Iberia unveils new Business Plus wine list
Tuesday 3, August 2010
For another quarter, Iberia has changed the offering of Spain's most exquisite regional wines for passengers in Business Plus Class.
For the next three months the Business Plus cellar features tradition and quality, with whites from the Rías Baixas and Rueda, and reds from the La Rioja and Ribera del Duero, but also a newcomer from Cadiz.
These wines were chosen to accompany the new food service in Iberia's Business Plus class, with recipes by Sergi Arola inspired by traditional Mediterranean cuisine.
Selecting the wines were the experts from the Todovino wine consulting firm which is a partner of the Iberia Plus programme.
A video selection available on board takes passengers into the world of wine via a "tasting and talk" session between the experts and Iberia's "virtual sommelier", Custodio L. Zamarra, a winner of Spain's National Gastronomy Award and chief sommelier at the Madrid restaurant Zalacaín. More information about the wines is available in the in-flight magazine Ronda Iberia, and the Revista Todovino, as well as on the wine list itself.
The wine list is also on view in Iberia's VIP lounges in Terminal 4 at Madrid-Barajas airport.
This Quarter's Wines:
- Finca Moncloa 2007 Tinto (V.T. Cádiz). Finca Moncloa as a part of the historic Jeréz firm González Byass, famous for its full-bodied wine, and now making high-quality wines in Cádiz with grapes from a 43-hectare vineyard in Arcos de the Frontera, at the foot of the Sierra de Grazalema. This red is made with syrah (60%) and cabernet sauvignon (40%) grapes and is aged for 12 months in French and American oak casks. The most outstanding feature of the 2007 vintage is the primary and explicit fruitiness, with a caressing texture in the mouth despite its relative youth.
- Ramón Bilbao Edition Limitada Crianza 2007 Tinto (D.O. Ca. Rioja). the This limited edition is one of the best reds for style and price to be found in La Rioja, or indeed the entire country. It was awarded a cloverleaf in Todovino's 2010 Guide as the best buy of the year. Its success may be due to being an affordable wine with a structure, characteristics, and an equilibrium that surpass all expectations. Those who try it invariably come back for more. Each bottle is numbered, as befits a "limited edition". Inside them dwells a red with lively fruitiness, balance, and complexity. A genuine luxury.
- Torre de Golbán Reserva 2005 Tinto (D.O. Ribera del Duero). This is the first year of this Reserva red aged for 18 months in French oak, and that takes us to the lovely Atauta valley at the eastern extreme of the Ribera del Duero D.O. Of an ancient tradition, the wines from this zone were long neglected, but are now being revived as an example of a very special and intimate Ribera, made from 100% tempranillo grapes. An intriguing and aromatic red with reminiscences of the deep woods (leaves, resins and pine-nuts), flavourful and evocative.
- Protos Verdejo 2009 Blanco (D.O. Rueda). Protos is one of the historic winemakers of the Ribera del Duero, whose name is synonymous with fine reds, and whose latest vintages have been particularly brilliant. But like many other firms in Ribera and other region of Old Castile, it has turned its attention to Rueda, which is now making some of Spain best whites in terms of price/quality. This verdejo is an outstanding example of the 2009 harvest and it combines smoothness with freshness, not to mention an unusually persistent finish.
- Pazo Señorans 2009 Blanco (D.O. Rías Baixas). One of standard-bearers of Galicia's whites, notable for its regularity and the almost perfect expression of the albariño, Spain's most renowned white grape. And it carries the imprimatur of one the pioneering cultivators of this variety. The 2009, regarded as one of the best vintages in many years, has reached maturity without losing tartness.
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