The wine diaries: Living the roaring 20s with Ramon Bilbao
What a night was had at the celebratory launch of Ramon Bilbao’s The Journey Collection at glamorous Hispania. Throwing back to the joie de vivre of the 1920s, guests in varying degrees of vintage dress clinked crystal martini glasses in front of jazz singers before being swept up the turning staircase to a sumptuous candle-lit dinner presided over by chief winemaker Rodolfo Bastida.
Bastida took us through his seven new wines, from the fresh and zippy Sauvignon Blanc to a classic Rioja Reserva. But the jewel in the Journey Collection’s crown was the Mirto 2015, produced only in excellent years from vines over 90 years old and paired beautifully with a rich, dark chocolate cake. Who needs dessert wine?
Established in 1924, Ramon Bilbao is one of the most prolific and renowned winemakers in Spain but has an eye constantly on innovation. His latest new project is the boutique Lalomba, which is the first time Bilbao has ever produced premium, single vineyard wines.
Lalomba director Alberto Saldón and winemaker Rosana Lisa told me that Bilbao is “like a godfather helping to develop the product,” with a focus on the exceptional terroir of the vineyard combined with the newest winemaking techniques. A dream of over a decade, they constructed an underground temple dedicated to establishing and maintaining the purity of the wine using specially designed concrete vats. This expressive clarity is distinct in the wines with the Finca Valhonta 2017 providing waves of fresh fruit, cloves, violets and liquorice.
“Sometimes you think a red wine cannot pair with fish,” says Saldón, “but this goes well with cod, fatty salmon, squid ink calamari and paella”. Lisa has a passion for the grape Garnacha, which she says is “amazing for reds because of its profile of aromas, it is so velvety” and the Finca Ladero 2016 is a blend of Garnacha and Spain’s star player Tempranillo. A Mediterranean influence is clear with rich black fruit and the heady scent of rosemary and lavender fields. Launching in the UK soon these wines will be available from Enotria & Coe for £100 a bottle.