One of the fabulous events I attended at the Vancouver Wine Festival last month was the Big, Bold and Beautiful Winemaker’s Dinner. Espana, a 40 seat tapas restaurant on Denman was the setting. There were two winemakers present, Miguel Gil of Gil Family Estates and Nathalie Bonhomme from Les Vins Bonhomme.
We were treated to nine Spanish wines and an eight-course gourmet dinner from the kitchen of executive chef, Neil Taylor.
Bonhomme’s surname doesn’t sound very Spanish. In fact she is Canadian and originally from Montreal. She moved to Spain 25 years ago to set up an export company and then began making her own wines under the guidance of winemakers in Valencia and Jumilla.
Her El Grand Bonhomme 2013 Tempranillo ($32.99) was a very seductive and luscious wine. With its ripe red and black fruits, savoury flavours, hints of spice and soft tannins, it was a superb match for the sixth course: ox cheek, chorizo, and pork rib estofado.
Bonhomme’s Tempranillo is available at private stores such as Vancouver’s Broadway Wine Shop. Government stores on the other hand have two of her very affordable and charming wines, El Petit Bonhomme Rueda Verdejo ($13.49) and El Petit Bonhomme Jumilla ($13.49).
The white Verdejo is made from Verdejo grapes grown in the Rueda Denomination de Origen in the northwest of Spain. Rueda’s continental climate and high altitude vineyards make it an ideal location for refreshing white wines with zinging acidity.
Verdejo comes from the Spanish word, ‘verde’ for green and is appropriate because of its green grapes. For years it was an under-appreciated grape used for making cheap fortified wine. Since the fall of Franco in the 1970s, it has risen to fame when winemakers began to produce a much better dry fruity version.
The Bonhomme Verdejo has a floral aroma with a dusting scent of talcum powder. It also has a ripe apple pear flavour with minerals and crisp acidity ending on a dry finish. Enjoy with seared scallops, grilled octopus or patatas a la brava.
The 2016 El Petit Bonhomme Jumilla is grown in the Jumilla Denomination de Origen in the south-east of Spain near the Mediterranean. It’s a blend of three Spanish varieties, Monastrell, Garnacha and Syrah.
The Monastrell (aka Mourvedre or Mataro) is an indigenous Spanish grape that does well around the Mediterranean. This black grape has a lot of black fruit flavours as well as spices and leather and adds alcohol and body to the blend. The Garnacha is the second most planted grape in Spain and is wind and drought resistant. It produces lighter bodied wines with a strawberry or raspberry character. The Syrah component in the blend will add blueberry and boysenberry characteristics and often a black pepper taste.
The Bonhomme Jumilla displays a generous nose with a bouquet of violets, black currant and black cherry. On the palate it is rich and round with black fruit flavours, a hint of red meat, and medium tannins. Enjoy with chorizo cooked with cumin, tomatoes, and chickpeas, or with manchego cheese. Buen provecho!
Eric Hanson is a retired Richmond wine educator and science teacher.
