Wine is full of heroic stories that take you by surprise. Rafael Alvarez gave up a 20-year career as a civil engineer in Madrid to devote himself more fully to his passion for the grape. Stranger still, he chose Ireland for this new life, apparently overcoming the protestations of his wife, Penny Eades, who had left Cork at the age of 20, landed a good job in Spanish radio and harboured not the slightest intention of returning. They would buy a country house, he decided; run it as a restaurant with rooms and dabble in wine.
So over they came in 1994, to Cedarfield House near Carrick-on-Suir. "It was very hard work," Rafael recalls, "and, although I sold wine to a few other restaurants, I didn't have time to expand that side of the business." After three years, an old house by the river with plenty of outbuildings for storage became the headquarters of a wine-only operation, but it remained very low-key. Rafael Alvarez is a gentle, courtly man with the air of a career diplomat - not one to go around with a noisy sales spiel. Time passed, with only a handful of aficionados occasionally swapping notes about this pleasant guy Alvarez who had some pretty nice wines tucked away in Tipperary. Then suddenly, the other week, he emerged from the shadows with sensational bravado.
In the Coq Hardi, no less, some of Spain's most exciting producers poured their wines at a tasting and lunch organised by Rafael Alvarez for about 50 serious wine buffs - restaurateurs, off-licence owners, journalists, consultants, club stalwarts. The assembled multitude couldn't believe their luck. Here were wines we'd drooled over in magazines - vivid representatives of the new face of Spain. And not only were they here in Dublin, but they'd been available in Ireland for some time - Alvarez having quietly signed up one top bodega after another. It was a bit like discovering treasure at the bottom of an inexplicably neglected garden.
Who, then, were the visitors? Alvaro Palacios, a brilliant winemaker from the swankiest of Spain's "new" regions, Priorato, was there, chatting away about how, after studying in Bordeaux, he forsook the family bodega in Rioja to pursue the crazy dream of producing a Spanish Petrus. "It was very, very difficult at first. I bought the Finca vineyard and had to work as a barrel salesman during the week to make enough money to be a wine producer at the weekends." His three Grenache-dominated wines, Les Terrasses, Finca Dofi and L'Ermita, are big, rich beauties with perfect balance.
Telmo Rodriguez, the enfant terrible who has upset Spanish authorities in various regions with his pioneering approach (to hell with the rules, let's just make fantastic wine) was all revved up about the new generation. "We are working to try to recuperate the soul of different parts of Spain," he said. And blast away a few prejudices in the process?
Here, from his native patch, was Vina 505 - Rioja with no oak at all. "Just to change the mentality a bit!" he grinned. Next to it, Altos de Lanzaga - Rioja aged in French oak rather than traditional American, but in large casks rather than small barrels, "to keep the freshness of the fruit. That's something completely new in Rioja. We're not allowed to call it Crianza or Reserva because it breaks the rules - but I don't care". Telmo's latest project, Valderiz - a meaty, minerally big red from Ribero del Duero - was on the table, too, along with a lush Toro rendering of Tempranillo (see below) and Basa, his keenly priced white wine from Rueda - a popular Irish Times bottle of the week. Winners, every single one of them.
Ramon Marin flew in from Can Rafols del Caus, an estate of the first order in Penedes, the region close to Barcelona. I've recommended a couple of his wines before, and here I go again. Try the fruity and distinctive Gran Caus white, a blend of Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Xarel-lo; the suave Gran Caus red (see below) or, if you're flush, the sensuous all-Merlot Caus Lubis.
Finally, there was Sonia Castro from Bodegas Martin Codax in Galicia, whom I mention last only because her delectable white wines have featured in this column several times. Made from Albarino , a grape that grows nowhere else, they are peachy and ripe but fantastically fresh. Best drunk young: look out for the 1999s, due in June.
"Ten years ago you couldn't find any of these wines in Spain," said Rafael Alvarez, reflecting the general mood of discovery. "Even for me, the changes are amazing." In addition to a cracking Spanish list, he offers interesting wines from France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Austalia and New Zealand, working in collaboration with Cork importer Joe Karwig. You can buy direct by the case from Approach Trade Ireland, as Alvarez styles his company, or from various off-licences - more and more, I bet, judging from the eager faces in the Coq Hardi.
Now a couple of Spanish postscripts. Searsons of Monkstown is also making a sustained assault on Spain. Early last year, their tasting dinner hosted by three live wires - Ricardo Sanz from Rueda, Ricardo Guelbenzu from Navarra and Jose Antonio Burdio from Calatayud - provided the impetus for a wine column on Iberian energy. Early this year, Searsons held a much bigger event - an ambitious and eye-opening Spanish and Portuguese tasting in the RHA Gallery.
The jolly trio was back, along with a galaxy of other producers: Jordi Rotllan from Bodegas Rotllan Torra in Priorato; Miguel Angel Gregorio from Bodegas Allende in Rioja; Pamela Geddes from Murcia; Jordi Prat from Marques de Alella; Jorge Rosas from the Portuguese port house turned table wine producer, Adriano Ramos-Pinto. The team from Monkstown, meanwhile, poured many wines which continue to impress - like the punchy Jumilla reds of Bodegas Agapito Rico and Alejandro Fernandez's stupendous reds from Ribero del Duero. If that reads like a shopping list, so it should. More than any other Dublin merchant, Searsons has the New Spain sussed - different styles, different regions, every possible price.
Last but heavens, definitely not least: Miguel Torres nipped over a few weeks ago for a dinner and tasting in L'Ecrivain of the estate wines from his family's enterprises in Spain, Chile and California. I've written so much in the past year about Senor Torres and his US-based firebrand of a sister, Marimar, that I daren't risk more than three staccato sentences here. Mas La Plana 1995, just released, is a treat (see below). The Chilean, Manso de Velasco 1997, is much, much more tempting than I remember earlier vintages. But the real star is Torres Grans Muralles 1997 from Conca de Barbera - a fabulous back-to-the-future wine made from Catalan grapes. A pity it's £350, but it might almost be worth it.
Spain, believe me, has never been more tempting.
Rafael Alvarez, Approach Trade Ireland, South Quay, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary. Tel 051 640164, fax 051 641580.
Searsons, Monkstown Crescent, Blackrock, Co. Dublin. Tel 01 280 0405, fax 01 280 4771.