Notes on last night's Spanish theme.
I had expected an in theme starter of the Cava persuasion, but was surprised to taste:
1997 Zind Humbrecht Riesling Turckheim - a lemon pudding nose with an overlay of Riesling oil. Soft and pleasant.1997 Montecillo Reserva - this event turned into a procession of Riojas, so much so that I will indicate when a wine isn't a Rioja, otherwise assume that's what it was. We had enjoyed this modestly priced wine a couple of time recently, and had noted that it improved markedly with a bit of air, so the person that brought it had decanted it a couple of hours before. The nose had by this time shed the sweet blackberries and cherries had passed on to the pepper and refined oak with fruit of more indeterminate origin. Medium bodied wine with tannins resolved, excellent value. Some of this found it's way into my already jammed cellar.
1994 Paternina Gran Reserva - an old style very pale wine - it looked like a Pinot. A nose that opened with time, some quite mature flavours and a bit of heat at the end. Not bad.1994 Conde de Valdemar Gran Reserva - an very interesting contrast - two gran reservas, but this one from Martinez Bujanda was a more modern style. Much darker with a fuller nose of black cherries, good flavour concentration and length. This would appeal to many much more than the previous wine, yet there was something about the Paternina that kept me coming back.....
1994 Faustino I Gran Reserva - yup - the one in the bottle with fake cellar dust glued to it, big brother of the ubiquitous Faustino V crianza. Dark wine, sweet entry, smooth with a good feel and some sweetness in the mouth. It acquitted itself well despite the trappings of touristry.1998 Remirez de Ganuza Reserva - this premium priced wine ($100 Can.) was dark, with a sweet nose of plums and cocoa with a bit of vanilla. This big wine needs time, and shows a slightly high terminal acidity.
1997 Finca Valpiedra Reserva - a single estate Rioja from Bujanda that they started making with the 1994 vintage. Ripe cherry vanilla nose, silky smooth on palate with soft tannins and good length.1998 Costers del Siurana Miserere Priorat - the Priorats began as intense rustic brutes in the distant past and have now put that behind them, and utilising modern winemaking techniques they make wines like this - international in style but with a regional stamp to them despite the melange of varietals they blend (I think this one is Garnacha, Carinena, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo and Merlot, while the Clos de l'Obac adds some Syrah to that). A little violet in the nose that featured red fruit, and some spice. It has soft tannins, good acidity, but was just a tad lacking in midpalate fruit, I thought.
1999 Marques de Grinon Dominico de Valdepusa Syrah - and now for something completely different! As you might expect, we were fairly well entrenched, mentally, in traditional Spanish wines, mostly Rioja by this time, and no one knew quite what to make of this one. Opaque purple colour, white pepper in the nose (which should have been the clue, had we been open to it) with cinnamon and wet stone. Tight and concentrated, but a lovely wine that combined elegance with power in a fashion you don't often see. It ended with a little mint. This house also makes a varietal Petit Verdot that I'd love to taste!1982 De Muller Priorato - from the Scala Dei, this is an example of the old style of Priorat! At 15.5% alcohol, the wine was unapproachable for 10 or 12 years after I cellared it (in 1985), and you couldn't see ANY light through it, even held up to the sun, until a few years ago. In fact this wine gained a local reputation when young among my friends, who quickly learned to stay away from it and were of the opinion that the choice of the Black Widow spider red and black label was no coincidence. At $9 when released, it was the cause of many morning after regrets. In fact this stuff was so diabolical that bottled unfined and unfiltered, it carried enough solids to seal against the capsule. I 'opened' a bottle a few years ago, and when I pulled off the lead capsule, there was no cork! I guess that it was bottled after siesta on a Friday afternoon, and as the capsule had no holes, the little bit of wine that leaked sealed it off - for the next 20 years. I tried to get my wife to taste it (it smelled as it should) but she declined on the basis that two decades of contact with lead might be unhealthy. When we tasted this one, however, it had been transformed....into Amarone! The same ripe nose and dark colour (no one could believe it was 22 years old), still tannic after all that time, but finally tamed into something that was not only drinkable, but pleasurable. In fact it was a really excellent match with a goat cheese coated with raisins soaked in cognac, that otherwise probably wouldn't have matched with any wine! Patience can indeed be a virtue -as well as a necessity, if you cellar this sort of stuff.
1996 Alion - finally, a Ribero del Duero - I figured we'd have been hip deep in Pesquera before this point. Dark wine with a slightly spirity (but 'only' 13.5%) nose of jammy cherry, medium to full bodied, with a very slight bitterness and less acidity than I'd have expected. Good length, but significantly less fruit than the Riojas.1977 Warres Port - not as sweet as a Grahams, well developed, mellow and smooth, with the earmarks of a very good vintage and the development that tagged it as a 77, I nailed this one in one guess, a feat for which I should be given credit the next time I am way off base, or at the very least it should rehabilitate me from the shame for not immediately recognising the Grinon as a Syrah!