Spanish Wine Week - Absolutely Fabula!

• Which country has more vineyards than any other in the world?
• Which European country’s wine is the best-selling here in Ireland?
• Reserva is a term we associate with which wine producing country?

The answer to all the above is Spain!   

Ireland is celebrating Spanish wine week from 4^th to 10^th October 2021.  And Molloys are playing our part in introducing something new and exciting to our customers.  

Carinena is a winemaking region which spans about 32 square miles.  It’s located in Zaragoza province, which is midway between Madrid and Barcelona. It’s one of Spain’s oldest wine regions.  And because of this, you’ll find a lot of precious old vines (45-50 years old), yielding really intensely flavoured grapes. 

It has a continental climate – low rainfall and high levels of sunshine, moderated by cool nights. These cool nights give a refreshing streak of acidity to the wines, making them perfect for richly flavoured foods.

Carinena is most famous for its red wines, particularly from two grapes - Garnacha and Carinena. Indeed, many believe that these two varieties originate from here.  Garnacha is the driving force behind those big wines of Châteauneuf du Pape in France. So, if you have a taste for Châteauneuf du Pape, but your wallet doesn’t match up to that, look towards this region.  The Carinena grape is also called Carignan in France, and it thrives in warm conditions, where it gives wines with plenty of vibrant black and red fruit, and a pleasantly dry grip of tannin. Carinena is quite unique in that it’s the name of a grape variety as well as a wine region!

These wines go beautifully with bold flavoured foods, like barbecued meats, burgers, chili (with or without carne), spicy Asian dishes, as well as hearty autumn bakes, stews and roasts.

Our buying team were thrilled to discover Bodegas Paniza from here. It’s one of the top 3 wineries in the region.  It’s a co-operative of 360 growers, whose vineyards are some of the highest in the region.  As well as making fantastic wines, the price/quality ratio is exceptional. 

And our customers have confirmed our first impressions, as the wines are selling really well. What surprised us is that the most expensive wine of the range outsells the others! Ibero de Paniza Grand Selection 1953 is a blend of mostly Tempranillo, with the balance equally split between Cabernet Sauvignon and Garnacha, and aged in oak. It’s a whopping mouthful of flavour, supported by 14% abv.

We encourage you to try our Fabula new wines this week. 

Fabula Garnacha, Fabula Carinena, Fabula Syrah are all reduced from 12.99 to 10.99.

Ibero de Paniza Grand Selection 1953 is reduced from 14.99 to 12.99, and is rated at 90 points on our quality scale.