Bodegas y Vinedos Alion 1996

I've been doing a bit of long overdue painting and removing an old picture rail around the house over the past couple of weeks.  For some reason, a previous owner had painted some of the walls a horrible pink salmon colour, complete with sponge work. When we bought the place it was the first thing that was going. 5 years later, I'm just getting around to it.  I had to move my wine fridge out of the way and in the process found this bottle that I don't remember buying. Bonus.

Deep purple in colour with ruby towards the edge, looks like a young wine. Its open fairly much straight away with a complex nose of earthy mulberry and dark cherry, chocolate, a bit of old leather, spice and aniseed. Its pure silk in the mouth with everything in balance.  Full flavoured with black current, mulberry and cherry, a lick of aniseed, cola and white pepper. A long finish showing some minerals. From this bottle I'd say that the 96 is finally start to gain some complexity and open up a bit. But it has years ahead of it. I didn't see anything that looks like brett or reduction on this outing. 94+ Pts.

Source: Cellar Cost: N/A Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.bodegasalion.com

Yarra Valley Tempranillo

I took a short drive out to the Yarra Valley today, mainly to take a few photos but ended up tasting a few local Tempranillos after it started to rain about 30 minutes after I got there.  I got some ok cloud shots though. I'll give a free subscription to Tinto y Blanco to anyone who can guess where the photo is taken from.

So I tasted some wine and had a bit of a chat as why they chose to grow tempranillo and if they had a particular style they were going for.  Strangely they said it was something different, people liked it and they (the owners) had always liked tempranillo based wines. It was strange as the wines were very much in the dry red style showing very little character. Not that they were bad wines, just ordinary: a bit too ripe, too much time in new oak. Quite pricey too. One place mentioned Alion as the inspiration for their wine, I couldn't see it if it was. And they are winning gold medals at wineshows with this wine too, which makes me really question the validity of the the wine show system.

Then again we expericed this when Pinot Noir was the new cool grape to grow 20 years ago. New growing techniques and in some cases different clones were needed to really get the quality up.  Perhaps that's what Tempranillo needs. Is it vine age? I don't think so, there are a at least a couple of cracking examples the come from young vines in Australia. Perhaps the Yarra isn't the place for Tempranillo? Still, Australian growers are mostly at the start of the learning curve for Tempranillo and there is a way to go before it lives up to the hype I hear in the wine press. I bought a couple of bottles anyway, maybe all they need is some support…

Cillar de Silos Torresilo 2005

It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago, so I gave this a quick splash in the decanter and went out for dinner in Carlton.  We stopped in at Gerald's Bar for a few refreshing beverages after dinner, its my kind of place.  Its kind of like a quiet spot for classy booze hounds, that isn't really quiet.  The guys and girls behind the bar know their stuff and their is always something interesting on the by the glass list as they just use the first 6 wines ordered that night to make up the list.

Anyway on to the wine. If you have a look on the Cillar de Silos website they give a little commentary on the vintage conditions for each of their wines,  2005 sounds like a hard year that turned out well.  A very cold spring (a top 7 degrees to a low of -9), an unusally hot April which kick off bud swelling a bit earlier than normal, then no rain which put bud burst back a bit.  And it goes on.  Ribera del Duero can be a buggar of a place to grow grapes, but well worth the end product.

Deep purple moving to ruby at the edge.  A quick wiff of the glass and I know I'm in for a treat: savoury mulberry and cherry, mocha coffee, clay and pepper. In the mouth its bold and subtle at the same time, plenty of dusty tannins with a good acid backbone.  Savory with perfectly ripe fruit and great balance.  On the palate its all about the ripe fruit: mulberry and cherry with a touch of plum.  This is joined by some cola, a shake of chocolate, spice and earthy minerals all wrapped up in some high quality oak that just shows enough to know its there. Great drinking now with a decant, I'd leave it in the cellar for 5 years and drink over the following 10.  95 Pts.

Source: The Spanish Acquisition Cost: $120 Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.cillardesilos.es

Other vintages: 2003, 2004 

Telmo Rodriguez Basa 2007

This is my first look at a wine from 2007, I've heard that it was a difficult vintage but this wine doesn't show it.  Its a bit more textured than last year, but other wise its good all the qualities we're used to from Basa.  It kicks of with fresh apple and pear, fennel bulb, a touch of white melon and nuts. The texture gives it a rich, middle weight feel in the mouth, but is kept in balance by a hit of acid toward the finish.  On the palate its fairly much a mirror of the nose with some added minerals.  Another good Basa, it seems that a very handy white gets turned out here every year.  88 Pts.

Source: The Spanish Acquisition Price: $20 Closure: Conventional Cork

Las Terraseas 2005

There has been a bit of discussion on some of the wine forum about the cellaring potential of the wines from Priorat lately.  The main question is do they gain complexity? or does the fruit just fade and they are better drunk young?.  They seem to have everything in place for a long life, but the area is fairly young and really the answer is that no one knows yet.  I haven't had the chance to taste that many older vintages, but I've got a couple lined up for some of Melbourne's leading booze artists in a couple of weeks. Well, see how they go.

Sooty, earthy and rocky are the first things I notice on the nose, this moves on to blackberry and spice with some raspberry and chocolate.  This isn't your supercharged, balls-to-the-wall blockbuster, its very subtle and suave.  Tightly wound at the moment with a spine of acid and sandy tannins that keep it humming along. More dark and red fruit on the palate with a touch of pepper and herbs, clove and liquorice. It looks like 2005 will be good in Priorat, as expected.  Better than 2004?  Who knows, but two good vintages are better than one.  92+ Pts.

Source: The Spanish Acquisition Cost: Around $60 Closure: Conventional Cork

Other vintages: 2004 

Jamon Iberico y Ceps

This is a hedonistic version of a great tapa from southern Spain.  I had the end of a leg of Jamon Iberico to finish off, its far too good to throw out but a bit hard to slice without loosing a finger.  You can make this dish with jamon serano and field mishrooms and its great but this is something else.  You can occasionally get these end bits of Jamon from a deli, so next time you're in at Casa Iberica ask if they have any.  However this is about $40 worth of Jamon Iberico, so not cheap. Also I've had to use dried ceps/porcini mushrooms as they aren't available locally grown and fresh.  If you can get them use them. 

No photos on this one, I made it quickly and ate it before I though of getting a shot.

What you need 

• The stubby end of a jamon (or just a thick slice), cut into small cubes,
• 2 mid sized fresh mushrooms, cut into small cubes,
• 3 good sized slices of dried ceps/porcini mushrooms,
• 15mls cream,
• 40mls milk,
• Garlic breadcrumbs,
• Parsley, and
• 3 tablespoons of some very good EVOO.

What to do: 

• Add the milk, cream, dried mushrooms and jamon to a pot and heat until just before it boils.  Turn the heat off and leave it for 10 minutes.
• Fry up the fresh mushrooms and add to the mix, returning the pot to a low heat for 3 mintues.  Careful on the seasoning, it will already be quite salty.
• Put the mixture in a small bowl, add the EVOO and garnish with parsley and bread crumb.
• Serve with plenty of crusty bread.

What to drink: Fresh manzanilla.