Bodegas Binifadet Adding Extra Sparkle To The Glistening Island Of Menorca

Menorcan wines are not at all well known; their sparkling wines are virtually anonymous. It’s not surprising – although wines have been made here for hundreds of years, the Phoenicians, then the Romans and so on, it has, during recent centuries, been only for domestic use.

It wasn’t until 2003 that three local growers and winemakers decided to up the ante and start commercialising their wines with an official demarcation – the IGP Illa de Menorca. One member of this triumvirate, Señor Anglés, founded Bodegas Binifadet, handing over the reins eventually to his son, Lluís – my guide around this beautiful wine estate on my recent visit.

Lluís didn’t simply take on the estate and the wines it was making; he added significantly to the portfolio of wines and this included Sparkling Wines, made by the traditional method. Plus, I can reveal to you, as the first person, along with Lluís himself, to taste it, that they are now making a very small production of Pet Nat sparklers.

I can make a confident prediction here – Bodegas Binifadet, currently the only Menorcan winery making sparkling wine, will not be alone for long. The abiding memory of this remarkable tasting is one of elegance. These sparkling wines, particularly those crafted by the traditional method, are elegance and sophistication personified. Add to that the aroma and flavour profile as well as the 14 months ‘en rima’, in bottle, resting on the lees, and it’s clear that here we have a new Menorcan classic. Enhorabuena – congratulations – Lluís and Team Binifadet!

Lluís took me for a tour of the winery – we went first to the ‘Tancas’. This is the Menorcan word for the Spanish parcellas, which in English are plots. Here, the vineyard plots are small; seen from the air, it might look a little like a large chessboard. The squares are made by the traditional dry-stone walls built throughout the island to protect whichever crops are being grown from the harsh winds that can blow mercilessly from the surrounding Mediterranean Sea. But that’s not all that this calcareous, limestone rock, locally called Marés, does to help the wines of Menorca.

We next went down to the cellars, passing as we did so, one of the walls of solid rock from which the cellar had been hewn. Indeed, the entire cellar is surrounded by this Marés, which gives a sort of damp, musty aroma to the cellar, similar to that which is found in the underground cellars of the world’s largest sparkling wine producer, Freixenet. Now that’s not a bad omen!

Lluís explained that the whole island sits on this base rock, which was formed millions of years ago when the whole of the Balearic Islands were under the sea! The rock was formed by billions of shells, all manner of sea creatures and sand settling on the bottom of the sea, until Tectonic movement pushed upwards, forming the islands we now know. It’s no surprise, therefore, that in the island’s wines, tasters often discover a certain salinity in the minerality of Menorcan wine. Clearly, the sea breezes (well, often gale-force winds!) also add to this taste.

On top of the rock, there is about one metre of mostly clay, red/brown coloured soil. It is this soil that, Lluís says, allows the grape varieties to express their fruit flavours and floral aromas. The combination of the Marés influence and the clay soil makes for some cracking wines. This, of course, includes Sparkling Wines!

First up was the Buri Escumós (sparkling) Rosé. When first opened, this wine filled our senses with a glorious rose-petal perfume, cordially inviting us in! Made with black grapes, the international Merlot and Spanish Monastrell (aka Mourvèdre), as well as the ubiquitous Chardonnay, it’s had 14 months in bottle waiting for release, giving a little depth of flavour and complexity. Fellers, if you want to impress your partner, seek out this wine; it’s lovely. Elegance, fragrance, mouthfeel and fruit flavours in this Brut traditional method sparkler, and with that touch of salinity too!

Next, after such a good start, was the white, Buri Espumoso Blanco. This 100% Chardonnay fizz has a glorious golden shade and has also benefitted from 14 months in the cellar on its lees. On initial impact, it offers a little more weight on the palate than the perhaps more delicate rosé, but don’t worry, the elegance is there for sure. Because of the variety, you can’t help but think of Non-Vintage grower Champagne when tasting this wine, as well as a Cava de Guarda Superior that has also been made with Chardonnay. Soft stoned fruit with a little earthiness and minerality.

We then went on to the purely experimental (at this stage) Pet Nat fizz, with which Lluís is toying. I was honoured as the two of us were the first to taste this wine, it having been finished only recently! He asked my opinion a bout the two bottles presented before us, by one of the helpful and cheerful staff (this is another mark of this winery, the staff seem more like family than employees and they all seem to love their work). One bottle was completely clarified and a beautiful yellow/gold colour; the other, the same wine exactly, had not been clarified and presented as a natural wine style, cloudy.

I have no objection at all to natural wine that has not been wholly clarified – I understand the concept of very limited intervention and approve of it too. However, I’ve always said, when asked, that I think the dedicated natural wine believers are, commercially at least, doing themselves a disservice. If you are trying to get the general public to appreciate your wines, presenting a cloudy bottle isn’t the way.

Lluís wanted my opinion – fortunately, we are like-minded in this, and future bottling will almost certainly be presented as was our first bottle, bright and clear.

And wait – what a wine?! In truth, I was a bit worried; I’m on record many times saying that for me, the Traditional Method is by far the best style of Sparkling Wine. Yet, here I was sitting in front of the creator of this fizz made by the ancestral method, where the wine is bottled mid-fermentation, where the fermentation continues in the bottle! The antithesis of the Cava, Champagne et al method. Well, it must be the grape variety that swung it for me – I loved it!

It’s made with an almost extinct indigenous variety, Giró Ros – the ‘Ros’ is Catalan and means rosé, referring here to the skin colour of the grape. It’s quite remarkable – here it’s 100%, a monovarietal, yet that nose and flavour are strong enough to make it stand out in the excellent 50/50 Giró Ros/Chardonnay still wine I’d tasted before.

How to describe it – well, unique is accurate but not very helpful, I know! Blanched almonds, faint citrus fruit with perhaps papaya, honeydew melon, with a food-friendly slight savoury, umami finish? I’m not sure, but what I am certain of is that the 50 only, experimental bottles will fly!

It’s also a good commercial bet – Lluís says it’s easy to make (probably something of an understatement!) and quick – which is perhaps one of its most attractive attributes (apart, of course, from its quality!) as it will help with cash flow, once it’s up and running, joining the very impressive portfolio of wines here at Bodegas Binifadet, IGP Illa de Menorca.

 

Photo credits belong to Colin Harkness, and Glass of Bubbly has been granted permission to use these images.