‘Mackenway Distributors Limited
Qubél Newsletter Winter 2008
Now having entered headlong into the New Year, we wish everybody good health accompanied by a nice glass of wine everyday.
We will start the newsletter by giving thanks for the accomplishments of 2007, which bestowed upon us a rise in wines sales and the number of visits to the winery and visitor’s center.
Abroad, in the second semester of 2007, Mackenway Distributors Limited started flying the Qubél flag in Ireland, Baretto and Kandinsky now sells our wine through their web site in Holland and Metzgerei Fritzenwallner sells it in their store in Köstendorf, Austria. We also want to voice our appreciation for the vote of confidence and effort of all of our distributors nationally and internationally, and of course, to all of those who drink Qubél,
However, side effects linger from the storm that left us without grapes to harvest in 2007. For example, we now find ourselves in pruning season, that will require extra special attention this year. The caprices of mother nature, in this case the weather, favored intense rain accompanied by hail a few days after having realized the “green” harvest. All of this caused a great number of the tender shoots to break. Given that this phenomenon occurred very early in the Spring, the hope was that the vines would re bud, send out new shoots… Indeed, that is what happened, but both the grape clusters that were not harmed by the storm, as well as the clusters from the new shoots, did not achieve the quality that we were used to..
As far as the plant itself, the structure was not damaged because the falling hail was mixed with a lot of water, preventing more harm. But we will have to make a large and more careful selection during winter pruning with the goal of reorienting the future shoots and canes. In the Spring, we will again realize the usual “green” harvest that should give us the expected quality of grapes.
Once again, we attended the Vinos de Madrid wine fair, organized by the governing body of the Denomination of Origin Wines of Madrid. It is plain to see that the wines from Madrid are gaining ground with professionals and the general public alike! Every year more and more people are attending this event in the Palace Hotel.
More recent news:
Our winery has been included in the latest edition of the Spain Gourmetour magazine, a publication of ICEX, the foreign trade organization of the government. It is distributed as a wine and food themed supplement in New York Times in the U.S., The Times in the Britain and the Irish Times in Ireland. The article featured organic wine and olive oil production in Spain, and recognized the boom in this sector. A copy of the article is included at the end of the newsletter.
We also sent the wine to Moscow for a tasting of wines from central Spain, sponsored by ICEX. The tasting was held in the Economic and Commercial Office and was organized and led by the Independent Wine Club, an organization made up of Russian experts of the international, quality wines. To our pleasant surprise, the experts awarded 93+ points to Qubél Crianza 2002. Their Russian Internet site, Winepages.ru has published the tasting notes and ratings of the wines from the tasting.
The translation of the tasting notes:
The color of the wine is saturated, dark cherry. It has complex aromas, that are impressive for their depth. One deduces notes of cherry, blackberry, blueberry and black currants, in addition to notes of licorice, fragrant grasses, and sun-dried earth and mineral tones, and subtle traces of animal. It is full of flavor, magnificently balanced, with dense but mature and velvety tannins. Long, spicy fruit aftertaste.
Without a doubt, the wine stands out before us and shows the potential of the lesser-known regions in Spain. The wine is profound and complex, for meditation and it will continue to reveal itself. Will combine well with lamb or game dishes. To drink between 2009 and 2015. 93+ points.
The Enoteca
The activities in the Enoteca continue to gel and we now have reservations for events into Autumn. In addition to our direct clients, we are receiving groups of foreign tourists through bookings by well-known travel agencies. For distinctive corporate activities or classes, we also count on the collaboration from companies from all over Spain, specialized in event planning.
Particularly, we have the great satisfaction to announce the start of our relationship with the Hotel Ritz and the Orient-Express group, to which the Hotel Ritz of Madrid belongs to. Since the month of January, we are their winery of reference in Madrid and all of the group’s clients can visit our web site through their web page. You can find us at www.ritz.es, in the packages and offers section under Wine Tasting Program, or at Orient-Express group website, Hotel Ritz Madrid section.
Image comes from: midfield.wordpress.com
This post in Spanish: Boletín Qubél Invierno 2008
