Wine tasting

Wine tasting of Torres

The Wines of Torres – Wine Tasting – russellartblog (wordpress.com)

On the third of May I attended  a talk & tasting session from Emma Llorens Brand Ambassador of Torres Wines, Torres is the most admired wine brand in Europe.

Ever since its origins in 1870, Bodegas Torres has combined tradition and innovation to become benchmark company in the quality wine and brandies sector.
Not only is Torres committed to the land but to the farmers who grow the grapes.

The event took place at Mitchell’s wine shop at Meadowhead a place that I work at.
Since working there I have learnt so much but wine is one of the drinks I have not drank that often and so these talks and tasting session are brilliant to develop my palate and expand my knowledge of wines.

Mitchell’s  started as a family business in 1935 being the butchers for the new suburb emerging on the south side of Sheffield.
A move into wines and spirits in the early sixties was to be the start of  40 plus years in the trade, in that time they’ve come a long way from beer off-licence to fine wine merchants and encompassing everything in-between.

John Mitchell is the proprietor and his daughter Frankie help run the business and they are in attendance tonight to help with the proceedings.
Keith Richards taught me never to namedrop but Len Badger was in the audience last night.
Everyone was seated and treated to a sample of Mitchell’s home-brew before the tasting.
Sat opposite me is one of my ex-colleagues David who is enjoying retirement with his wife and offers me an insight into every wine we try.
Tonight’s tasting will be eight fabulous wines from Torres.

Before that though a little about Torres which I copied and pasted from Wikipedia:

“Founded in 1870 by Jaime Torres, Bodegas Torres (Miguel Torres SA) is a historical wine growing company located in Pacs, some 4 km from Vilafranca del Penedès, where the company has its head office. Torres is the family winery with the most extensive vineyards in the Denomination of Origin (DO) of Penedès and the largest winery in Spain.

They also run the Miguel Torres Chile winery in the Chilean Central Valley, and in the United States (California) where in 1986 Marimar Torres founded Marimar Estate. In Spain outside of the Torres family’s native Penedès region, they own vineyards in DO Conca de Barberà, DO Toro, DO Jumilla, DO Ribera del Duero, DOQ Priorat and most recently in DOC Rioja – in the last three areas with new wineries or wineries under construction. Likewise, Torres is also Spain’s largest producer of DO wines under its own label, exporting to more than 140 countries.

Under the Torres brand name they trade wine and brandy under on a range of different labels. Some of these are Viña Sol, Sangre de Toro, De Casta, Coronas, Atrium and Viña Esmeralda, with their best known brandies being Torres 5 and Torres 10. Many Torres wines are produced from international rather than traditional Spanish grape varieties and are varietally labelled. The company exports wines to over 140 countries. Torres made two significant contributions to the development of enology in Spain: firstly, the use of fermentation at controlled temperatures, and secondly, the maturing of the wine in small oak barrels during a scrupulously defined time, as has been a habitual practice in Bordeaux.

Torres is managed by the fourth generation of the Torres family; Miguel A. Torres is the company’s current President and Managing Director. The Torres family are founding members of the Primum Familiae Vini.”

Now let’s get to those wines the first of three whites is Pazo Das Bruxas:

Pazo das Bruxas is a wine that pays homages to the folklore and nature of Galicia, a land of immense forests inhabited by mystic and magical beings like the Galician witches who lived in old country houses (pazos) where they would connect with nature through dances and spells to obtain the best fruits from it. Just like the albariño stock that gives life to Pazo das Bruxas.

Appellation of Origin Rías Baixas is a territory of exceptional beaches, diverse landscapes, numerous vineyards and a rich cultural and historic heritage. Pazo das Bruxas is a noble wine that holds all of this Galician idiosyncrasy.

Tasting note

Brilliant, limpid, pale yellow. Fragrant on the nose, offering perfumed and citrus notes coupled with fruit aromas (white peach) over a touch of minerality characteristic of the terroir. Sweet upon entry, followed by a fresh, clean evolution across the palate and a long elegant finish.

All of the information above has been culled from their actual site including the tasting notes and that applies to every wine to come.
I found the wine very nice and pleasant, easy  to drink and a great start to the tasting.
David informed me that this is a good wine to recommend somebody who likes Sauvignon Blanc and is looking for something different to the more well known grapes; the grape is Albarino. Perfect with white meats, seafood and Goat’s cheese.

Gran Viña Sol

Gran Vina Sol
Chardonnay and Parellada are harmoniously blended after careful fermentation of a percentage in Limousin oak barrels, thus retaining the character of each variety. The result is a magnificent, intense wine.

Gran Viña Sol was a pioneer in the production of cask-fermented Chardonnay in Spain. Its name is very apt as it’s a wine of greater complexity and presence than the traditional Viña Sol.

Tasting note

Pale, brilliant golden colour. Floral (honeysuckle) with vegetable and fruit notes (pineapple, peach). Intense in the mouth, full bodied and spicy (vanilla), revealing its time in oak.

I found this a logical step up from the last wine you can taste that intensity, oakiness and body too. I really enjoyed this wine.

Fransola

Fransola
Sauvignon Blanc forms the basis of this unique wine, partially fermented and aged in new oak.

The Fransola Estate is found among the high vineyards of the Penedès in the municipality of Santa María de Miralles. This Fransola Estate is where we grow 25 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc used to produce our Fransola, one of our most elegant white wines. This wine is unique because it is enriched with new oak barrel fermentation followed by four months of ageing.

Tasting note

The wine has a brilliant gold color. Fragrant and exquisitely fine floral (verbena) and fruit (pineapple, mango) aroma with a vegetative note (fennel). The palate is silky, intense, very luscious, culminating in a smoky, elegant finish.

This is a lovely wine not much difference to my palate from the previous but that’s no criticism as they’re both of great quality. The next two wines were presented together.

Torres Viña Sol Rosé

Vina Sol Rose
A delicate rosé from Catalunya offering strawberry, raspberry and pear fruit flavours with just a touch of almond on the finish. Citrus notes and a mouthwatering crispness of flavour keep the wine fresh and balanced.

Great to drink on a warm summer’s day.

Altos Ibéricos

Altos Ibericos Crianza
Altos Ibéricos takes its name from Alto Otero, a beautiful place where the winery is situated in the town of Labastida, north of the Iberian Peninsula.

This noble wine from the Torres family, made with the tempranillo varietal, is aged for 12 months in oak barrels and for a long time in the bottle.

The Rose wine is very light and is in stark contrast to the Velvety, smoky red (first of the evening). This red wine is so oaky it feels as though I’m chewing on a table but in a good way.
I often find red wines oppressive but this red builds up a good appetite and the bowls of Olives, bread and Spanish meats kindly provided are swiftly demolished.

Last but not least Gran Coronas and Salmos the last two red wines of the night.

Gran Coronas

Gran Coronas
Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo are the grapes that bestow their nobility on Gran Coronas, a wine of a deep red hue, with ochre and brick-red touches from its ageing.

This arose from the innovative drive of Miguel A. Torres, who planted the French variety of Cabernet Sauvignon in the Penedès at the end of the 1960s and early 1970s, when normal practice was to plant local white varieties. Thanks to this, Gran Coronas has become a benchmark for reserva red wines.

Tasting note

Opaque cherry red wine. Fruity (jammy strawberry and raspberry) with lovely spicy (black pepper) and balsamic notes. Intense, deep, with very ripe, velvety tannins from ageing in wood (toasted oak).

At this point the red wines have had an impact and I am feeling merry these reds are very earthy and nice.

Salmos 2012


Salmos
This Wine is a homage to the monks of the courageous carthusian order, who arrived in ‘Priorat’, in 1095, where they cultivated vines. In 1835 a violent crowd destroyed the work of a lifetime and sacked the monastery, events which later culminated in the auctioning of church lands known as the “Desamortización de Mendizábal”. In 1996 the Torres Family began work on the planting of vineyards on the slopes strewn with the hard, black slate-like “Licorella” stone.
Grape Types – Cariñena- Syrah- Garnacha tinta

Tasting note

Dark ruby red. Rich, ripe wine with floral (confected rose) and fruit (dark cherries, prunes) aromas. Beautifully framed by French oak. Elegant, subtle midpalate, very finely structured tannins and a slight touch of toast (cocoa).

So in conclusion a truly entertaining night with a great talk from someone who loves and knows her subject; her warm smile and pronunciation of  words gave the atmosphere that Spanish feel.

I felt I learnt a lot from the experience undoubtedly and would recommend anyone to try these wine tasting events.

Angry Spectrum

origin of Angry Spectrum

Andy Plague (flutes, synthesizers, electro-violin) and Frida Montalban (electronic organ, synthesizers) met as students at the Michael Fassbender Institute in Düsseldorf in the late 1980s, participating in the  experimental music and art scene of the time, which the British music press dubbed “Shit”.

The duo had originally performed together in a quintet known as “Foreign bodies work more for less”. This ensemble released one album, titled Hope lies on your tissue (issued on Holocaust Records in the UK) but the group split shortly thereafter.

Early Angry Spectrum line-ups from 1984–1989 fluctuated, as Plague and Montalban worked with around a half-dozen other musicians over the course of recording three albums and sporadic live appearances; most notably I.T. expert Gyna Cole and anger management consultant Jacob Salt.

The only constant figure in these line-ups was Plague, whose main instrument at the time was the flute; at times also playing violin and guitar, all processed through a varied array of electronic effects.
Montalban, who left the band for six months in 1989 to pursue making swans from papier Mache, played synthesizer keyboards (including Farfisa organ and electric piano).
It was Gyna Cole who marketed the band despite no musical ability she pretended to play the drums and wear a crash helmet predating Daft Punk.

Cover of Angry Spectrum’s self-titled first album is too controversial for words.

Their first three albums were free-form experimental rock without the pop hooks or the more disciplined strong structure of later work. “Don’t mention famine @ the kitchen table”, released in 1984, and “Microchip Monstrosity 2″, released in 1988, were mostly exploratory jam music, played on a variety of traditional instruments including guitar, bass, drums, electric organ, flute and violin.

Post-production modifications to these recordings were used to distort the sound of the instruments, particularly audio-tape manipulation and multiple dubbings of one instrument on the same track. Both albums are purely instrumental.
Live performances from 1984 1986 were made as a duo, using a simple beat-box-type electronic drum machine, with preset rhythms taken from an electric organ.
These shows were mainly in Germany in gay bars, with occasional shows in France and Latvia.
Later in 1994, Gyna Cole joined the group for rehearsals, and the unit performed as a trio on the television show Arbeit Macht frei for German television network ZDF.

Mengeles wet dreem E.P. , released in 1973, the band began to move closer to its classic sound, relying more heavily on synthesisers and drum machines. Although almost entirely instrumental, the album marks Angry Spectrum’s first use of the vocoder, which would, in time, become one of its musical signatures with the repetitive use of the word perineum.

The input, expertise, and influence of producer and engineer Porous Flotsam was highly significant in the early years of Angry Spectrum and Foreign bodies also worked with many of the other leading German electronic acts of the period, including members of Clusterphobia, Binary!, Fistfockers and Harmonious Holocrust.
As a result of his work with Angry Spectrum, Porous Flotsam’ studio near Cologne became one of the most sought-after studios in the late 1980s. Porous Flotsam co-produced the first four Angry Spectrum albums.

It wasn’t until 1996 though they released their most controversial work to date with the help of Jacob Salt who contributed how they can challenge their anger in a positive way.

They released an album that tells the tale of Joseph Mengele (which they used the song from their previous E.P.) who had a wet dream to the sounds of spectrum’s loading (a reference to their own name, no wonder the word genius is assorted with this band).

Mengele despite his experiments on Jewish people feels no remorse Josef Mengele predicts the world will be dominated by computers and carries on with his work knowing he will never be punished for his crimes.

The album concludes with the eerie track Rural cancer which also details the inhuman practice of playing cows ambient music via an ipod which results in the milk making children insane. Rural cancer is obviously a metaphor for the all pervading menace of modern technology.

Described by Janet Street Porter as “The most stark and original nightmare since the rape of Nanking this band are quite a live experience.”

Feminist icon Germaine Greer also noted the irony that women would throw their underwear  when the band had took a vow of celibacy to make their dream of electro-pop work.

Angry Spectrum simply cannot  be ignored as they plant subliminal messages to buy their albums and climb high on the social ladder.

Home Alone 2 vs Saving Private Ryan (violence)

“On a summer’s morning of Aug 18th 1998 approximately 9:00 a small group of children attempted to re-enact the beginning of the Normandy invasion as depicted in the devastating opening of Saving Private Ryan.
This incident occurred without the supervision of adults in a small seaside town of Seaton in Devon. Illegal machine gun nests were planted in the sides of beach heads and foreign pupils were encouraged to play the Germans.
At 12:03 the re-ennactment was discovered and brought to a halt but unfortunately not in time to save the lives of three children.
A pirated copy of Saving Private Ryan was found washed ashore in a satchel covered in blood and sand and is believed to be the property of Chan Ling a Chinese pupil whose obsession for Spielberg is unprecedented.
During the aftermath of such a tragic and senseless loss of life the grief is slowly turning to anger as the finger is slowly pointing to Spielberg as the catalyst for such wanton violence.”

This sensationalist tabloid article does not exist. It’s not feasible to re-ennact the D-Day landings unless you have a suitable budget.
The violence in Saving Private Ryan is brutally realistic and full of consequence. No child would watch this movie and feel desensitized to its violence they would be shocked and appalled by war and in the mindset to avoid it at all costs.
In fact this film is anti-propaganda for the war machine. There will be no John Wayne posturing here. War veterans watched this movie and were brought to tears through its inherent realism.
Despite the film’s violent content it is displayed without any glamourisation in a historical context of war and so is worthy of its 15 rating. I understand that certain children need to be shielded from the true nature of horror but this film would not inspire anybody to commit any form of crime.

Which brings me to Home Alone 2: Lost in New York despite it’s PG rating the film shows a ten year old boy playing with matches, playing with power tools, playing with bare electrical wires, playing with kerosene and other toxic substances and throwing bricks at people from the roof of a three-story building.
Not only does the 10-year-old leading character play with these things, but his sole intent is to hurt others using Ninja Turtles as an example, it is a fact that children like to “act out” their favourite movies.
It’s a wonder that the local A&E units aren’t full of kids who have had access to certain materials and re-ennact scenes from this movie.
Throwing a brick in a persons face from a three-storey building has a consequence and is not considered a “funny” act yet in Home alone 2 that is the opposite when in truth the cartoonish violence just doesn’t appeal in it’s bone crushing realism.
When a body is blown into pieces on a Normandy beach there is no laughter yet a nail gun shot at full blank range in the face is justifiably hilarious in the world of Home alone.
It is easier to throw a brick from a building than it is to construct a machine gun nest. It is easier for children to play with dangerous materials than be blown up from a landmine or avoid artillery fire.
Home alone 2 is one of the more violent movies which has more detrimental effects on the wayward mind of a child than that of a movie like Saving Private Ryan; yet this film will go undetected under the ratings radar as it masquerades as a children’s movie.
Do yourself a favour, fellow readers keep your matches under lock and key watch Saving private Ryan with your child take delight in their horrified expression for it may deter them from a career in the armed forces and instead of watching Home Alone 2 watch It’s a wonderful life at xmas a film that will inspire seasonal cheer without the need for cartoonish violence.