very likable as it is, and also versatile, this would make a splash as a holiday season house white.

The blend is 60% Chardonnay and 40% Albariño, but don't expect Chardonnay. Expect a lively lemon apricot head space. The first thing that came to mind was lemon icing, then apricots and then a mineral note. There's no smoke or oak here, yet roundness is achieved without it. The flavor is all peach and apricots, with lemon tartness, no sweetness as some people might be thinking, and a crisp dry finish. Many crowd-pleasing wines are not that well-made, and many well-made wines aren't crowd-pleasing, but this one achieves both. That's a hypothesis I plan to test this holiday season, and when the summer returns.

Codorniu doesn't make a big deal out of the origin of this wine - Costers del Segre. That's in Catalonia, in the northeast of Spain. We think of Albariño coming from Rías Baixas, in northwest Spain, but it also flourishes near the east coast.

Price: $12 (Nashville). Closure: Real cork. Alcohol content: 12.9%.

Comments

[jacksonhunted]

While this is a fantastic wine at this pricepoint, I'm not so certain it should be described as a "crowd pleaser." This Christmas I discovered that some heavily oaked Chardonnay lovers were put off by the slightly mineral palate and dry finish, and they thought it was some sort of sauvignon blanc blend. I really dig this wine but now will serve it in more intimate settings to people who don't have to have wood with their grapes.