From - Rioja, Spain
Grape - Tempranillo, Graciano, Mazuelo
Alcohol - 13.5%
Available from - drinksdirect.co.uk, thedrinkshop.com, Sainsbury's, Ocado,
price - £16-ish
Appearance - Clear, medium intensity, garnet
Nose - clean, medium- intensity, cherry, sweet spice.
Palate - dry; medium+ acid; medium+ tannin; medium intensity; medium length;medium complexity, cherry, plum, cloves.
Balance - 6.5 Length - 6.5 Intensity - 6 Complexity - 6
The word 'Reserva' on a bottle of wine from Spain is particularly significant, because it is a term that legally requires for the wine to have spent particular time in oak. In other countries, reserve usually means that the maker is saying that they kept their best grapes aside for this wine. This is a Gran Riserva which means that it has done at least three years in oak, and therefore has more complexity and a great colour, compared to what it would have, otherwise.
I drank this at a friend's house. They had some at a party the night before. Because of the complexity and intensity of flavours anticipated I had decanted the wine about an hour before we drank it - their impression was that this made the fruit flavours more prominent. I found this (although it didn't taste like a big-hitter, quality-wise) as very pleasant and extremely drinkable and I'd have been able to drink the bottle on my own no problem!
No comments:
Post a Comment