‘El Escoces Volante’ – Norrel Robertson, Master of Wine
El Escocés Volante (The Flying Scotsman) is the name of the bodega founded by Norrel Robertson MW, the only Master of Wine making wine in Spain. He originally studied winemaking in New Zealand and now employs his impressive international winemaking experience to craft outstanding value wines from some of Spain’s most exciting wine regions. In the words of Sarah Jane Evans MW in Decanter Magazine “Norrel Robertson has spent years seeking out the best expression of high-altitude old vineyards and making wines of great character” while Jancis Robinson MW says “talented British Master of Wine Norrel Robertson, regularly turns out under-priced bottlings.” As Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate explains “to this point, the D.O. of Calatayud has been best known for exceptional value. However, this is slowly changing as people appreciate just how good the wines made from its old-vine vineyards can be.”
Full notes:
La Multa Old Vine Garnacha Blanca 2011 Terra Alta boasts the highest concentration of old Garnacha Blanca vineyards in the world. Grown on limestone soils in sparsely-populated hill-sides vineyards of 400-500m in a mixture of Mediterranean and continental climates, some 110km SW of Barcelona in southern Catalonia. Norrel Robertson MW’s innovative winemaking style uses maceration under inert gas before fermentation and partial malolactic and lees stirring (‘sobra lias’ or “sur lie”) for 6 months to enhance roundness, complexity and minerality in the wine. This delicious, dry white boasts subtle floral, stone fruit aromas and toasty complexity from lees age and is rich, full-bodied and complex with toasty mineral notes. A superb food wine.
La Multa Old Vine Garnacha 2010 Old concentrated bush vine fruit is hand harvested from a combination of chalk and clay soils on the barren slopes of the Ribota valley in the Calatayud DO at an altitude of 700 – 900m above sea level. This wine has been made as a bold, modern expression of the Garnacha varietal. An average vine age of well over 45 years combined with the unique microclimate has ensured great concentration of fruit from extremely small yields (circa 20hl/ha). Careful selection and vinification by Norrel Robertson MW , who has spent 9 years in Aragon making wine and gleaning local knowledge, has produced a fruit driven, concentrated wine, typical of the area, that over-delivers in style and complexity. Deep purple in colour with intense, pronounced black cherry and plum varietal fruit characters and complex earthy notes of spice and leather.