Today I'll be looking at a wine from Spain. Now I can't say that I have much experience with wines from Spain but this is wine is definitely a great entry point into what can be a somewhat confusing world. While it's not the most exciting wine I've ever tasted, it leaves me wondering what exactly Spain can do for me and for my future wine enjoyment. I always love trying wines from fairly obscure areas because chances are I'll be finding a higher quality wine at a much lower price point and the possibilities for this from Spain is really what's going to get me looking at this region more closely.
Unfortunately there's not a lot that I can tell you about the origins of the red stuff in this bottle other than it comes from Calatayud which is on the eastern part of the province of Aragon. The whole area is nestled quite nicely within Spain and away from the ocean. Other than that, I tried looking the wine up on google but came up with nothing of value, only one or two tasting notes from others who have also tried this wine. I also tried looking up the name on wikipedia but everything came up in Spanish so I didn't get very far in trying to figure out what it said.
The high Acid Garnacha grape is well blended with the thick skinned Tempranillo to create a balanced and food friendly wine. The Tempranillo would tend to add more tannins and body as well as flavours of plums and animal/vegetal notes to the spicy, berry flavoured Garnacha.
The wine was a very deep ruby, which could even take on a purplish tint in some lighting.
On the nose I got some nice warm almost stewing flavours of red cherries and black plums. I also got some sweet cooking spices and a bit of pepper. There was a note of greenness as well, almost like vegetable oil. I did smell some vanilla as well which is a trait of Tempranillo but I think this wine has a bit of oak which enhances this characteristic. While there was a slight animal-like smokiness, I'm not sure there was much beyond the vanilla that is definitive of oak in this glass.
On the palate I definitely felt some oak along my cheeks and tongue, but again, I'm not sure if i was tasting the flavours of the the tempranillo or of the oak. This is a dry wine, very dry in my opinion with high acid, fairly high but soft tannins and medium body.
The berry flavours like raspberry really popped out in my mouth. I also got a fair bit of cherry and black plum. There was a green leafy component and again like i mentioned earlier, some oaky notes along with some leather/animal tones.
The finish was medium and I think this wine is fairly good quality.
When tried on it's own this wine was Ok, once I threw in some food, this wine became rather nice. With Salt, the fruit flavours become more pronounced and the wine is simply delicious. I'd recommend it with a straightforward salt+pepper rubbed BBQ'd slab of beef. I had it with original pringles so I really got to see what the salt does to this wine. I'd definitely take it to the next level of food pairing. I do however caution against pairing this wine with bitter or herby foods. They seem to just make the wine taste astringent and take away a lot of it's charm. I also tried this wine with chocolate and that was just gross.
From my basic research, it doesn't look like this wine is widely available around Canada. It seems that in BC, I can only get it from Marquis Wine Cellars and they don't have a whole lot of it left. Actually at under $14 a bottle, I'm surprised they have any left. There doesn't seem to have any to be found in Ontario either. Still, this grape blend from Spain is a great one to look out for if you're looking for a little something to impress guests at a dinner party. Who would expect you to have this awesome little Spanish gem kicking around!
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