I had each of these three wines over the weekend, the last one opened tonight.
On Sunday, we had grilled sirloin steaks with a wonderful Roquefort-Madiera sauce that my brother Brian made. With it, Leona contributed a bottle of 2001 Irreverente, a dry red from Portugal, a country whose non-fortified wines I'm usually left unimpressed with. This one had a good nose of red fruit, but was a bit thin on the palatte, with a backing of soft yet slightly green tannins. While not something I'd elect to drink as a stand-alone, it accompanied the food rather well, with the tannins being subdued by the steaks, which allowed more of the fruit to come out. Still rather thin, not a bad value for the $13.99 that Leona paid for it, but I can think of hundreds of other wines in this price range that I'd chose before this one. B-
On Monday night, we had spaghetti with homemade sauce with italian sausage. I fought my instinct to serve a Chianti Classico, and turned my thoughts more towards something bigger, like a Zinfandel, to overcome the acidity of the sauce and spiciness of the sausages. Brian went down into the cellar to find some Zin (we have 3 or 4 bottles of it down there), but came upstairs with a Sicilian blend instead, called 'Four Play' from Dievole, vintage 2001 (the vineyard's first). Clearly for the American market, given the name, this is a blend of four varietals that I've never had before, to the best of my knowledge: Frappato Nero, Nerello Cappuccio, Nerello Mascalese, and Nero di Avola. All of these were equally represented in the blend, at 25% each. This wine was considerably bigger and more complex than the Irreverente, though I'm not totally convinced that it was the best match for pasta. It seemed to have some great complexities that were masked, not enhanced, by the sauce. It was also too structured for spaghetti, it seemed, and the acidity of the sauce threw this out of balance. In short, this wine was too good for spaghetti, and would have better suited a pork roast or tenderloins, or perhaps veal, IMHO. Good structure, lots of dark fruits, and a fairly big mouthfeel, and medium finish. I'll look for this at $12.99. B+
Tonight, back in Portland, I opened a 2001 Hoya de Cadenas Temparnillo (Spain). I opened this well after dinner, so at least for tonight, I'm tasting this without the accompaniment of food. Wonderful clear ruby/garnet color, with good legs. This has a fantastic nose, if perhaps just a little 'hot' (alcoholic), somewhat remeniscent of California Pinot Noir. Red fruit (mostly cherry), earthy, and a bit oaky, but in a well integrated way. Medium bodied on the palatte with soft, well integrated tannins, and a short-medium finish. The short finish is the biggest weak point of this one, but for $11, I'm not complaining. This is another one I'll probably seek out again, if for no other reason, to serve blind to a couple friends sometime, to see if they can guess what it is. B+
Apoligies to DaleW for ripping off his grading system. It just seems so fair and intuitive...
- Chris