Wine Tasting at Parcent Bodega
On Wednesday 23rd January 18 members of the U3A Vall del Pop Wine Tasting group braved another cold and windy night to attend a wine tasting at the family-run Parcent bodega. The bodega was started in 2002 by Armando and Nuria Moras, brother and sister, where they focus on producing quality rather than quantity by selecting and hand picking their grapes at the optimum point of maturity.
Armando took pride in showing us around his spotless bodega and in explaining in detail his wine making process, and his years of testing and experimenting to achieve wines of quality. He expects only 3kg of grapes from each vine which enable him to produce about 70,000 litres of wine each year.
Armando presented us with four wines for tasting, whilst his sister presented exceptional tapas to complement each wine.
Firstly, we tasted a white Chardonnay and Moscatel, named Auro, which had a very special flavour and was developed in memory of their mother. In my opinion this is an exceptional chardonnay which at only euro 6.65 a bottle is very good value.
The second wine, Rosat, is a Syrah rose which was full of flavour and for the first time for me was a rose which was worth drinking and not like a watered-down red wine. At euro 5.85 a bottle it is again good value.
The third wine was a Cabernet Sauvignon at 14o proof, which had been in oak barrels for 6-9 months and then 2 years in the bottle before being offered for sale {euro 8.50}. We tasted the 2013 wine which is an excellent partner with food, rather than drinking on its own. Who doesn’t enjoy red wine with serrano ham and sharp cheese?
The last wine, Dolc d’Art {euro 7.95}, is a Bronze Medal {2004} winning sweet Moscatel desert wine, the grapes for which are always picked on 15th August. It is full of fruit flavours and not too sweet - so Armando please continue to pick the grapes on 15th August.
A very interesting visit with four excellent wines was concluded with some retail therapy as we all bought our favourites. Our gracious thanks to Armando and Nuria for an excellent evening of wine tasting and tapas.