Bodega Aguilar. For Wine, Spirits, Vermouth and Tribute Drinks!

Colin Harkness

Tribute Bands – it’s a term that’s amused me for many years. Supposedly, the bands playing, for example old Beatles songs, perform those numbers as a tribute to the originals, to honour the truly great legends of the past. Look around: the Stones, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Dire Straits, Eagles and so on – they’re all available down the road and at a fraction of the cost of seeing the real thing!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking the musicality, the playing, the singing of the members of the tribute bands. The ones I’ve seen have been very good, exceptional at times. But, paying tribute to the original greats, really? Wanting it to be known that they truly admire the iconic bands of the past? Or is it not, in fact, simply singing cover versions, albeit good ones, and actually trading on the names of the famous, not their own?

Well, it’s questionable at the least – and in another way too: what has it got to do with wine? This is the Colin Harkness Wine Review, isn’t it?

I have to be honest, it’s a touch tenuous, but there is a link. I recently visited Bodega Aguilar in Ondara. If approaching from the south, having escaped the clutches of the strong magnetic force (for my wife at least!) of the Ondara Shopping Centre, Portal de La Marina, intending to go through the village, you can’t miss it. When the road narrows and morphs into a one-way system, it’s right on the corner. Large white building clearly marked, as it has been for over a century, right on the small roundabout.

In fact, it was my second visit in almost as few days. Bodega Aguilar has lots to offer – and indeed, as owner Juan Luis told me when we chatted, lots of offers too! It’s one of those bodegas where you can’t help but buy a little more than that which you’d planned upon, the more so if, when you’ve chosen, management says you can have a discount. I’m not sure who took advantage of whom – well, I guess we both came out winners.

To go back, though, to the tenuous link mentioned above, the ‘tribute’ concept is alive and well at Aguilar. Not, of course, with bands playing the music of others (well, as far as I know – it may happen here sometime, you’ll read why later!), no, the tribute here is the perfectly legal copying of famous brands of spirits and liqueurs.

I say ‘perfectly legal’ because it’s always been a shady grey area for me. I’ve seen in some bars bottles that look like, for example, Baileys, that sumptuous creamy whisky liqueur and have occasionally been tempted – but found that it’s in fact not the same. Perhaps a little thinner, tasting slightly differently, less rich and so on. On close study of the bottle, it still looks just like the original, but surely, it’s not?

Well, let’s face it, there are plenty of copies, fakes, of famous name everything on the market stalls of the world, so I guess it’s going to happen in the drinks field too. However, whilst a large selection of bottles of many spirits and liqueurs proudly displayed on the shelves of Bodega Aguilar do look very similar to the famous names we know so well, there is a big and noticeable difference here – they all say Bodega Aguilar on them.

This is not an attempt to dupe people – it’s perfectly legal because one thing that so many of the other wine shops haven’t got and of which Aguilar is rightly proud, is a distilling licence. You see, Bodega Aguilar are also distillers! Proof of just how successful this side of the business has become is the fact that every week two full trucks drive to Benidorm to replenish the shelves of the bars, restaurants, clubs etc so enjoyed by the tourists and locals of Spain’s famous resort!

For further proof – I tasted one! La Caña is a liqueur made from Cane Rum and it’s delicious! At 30% it’s not one of the high-octane spirits, but it packs a nice punch, with flavours of rum, of course, coffee and canella with a touch of sweetness. It’s one for sipping at the end of a lovely dinner, perhaps with coffee – perhaps in a coffee! And the price – just 6.95€! See what I mean about the advantage of Bodega Aguilar being a distiller as well.

Please note also, that whilst you can find these in-house distilled spirits, you can also buy the famous brands as well, of course.

But that’s not all! I alluded above to another side of the business when I was talking about the remote(?) possibility of a musical event in the bodega – yes, their events. After reading this article, if I were you, I’d take a trip to Bodega Aguilar – buy one of the ‘tribute’ spirits, browse and buy from the huge selection of wines, sherries etc and, importantly, ask to be placed on their events/offers notifications list. I did some time ago and it’s been great.

My first recent visit was to take up my place at a tasting organised by Juan Luis and impeccably presented by Macarena Muñoz Rodríguez of Bodegas Recaredo, producers of sublime Spanish Sparkling Wine as well as fine still wine. This wasn’t the first time I’ve taken advantage of the advance notice information that comes directly from the bodega informing those on the list of the latest. It won’t be my last, although, because of prior commitments I can’t attend this week’s Lustau (I name drop for a reason – it shows the calibre of these tastings), nor the fascinating one coming soon which is an introduction to natural wines. And so on!

So, another reason for taking a trip to Bodega Aguilar.

And, yes, you guessed it – there’s more. This is of course a dedicated wine shop, and some – as we’ve seen, but let’s talk also about wine. It really is an excellent selection of wine, including: red, white, rosé, orange/amber wines, sparkling, dessert, and fortified wines like Sherry and Port. Essentially, it’s got the lot – oh, and I forgot the Vermouth!

My last visit, for now anyway, saw me walk away with an: Amber wine (aka orange wine and, more correctly skin contact white wine), which was incredible value for money incidentally; a subtle dry white; and an oak aged red coming from the buzz area at the moment, Gredos, made of course, with their much loved variety, Garnacha (aka, in France and other parts of the world, Grenache).

My wife, another strong advocate of the Orange Wine style was as surprised as I was by the economical price of Nanit made from organically grown Macabeo whose skins have been left with the must during fermentation and ageing. It’s a VdlT wine, coming from Vino de la Tierra de Castilla and made by Bodegas Morgante, of Albacete. For me this wine is another of a growing number of orange wines which I’m advising people to buy as an intro to the Orange/Amber Wine style. A touch floral, there’s a little soft apple on the nose along with a distant very dry cider aroma and flavour. Good to pair with many dishes – under 6€!!

I was expecting the Gredos red to be quality, though in fact I’d not heard of the bodega which has crafted here a fine example of how good Sierra de Gredos Garnacha can be. Laderas de La Mira comes from Bodegas Sotomanrique, DO Cebreros and, to add to its quality, it’s made from old vines grown at altitude on the mountainside.

Slightly darker than many of the Garnacha based wines I’ve tasted, perhaps because of the soils and the age of the vines, it’s shy on the nose at first, though opening up as it breathes. Don’t serve this wine chilled or you’ll have to wait for it to open before you can enjoy it! Rich on the palate, with dark brambly fruit, earthiness and mountain herbs on the nose and a little on the palate too. It’s a very good wine, coming at just under 19€ and well worth it too!

The next wine, priced at just over 8€ (but I’ve since heard reduced to 3.99€, while stocks last) was the white. It was a wine form a cooperativo and at the eight Euro mark it reminded me that not all cooperativo wines are priced at entry level, some high quality wines can be found at these local, community based wineries.

I did the whole swirl and sniff thing, holding the wine on the palate, drawing some air over it etc, in other words the full professional tasting technique – but I was baffled! Trying to identify the grape variety/blend of a wine is a very difficult task. I’ve worked and judged with some who have been unbelievably accurate at identifying (not guessing!) the grapes correctly. I’m not at their level, though, when younger I wasn’t too bad. This wine was playing hard to get, so I messaged Juan Luis. I was correct in one of the two, Macabeo, but wrong from there on as I thought there might be two other varieties, but the Viognier and Moscatel that I’d reasoned, were wrong. Merseguera was Macabeo’s partner and they worked very well together. This lesser known variety is slowly becoming more prevalent these days in the Velencia region – and I’m all for it!

So, as mentioned above, I’d recommend you taking a trip to Bodega Aguilar, or contacting them on Facebook, or by visiting the website below, as soon as you can! Mention my name, if you like – I don’t think they’ll charge you double!

www.aguilarbodega.es

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