Corti Brothers Newsletter for September 2007  Page 4    

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My selection of this extra virgin oil begins with the surprise visit of two young men from Andalucia, the Melgarejo brothers, visiting California in February 2007. They came at the suggestion of their professor and a friend of mine Marino Uceda, the head of the olive oil research station in Jaén. We went to lunch and I tasted their oil produced from the Picual variety and thought it particularly fine. They left me with the sample and later, on their return to Spain, I called and said I would buy some oil. The oil could not be shipped immediately since it had not yet been tasted by the denomination of origin panel and thus not yet bottled. But it would be shortly.

In the mean time, Melgarejo Picual Extra Virgin Olive Oil was entered in the Los Angeles County Fair oil tasting (now known as the Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition, of which I am the chairman,) and to my great pleasure, Melgarejo Picual won a gold medal. I recommend this oil to you since it is a very fine example of the cultivar, a much discussed one, and shows how really good it can be.

Melgarejo Picual comes from the family firm, created in 1995. Previously the Melgarejos had only been olive growers for over 100 years. Produced in the denomination of origin Sierra Mágina, a Spanish national park of the same name in Andalucia, the southern part of Spain, the denomination was created in 1995 and was in full effect by 1999. It is one of the 10 denominations in Andalucia, the foremost oil producing region in Spain, producing more than 77% of the national production. In this region there are 3,308,803 acres of trees that produced 638,187 tons of oil in 2005-2006 production year. (To give you a comparison, Italy’s total production for 2005-2006 production was 655,422 tons.)

Sierra Mágina national park is located to the east of Jaén and north of Granada and comprises 173,800 acres of the Andalucian total. As to quality control, it is the only denomination which recommends the picking date for its olives. Picual and Manzanillo de Jaén, as a secondary variety, are the only varieties allowed in the denomination. Picual is famous for its stability, high production levels in oil (21-22%,) and its high level of polyphenols, the healthy antioxidants present in extra virgin oil.

Melgarejo Picual has an acidity level of 0.19%, the maximum for the denomination is 0.5%; peroxides of 4.85 out of 20 maximum; a medium fruity intensity, with the aroma of fresh cut grass, and light to medium bitterness and pungency. The common, characteristic scent of this variety is not present due to its early harvest production and shows that Picual is a variety capable of producing high quality if you know how to do it. I have never seen this quality available before commercially. If you are at all interested in fine oil, here is one to buy.

Melgarejo Picual Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Sierra Mágina $19.99 500ml (#1915)

I have known Andy Quady since the mid 1970s, his university days in the Enology department at UC Davis. His stated plan for making wine in California was to specialize in port production. He subsequently branched out to making two splendid muscat wines, Essencia and Elysium; two vermouths, dry and sweet; and now two very different wines. One is a flor fermented sherry type called Palomino Fino, and the other a flavored wine called Diation. Both deserve your attention.

Palomino Fino is produced from the same named variety grown in the California’s central valley. Sherry, a fortified wine, was once the backbone of the California wine industry although now very little is produced. Quady Palomino Fino is an aged example of a flor wine similar to an amontillado style. Flor, or Saccharomyces fermentatii, is the surface yeast which grows on Spanish wines in the sherry district, protecting the wine from oxidizing, but giving it a characteristic aldehyde character. Quady Palomino Fino has the round, dry, nutty character of these wines especially when they get old. Produced by the solera method of fractional blending, it only gets better as the solera gets older. This wine is very different from the current California producer who wants to make the next “same thing.” This is a valid style of wine that we seem to have forgotten about. You should try it. Delicious as an aperitif and for soups. A snap tapa is the Entremés de Bonito, bread, and the Palomino Fino.

Deviation is a flavored wine, an aperitif wine, a vermouth type of wine, which is flavored with rose geranium and damiana. A novel wine, it is prettily rose scented with leaves from Quady’s own production of rose geraniums and the sweet greenness of the damiana plant from Mexico. Drunk chilled as an aperitif it is striking. Mixed with bourbon or rye, it makes a wonderful cocktail. Try it in making a Manhattan. This is one of the most exotic products ever to come out of California’s central valley.

Steinberg is probably the most famous of the German vineyards. Originally a Cistercian monastery, Kloster Eberbach, then owned by the Princes of Nassau, the German Crown, now the German State, it produces some of the most famous wines made in the Rheingau. We have bought a small parcel of a 2001 Kabinett style wine kept by the estate for selling at auction. I am very fond of older German wines and am convinced that they prove to be the longest lasting wines of all. This Steinberg Kabinett 2001 is no exception.

The Kloster Eberbach Auction is the most prestigious sale of special German wines; usually wines sold there are special lots which are reserved just for such sales, made up of what various estates consider to be wines of special merit and character. Auction wines are usually not offered for sale through the normal wine trade.

Very pale in color, still almost water white, this Kabinett has a lovely rich scent, gewürztraminer-ish, which becomes more steely and riesling-like as it opens up. It is remarkable how it shows the multifaceted character of riesling while keeping a mineral, almost steely finish and long flavor. This is still a “baby” wine. If you have never enjoyed the treats of mature German wines, this is one for your consideration. Now six years old, it will keep for a long time.