The Colin Harkness Wine Review

Well, it’s a little tenuous I admit, but I wanted to place Adele and Shakespeare in the same sentence whilst simultaneously having a link, no matter how obscure, to this month’s Wine Matters column. 

Wines have been made in the Alicante Province since Phoenician times. The Romans developed the concept into a commercial enterprise; the Moors (North Africans), perhaps surprisingly given Muslim tea totalism, continued with typical business acumen and zeal. Then, somewhere along the line, the Riko-Mestre family arrived on the scene!

The sun had risen into a beautiful, azure coloured sky but a couple of hours before my arrival at Bodegas Montesanco just outside the quiet Marina Alta town, Teulada.

Your correspondent can hardly keep the smile off his face – and this is over a week after our wonderful guided tour and tasting at Bodegas Argüeso, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Andalucia!

It’s now no longer correct to write about the ‘nascent’ English (and Welsh) Sparkling Wine business. A far better and more accurate description would be the ‘burgeoning’ English/Welsh Sparkling Wine sector.

Extra to the overt bonhomie and joviality of the wonderfully friendly and generous Señor Vicente Flors, founder of Bodega Flors, IGP Castelló, there must also be a more covert streak of determination and stubbornness running throughout his DNA!

Their website (www.casasicilia1707.es) gives an insight into the longevity of Bodega Heretat de Cesilia. Originally given by King Jaume 1 to the Marquis de Romana for services to the Crown in 1707, the ‘heretat’ consisted of four different sites of agricultural land, the principle one of was situated just out of the ‘pueblo’ of Novelda, where the Marquis had his ‘finca’ built.

Colin Harkness visita la Bodega Heretat de Cesilia. Originalmente cedida por el rey Jaume I al marqués de Romana para servir a la corona, la ‘heretat’ consistía en cuatro tierras de cultivo.

Now officially retired, it’s quite clear from my recent visit that there has been no dampening of the passion that this grandee of the Alicante winemaking scene must surely have had when a youngster, starting out on his wine journey. The glimmer in his eye as he introduced me to each of the fifteen wines we tasted, deep in the crianza cellar of his bodega in sleepy Parcent, has not been dimmed by the passage of time.

En mi última visita he visto claramente la pasión que este grande del vino alicantino, Felipe Gutiérrez tuvo cuando de joven inició su viaje por este mundo.