County Business Clubs’ Wine of the Month July 2024

Enrique Medoza Chardonnay 2023 from Costa Blanca near Alicante

As we move into summer, most of us are looking forward to taking time out for a holiday. I would wholeheartedly recommend visiting local vineyards or distilleries on your break. It is a great opportunity to sample local cuisine and wines that you would not usually have back in your home county or back in the UK.

For the last two weeks, I have been in the region of Costa Blanca visiting friends in and around Alicante. As a region, although coastal, it is usually sunny with a limited amount of rain each year. The Mediterranean sea helps with coastal sea breezes circulating through the mountain corridors providing greater freshness and relief to the vines from the usual high temperatures.

As with many coastal areas of Spain, they have great local seafood and paella as well as several local vineyards, which have a variety of local and international grape types. As we had hired a car, we decided to visit Enrique Medoza Estate which is just outside of the well-known resort of Benidorm, easily accessible with a local taxi. 

At this vineyard, they produce a wide selection of wines, more reds than white that develop well in the intense sunshine. Monastrell is a favourite for the region with bold dark fruits, medium body with smokey notes. There are more familiar international varieties such as Pinot Noir and Merlot as well as more unusual blends or varieties such as Petit Verdot. 

In their own words, Enrique Mendoza initially opted for foreign varieties, but his attachment to the territory has led to a focus on the native Monastrell variety. At Bodegas Enrique Mendoza, our challenge is to make wines in such a way that you can recognize our sun, our light, our Mediterranean character and our humanity. With the right attitude, experience and team, this journey is turning out to be more attractive than it seemed.

After trying several of the Estates wine I have chosen to review a white wine which was of excellent quality and perfectly served in an ice bucket to enjoy in the sunshine.  The unoaked Chardonnay from 2023 is lovely and at 9 euros a bottle, great value.

Michael’s tasting notes;

On the nose we have melon, honeysuckle and slight tropical notes including pineapple.

On the palate we have refreshing wine with delicate fruit. We have lots of citrus, lemon with some green apple and balanced minerality with nice mouth feel, acidity and body to the wine.

My ideal pairing would be with deep fried calamari or chopitos (baby cuttlefish) with a squeeze of lemon

The winemaker’s notes;

Very pale yellow wine with nice lemony hints.

Spring appears on the nose. Freshness predominates with hints of green apples, citrus, tropical fruits such as mango, pineapple and light floral aromas.

In the mouth, acidity predominates, which gives it its characteristic freshness and it has a medium volume that gives it smoothness.

A wine that transmits the joy and spring of the Mediterranean.

In summary

Wherever you end up this summer, I would recommend visiting any local producers for a tasting, it’s great fun and gives you an appreciation of the region it is located. Happy holidays!

Enrique Mendoza Estate offers a great representation of it’s region with lots of different wines to suit all tastes. You can book 2 hour wine tours for 25 euros a person at https://bodegasmendoza.com/la-bodega/

Michael Yeoman, Founder of Brighton and Hove Wine Club

Michael Yeoman specialises in working with small batch wine producers in and around Sussex and the South Downs. He founded Brighton and Hove Wine Club and also creates a range of small batch Sussex brandies, grape spirits and vodka through Spirit of the Downs Distillery based at Bookers Vineyard, Bolney.