Alicante
Toscar Monastrell 2006
The QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) winner from earlier this year is back with the 2006 edition. And if anything it’s more convincing. We didn’t do much on cup day, I had a heap of work to do, but I cracked this open with some albóndigas con tomates about 6 o’clock.
Primitivo Quiles Raspay Reserva 2002
This is a classic case of ‘you should never judge a wine by it’s label’. I was introduced to this little number at a Spanish Acquisition tasting and I initially had my doubts about the packaging, but after tasting the wine and having a good fondle of the bottle, I love it. The Spanish flag ribbon over the top of the bottle and the old school label set the context, and the contents of the bottle are reel you in. I’m told the winemaker here calls this the Barolo of Spain, and he’s not too far wrong.
Primitivo Quiles Fondillon ‘El Abuelo’ Gran Reserva
So this is literally the Grandfather Fondillion from PQ (El Abuelo means grandfather in Spanish). The solera for this wine was started in 1892 and even though it is a single barrel, it is managed in the same way that solera is. Only a small amount is drawn from the solera each year and a small amount of new wine replaces the drawn out wine. Only something like 350 bottles are drawn from the solera in this case.
Primitivo Quiles Fondillon 1948
What the hell is Fondillon? Well, its basically a wine that is harvested with a very high sugar content, fermented into wine with a little residual sugar left over then put in a big barrel and aged for a very long time. It’s kind of like sherry, but it’s not fortified.
Salvador Poveda ‘Borrasca’ 2002
A ‘high expression’ wine from Salvador Poveda, who you might know from their Toscar range. Low production from older Monastrell vines that are grown at high altitude. Very sensible use of big 500l french oak barrels too. Production is limited to 7,000 bottles. Being from the 2002 vintage, its spent a bit of time in bottle which hasn’t hurt either.
Salvador Poveda Moscatel NV
This is a good bottle to have in the fridge for those times when you need something sweet, but not heavy and sticky. There isn’t much in the way of details on this one appart from that its made from Muscat of Alexradria and Roman Moscatel, but I’m assuming that its made by allowing a [...]
Toscar Monastrell 2005
I've saved the best of these Toscar wines as the last post in the set. Before I tasted these 4, I wondered if the wine that the region is best known for, Monastrell, would come out on top. And it did. There is a bit more character with this wine, and if there is one thing [...]
Toscar Tempranillo Crianza 2003
Ok, this is the 3rd of the 4 Toscar wines. This one is a wood aged tempranillo, and its a good drink. It shows plenty of rustic, warmer climate tempranillo character and some nice wood treatment that is virtually unheard at this price point in Australia. While I have a stylistic preference for the cooler [...]
Toscar Cabernet Sauvignon Crianza 2003
Alicante is well known for its Monastrell based wines, but there have also been large scale plantings of other Spanish and French varieties. The region is quite hot and dry, but also quite high in places so this allows for a good growing season without many dramas as long as it rains every now and [...]
Toscar Syrah 2005
I've got 4 wines here from Alicate, so I sat down today and went through the lot. Quite impressive for the asking price of $14, all of the wines are well balanced, show well ripened fruit character, are mostly medium boddied and easy to drink. Its the kind of stuff that is a great midweek [...]
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