Oak axe.

I haven't had much red wine lately.  In fact, I haven't had much wine of any colour, I've been too busy.  Vinomaker and I did, however, try this 94% Tempranillo/6% Petite Sirah blend recently.
The 2012 Acha, by Mark Herold Wines, was a big, ripe-berry-fruit, soft-on-the-palate wine that was very easy to drink (and paired well with a homemade pizza). Unfortunately, in my opinion, the wine was over-oaked - it was as if someone had took an axe (acha is hatchet in Spanish, apparently) lopped off a limb from an oak tree and lobbed it into the stainless steel tank with the fermenting wine.  I have always thought that oak should not be the dominant, primary bouquet/flavour/descriptor in wine: this bottle of Acha just reinforced my belief.

Last night wine: 2016, part 2.

Goodbye Blighty.  It's time for my holiday to come to an end.  My last night wine this visit was a lovely Tempranillo that Thud had purchased in Marks & Spencer (once again).  The 2012 Bellota Tempranillo was a lovely wine; fruity, balanced, smooth and very, very moreish.  A delightful wine with which to toast the end of a wonderful visit.
Later, England!
California here I come.

The rain and wind beat dark December.

A rainy December day called for something robust with dinner.  The Mi Sueño, 2011 Tempranillo, Rancho Chimiles (Napa Valley AVA), was just the wine to banish the rain-blahs away.  Lots of red plum and spicy red currant, and with great tannins, this Tempranillo was a great California rendition of an old Spanish classic.
I had actually tasted this wine before, although in a very different stage of the wine's development.  Usually, I don't care for barrel samples, as I am not a winemaker and I don't have a crystal ball that will tell me what to expect of the finished product.  However, I remember the barrel-sample of this wine as being quite stunning, even in its infancy.  Now that this Tempranillo is all grown up, I'm enjoying it once again.

A rosé coloured glass.

Looks can be deceiving.  What seems to be a pleasantly sunny, late spring day on Liverpool Bay was in fact one of the coldest, windiest days I have ever experienced at home. Stepping around the corner of a building to take this photograph I had to really lean into the wind for fear of being blown over.  Even a glass of a so-so rosé of Tempranillo at a nearby establishment could not fully chase the English weather-blues away.  Well, that's not strictly true.  The sight of a familiar coastline stretching out before me was a tonic for my seaside-deprived eyes...at least it was when the wind wasn't whipping my hair into my eyeballs.  Ouch!

Vinos de España.

Oh tonight I'm off to sunny Spain...
It's week 8 of my Wines of the World class and this evening I did indeed partake of the wines of Spain.  Tonight's tasting was a straight forward affair. The 24 Spanish wines selected for my oenological tour of Spain - a country which has more land under vine than anywhere else in the world and is yet only ranked third by production volume - ran the gamut from light, dry white wines to heavy, alcoholic reds.  And then there was the sherry flight.
My favourite amongst the whites was a Condes de Albarei, 2010 Albariño (DO Rias Baixas) and amongst the reds an Artazuri, 2008 Garnacha (DO Navarra).  My fellow classmates generally seemed to be happy with the selection of DOC Riojas, no doubt due to the liberal use of oak, whilst in that particular flight I preferred a 100% Tempranillo from the Ribero del Duero DO.
The sherry flight, comprised of 6 wines, was eye-opening: these were not my grandmother's chosen Christmas tipple of Harveys Bristol Cream. Ranging from pale, fruity, crisp and dry - a Lustau Manzanilla - to tawny, smooth, nutty and superbly balanced - a Lustau East India Solera - these wines were, above anything else, highly aromatic.  I have to confess, I would never have thought to try a glass of sherry of my own volition, so I'll always have this class to thank for broadening my horizons.  Of course, like the rest of me, my palate may just be maturing.
Next...

A touch of Tempranillo.

On Friday afternoon, I was very fortunate to be invited to participate in a blind tasting of Tempranillo.  Well, it wasn't quite that way, I really just tagged along with Vinomaker whose presence at the tasting had actually been requested.  The tasting was being hosted by a winemaker friend of Vinomaker's who has two vintages of a Napa Valley Tempranillo in barrel, a 2010 and now a 2011, but doesn't know quite what to do with it now that he has it.  Therefore, the objective of the tasting was to get to know Tempranillo, discover the characteristics of this grape cultivar originating from Spain.  Seven wines from various wine-growing regions, foreign and domestic, were up for evaluation so I dove in, nose first!

Growing up in England, I always liked the odd bottle of Rioja (wine from the Rioja region of northern Spain renowned for red wines predominantly made from the Tempranillo grape), as a nice alternative to the Bardolinos and Chiantis I generally preferred. So, being semi-familiar with this wine varietal's flavour profiles I had some preconceived expectations going into the tasting; strawberry, plum, licorice, acidity, minerality and well structured tannins.

The number 2 wine in the lineup was corked, so it was immediately disqualified.  All the wines displayed many of the characteristics that I was anticipating, including the deep garnet hue one would expect from this grape variety.  One wine was a little thin.  One wine was a little reductive.  One wine was too oaky, whilst another was too tannic (vintages varied from 2006s to 2009s and the tannic wine was a 2009).  

At the conclusion of the tasting the scores we had given each wine were tallied up...and there was no real winner.  Although, of the seven of us tasting, three (me included) chose as our favourite the Dare 2008 Tempranillo from Viader (retail price $40.00).  It was, overall, a beautifully balanced wine with sublime acidity, nuances of baked plum and rhubarb tart, a hint of sweet vanilla-oak and the deepest red-purple, eye-pleasing countenance one could ever hope for in a glass of red wine.  Yum!

Towards the end of the tasting the talk, somewhat predictably, veered towards pricing strategy and the subsequent marketing of the as yet unfinished wine (the winemaker now had a lot to ruminate on, whereas my, and Vinomaker's, job was done). Marketing phrases like branding, demand-pull, price points, profit margins  and loss-leaders were bandied about the room (there were two CPAs in attendance) and it was all way over my head, so I just poured myself some more wine.

Cheers to the noble variety of Spain, Tempranillo.

Y Viva Espana!

Vinogirl was rooting for Spain. Thud was cheering on Holland. Somebody had to win.
The Rioja was pretty tasty.  The Heineken mini-keg remains unopened!