Campo Viejo Rioja Blanco 2015

From Rioja, Spain
Grape - Viura, Tempranillo
Alcohol - 12% abv
Available from - Waitrose, Ocado, Tesco, Sainsbury's
Price - £7.50-£8.50 (although at time of writing, £6.36 at Waitrose)

Appearance - Clear, medium- intensity, lemon-green

Nose - Clean, medium+ intensity, youthful.  Stone fruit of white peach, floral (elderflower)

Palate - Dry, high acid, medium intensity and length, medium+ body, medium alcohol.  Flavours as nose, plus lemon citrus.

Good quality.  Drink now, not suitable for ageing.

This wine has a very agreeable bouquet, and a good acid backbone.  Ideal with lighter meals.  I would drink this as an aperitif or with an avocado salad with balsamic vinegar.

Torres Floralis Moscatel Oro

From - Penedes, Catalunya
Grape - Moscatel
Alcohol - 15%
Available from - Waitrose
Price - £7.49

Appearance - Clear, deep, tawny

Nose - Clean, medium- intensity, with grape and slightly nutty aroma.

Palate - Sweet, medium+ acid, medium length, full bodied, with raisins, prunes, sweet spice, ginger and candied peel, like Christmas time!

This is a great value sweet wine from the accomplished familia Torres, that is a great match-up for a variety of desserts, and was very agreeable with my strawberries and Booja-Booja vanilla ice-cream.  Yum yum.

Waitrose Cava Brut Castillo Peralda NV

From - Spaib
Grape - Perellada
Alcohol - 11.5%
Available from - Waitrose
Price - £9.39

Appearance - Clear, lemon, medium intensity, petillant

Nose - Clean, medium intensity, Citrus (lemon), stone fruit (peach), autolytic (lees).

Palate - Dry, high acid, medium alcohol, medium body, medium- intensity, medium+ length, creamy mousse.  Citrus (lemon), kernel (hazelnut).

Good quality, drink now, not suitable for further ageing.

Oz Clarke says that often wines produced in partnership with retailers can be the best value, and I would say this wine is good evidence of that.  Although Prosecco is all the rage, the time a Cava spends in contact with the lees gives it a bit of complexity and makes it an interesting alternative.  This has a good bit of citrus and acidity that makes it refreshing, but although the concentration of the fruit flavours is not particularly strong on the palate, the length is good and the complexity comes through on the finish.

Baron de Ley Reserva Rioja 2009

From - Rioja, Spain
Grape - Tempranillo
Alcohol - 13.5% abv
Available from - Waitrose, Ocado
Price - £12.49

Appearance - Clear, medium+ intensity; garnet

Nose - Clean; medium+ intensity; developing; black cherry, strawberry, lots of vanilla, nutmeg.

Palate - Dry; medium+ intensity; medium+ alcohol; medium length; medium+ body; medium+ intensity, medium tannin.  Black cherry; vanilla, cloves.

Balance - 9  Length - 6  Intensity - 8  Complexity - 7.5

Smooth tannins in the mouth, with an impressive nose of cherries and vanilla.  Quite intense, lots of body so a good food wine.

Waitrose Partnership Solera Jerezana Palo Cortado

From - Jerez, Spain
Grape - Palomino
Alcohol - 19% abv
From - Waitrose
Price - £9.75

Appearance - Clear, medium intensity, amber

Nose - Clean; intentionally oxidised; developed; nuts and grapes

Palate - dry; medium+ acid; high alcohol; full bodied; medium intensity; medium+ length, at least; nuts (hazelnuts, almond), blackstrap molasses.

Balance - 5 Length - 8 Intensity - 6 Complexity - 7

This is a really good, grown-up bottle of sherry at a great price. It was the perfect match for the cashew nut paella that I prepared for dinner (or tea, for Northern readers!).  In fact, what else could we have had with it?  Having considered what a big element of the flavour reminded me of, I came very much to the conclusion that it was blackstrap molasses, although this wine is not at all what you would call sweet.

The solera system is where sherry producers blend younger wines over time, usually annually, to their product, thus producing a final wine that is hopefully consistent.  Sherry's distinct flavour is caused by deliberate oxidisation, that is that it is allowed to 'go off'.  This makes sherry the delight it is, but would be grim with many other wines.  If you have a wine that has been exposed to air for so long, you might notice that the smell becomes similar to sherry.

Campo Viejo Gran Riserva 2007

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!

Vina Taboexa Albarino 2012

From - Rias Baixas, Spain
Grape - Albarino
Alcohol - 12.5%
Available from - waitrosecellar.com
Price - £10.49

Appearance - Clear; medium intensity; lemon.

Nose - Clean; medium+ intensity; developing; apple, melon, nettle/herbs.

Palate - dry; medium acid; medium alcohol; medium body; medium intensity; apple, grape, lemon, herbs.

Balance - 8 Length - 7 Intensity - 6.5 Complexity - 6.5

I picked this up cheap in a clearance.  It is extremely pleasant, particularly the nose.  The citrus aspect is not as obvious to me as I have since read on reviews, but the green and stone fruit, together with the grassy, herbaceous flavour is a real winner.  A really ace wine.  The first glass disappeared in about twenty seconds!

Cune Rioja Reserva 2009

Cune Reserva Rioja 2009
From - Rioja, Spain
Grape - Tempranillo, Graciano, Garnacha (Grenache)
Alc - 13.5%
Price - £12.99 (currently £9.99)
From - Waitrose

Appearance - Clean; medium + intensity; developed; garnet/tawny; consistent legs

Nose - Clean; medium+ intensity; developed; red fruit, spice, vanilla.

Taste; dry; medium acid; medium tannin; medium+ alcohol; medium+ length; cherries, a touch of black fruit, cloves, vanilla.

Conclusions - Very good; ready to drink, might improve.

Balance - 7 Length - 8 Intensity - 7 Complexity - 6.5

This is a really nice and interesting bottle of wine.  It has spent some time in oak, due to the 'Reserva' title (Spanish wines that have been oaked for periods of time are referred  to, in asciending order of time 'Crianza, Reserva or Gran Reserva).  Beronia Reserva Rioja is the same price, and I think that I found that one marginally more palatable, though.  It was just a touch smoother, I recall.  This is really good, though, and worth thirteen quid.