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TN: '96 Finca Allende

Tonight we were invited for a dinner of chicken mole and at neighbor's house and were asked to bring a wine. Racking my brain about what to pair with mole poblano, I consulted two trustworthy sources: the FAQ and Rick Bayless, and settled on a common theme, Tempranillo. Looking in the database, I decided to pull the '96 Finca Allende Rioja to see how it was faring:

1996 Finca Allende Rioja color: dark purple with no signs of browning nose: briery berry fruit, meat palate: medium body, good acidity, smooth tannins, balanced, animal blood

Surprisingly, the wine did go reasonably well with the mole, which brought out a bit of the fruit and gave the wine a feeling of unity. Although this wine was probably quite oaky upon its release, subsequent years have seen the oak integrate well. The cork, however, didn't age as well and splintered terribly upon attempted removal.

Mark Lipton

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Mark Lipton
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Mark,

the wine was clearly oaked upon release, but this was one wine made in the fashion of the nineties in Spain. Every new wine in the market was aged in new oak instead of old barrels.

I remember having several bottles of this wine back in 1998 or 1999, when my wine interested really started, and it was an eye-opener after ten years drinking classic Rioja. At the time, it was a bit more expensive that a regular Rioja (say that a Rioja Crianza was 6euros and this was 10 or so).

I am glad to see that there still are bottles of the 1996 waiting to be opened and doing well.

Best,

S.

Reply to
santiago

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