Archive for October, 2008
Acustic Cellars ‘Brao’ 2006
The big brother of the Acustic, Brao is made from 65+ year old vines. The old vine fruit really shows through, this is a step up in complexity, depth and minerality. 45% Garnarcha and 55% Samso with some slick oak treatment.
Solomillo al Whisky
This is my favourite tapa of all time. A big call. Well it’s at least in the top 5. You will find a dish by this name in many areas of Spain, for me this is the one and only solomillo al whisky. If you’ve been to Sevilla, you will have seen it on the menu, it is the home of this simple marvel of blokes in the kitchen.
Acustic Cellars ‘Acustic’ 2006
I’m always very happy when a box of wine turns up in the office. Especially when it’s a couple of newly imported wines that I’ve been watching in the Spanish wine press for a couple of years. Every thing about these wines shows class, the packaging is unassuming but stylish and the smooth and understated wine in the bottle.
Estio Rosado 2007
Just a quick note on this one, it’s the second last rosado in the pile. Rose wine is a great drink, but really tasting it and writing up notes kind of misses the point. It’s for drinking, not thinking in my book. Estio made from 70% Monastrell with a bit Tempranillo and Syrah. Bright red/pink in colour, it’s [...]
Mocen Verdejo 2007
Obviously, I’ve been doing too many tastings of late: It looks like I got my notes mixed up on the two verdejos I had last week. The note from the Orden Tercera Verdejo 2007 was actually for this wine. Not good, but it happens. I have updated the other post with the new note…
Alvaro Castro Dão Tinto 2007
Just a quick note on this one. This is Alvaro Castro’s entry level wine and I find that it’s the kind of wine that polorises people. It’s gamey and a bit wild, I find I need a couple of sips to get into it, but once I’m there I have a great time.
Los Hermanos Albariño 2008
I don’t drink enough of the local wines made from Spanish or Portuguese varieties. It’s not that I don’t think they’re up to scratch, but I usually have my hands full keeping up with the imported stuff. With the ever dropping dollar, imports are going to get more expensive and wines like this may well fill the hole when most imported Albariños are pushing $35 to $40 bucks a bottle.
Orden Tercera Verdejo 2007
I had a couple of cheaper verdejos earlier in the week, and I was impressed at the quality level. I find that some of the cheaper offerings made from verdejo can be a bit oxidised, and frankly too herbal and vegetative. Not so here. I drink a fair bit of verdejo when I’m in northern Spain, most bars have a good one on stand by when you’ve had an overload of vino tinto over the past week. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been, I’m dying to get back but I keep buying wine when I should be saving for a plane ticket…
Telmo Rodriguez Vina 105 2006
Cigales is a small region just north of Valladolid in north west Spain. Like many regions, wine has been made here for generations, the signature wines are rosados made from tempranillo and garnarcha and a little verdejo or ablillo. It’s one of the few wine regions in the world that celebrates the blending of red and white grapes. Cote Rotie, the home of the now ubiquitous shiraz viognier blend, being the most famous I can think of.
From the cellar: Roda Reserva 2003 375ml
I bought a case of half bottles of 2003 Roda thinking that I’d stick them away somewhere dark and cool for 5 year then pull them out for drinking on quiet nights at home. Good idea, not so good in reality though. They never made it out of the wine fridge at home into off site storage, so the odd bottle comes out now and then when I feel like a glass and a half of something good. There are 7 bottles left a year later.
Recent Comments
- Haley on Salvador Poveda ‘Borrasca’ 2002
- gourbaud on Coto de Hayas Crianza 2003
- Becky on Telmo Rodriguez Gaba do Xil 2006
- Barb on Valminor Davila 2006
- Alex Fuentes on Other Information
