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.

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 Douro 2010

From - Douro Valley, Portugal
Grape - Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), Touriga Franco
Alcohol - 13.5%
From - Waitrose
Price - £11

Appearance - Clear; medium+ intensity; garnet

Nose - Clean; medium intensity; developing; lots of plums

Palate - Dry; medium+ tannin; medium+ alcohol; medium+ body; medium to medium+ length, medium intensity; Cherries, plum, bramble.

Balance - 8  Length - 6.5  Intensity - 7.5  Complexity - 6.5



We had this with a mushroom roast, veg and gravy.  This was a good match, and brought the blackberry more to the fore.  We drank it slowly over the evening, having decanted first for an hour, and as time went on the black cherry flavour really came through, making it very pleasant to the end.

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!

Beronia Rioja Reserva 2009

From - Rioja, Spain
Grape - Tempranillo, Graciano and Mazuelo
Alcohol - 14%
Price - £13.49
From - Waitrose

Appearance - Clear; deep intensity; lighter at rim; ruby to garnet.

Nose - Clean; developing; medium + intensity; red fruit; spice.

Taste - dry; medium acidity; medium tannin; medium+ alcohol; medium+ intensity; medium body.  Red fruit, black fruit, spice incl. cloves, musky

Conclusions - good; higher price; ready to drink, may improve a little.

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

No, this is not my third bottle of the weekend!  To keep the reviews coming, I am posting one I had six weeks ago and noted in my wine diary.

I loved this one, that's why I chose it.  I scored it 9 out of 10.  It was very smooth, I think that the tannin was perhaps higher than I have scored here, but as it has been matured well, and probably because of a high standard of grape selection, the tannins are smoother and therefore less obvious on the palate (to me, anyway).

I really liked the smoothness, complexity, and the flavours.  This is about the same price as Cune Reserva Rioja, and for my money is the better of the two.

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.