So, a new year and a bunch of new wines.  I’ve got a stack of notes to get through over the next couple of weeks, then I’m off to Spain (with a quick trip to Poland on the way). Anyway on to the wine. I had a chance to catch up with Manuel Arias-Paz from Marques de Velilla late last year, a great guy, very passionate about Ribera del Duero and a real character (which you can see in this photo). They have embarked on a refresh of the vineyards and winemaking here, mostly along biodynamic lines but without the cow horn rubbish. Interestingly, the wine maker was in the Spanish rugby team and came out here. Who knew there was a Spanish rugby team?

The nose opens up with notes of vanilla coke, earthy red cherry and red currant, a bit of coffee grounds with some wild geranium and lavender. Tight and focused on the palate with juicy, juby fruit: blueberry and cherry, pen ink and sage. Lovely rustic, but fluffy tannins and a fine backbone of acid reinforcing the whole thing. This is right on the money. 90 Pts.

Source: Toro Wines Price: $40 Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.marquesdevelilla.com

Classic, classy Ribera del Duero on the nose: a raft of savoury fruits such as dark cherry,  mulberry and a little plum with wet clay and mountain herbs, pepper. There are some toasty oak notes and mocha in the background as well.  It’s quietly bold in the mouth, intense fruit flavours with well formed tannins and plenty of structure to improve in the cellar.  The fruit on the palate mirrors the nose but adds some cola, a mocha espresso, and earthy spice. the oak is a little obvious at the moment, however it is framing the fruit rather than smothering it. i am sure this will integrate over the short term. The finish is long and shows earthy minerals. The problem with this wine is that it drinks great now, but if you can keep you hands off it you will be rewarded with greater complexity in a couple of years. It will drink well for at least a decade. 95 Pts.

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

Web: www.cillardesilos.es

Other vintages: 2003, 2004 , 2005

A beautiful nose of currants, blueberries and blackberry with  woodsmoke and gamey, herby undergrowth notes. Very smooth and supple in the mouth, plenty of fleshy tannins that lend texture and body. Its a touch flabby in the middle, but the acid cleans that up on the finish. Fresh juicy, fruit: blackcurrant and blackberry with a twist of vanilla and a lick of sarsaparilla. Blackberry and minerals on the long finish. 91 Pts.

Source: The Spanish Acquisition Cost: $55 Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.cillardesilos.es

Other vintages: 2004, 2005

A classic Pesquera nose of blackberry, blackcurrant, dark cherry with a clay/earth note, violets, some herby undergrowth and a touch of iodine. The usual gamy notes and a bit of cow shed are there too. Smooth in the mouth, but focused and purposeful. The tannins take a while to appear, but when they do they add some texture and a bit of grittiness that is most welcome. More black currant and cherry pie on the palate with a bit of blueberry, a bit of pepper and star anise. This is showing well at the moment, but will fill out over the next 5 years and drink well for 10 after that. 93+ Pts.

Source: Boccaccio Cellars RRP: $48 Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.pesqueraafernandez.com

A bit of VA on opening that blows off, then its into the good stuff: musky black current, dark cherry, and a touch of blueberry with some thyme, sage and barnyard. Great mouth feel and balance, with some minerally acid that really drives. Fine but firm tannins. A savory and juicy palate that mirrors the nose. This is more about the structure, but the fruit is great too. I could drink a lot of this. 91 Pts.

Source: Broadway Liquor Distributors Price: $25 Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.bodegasfincavaqueros.com

Wines labeled as Roble are usually a young wine that spends less than 6 months in oak. It can be a bit hit and miss as if they use all new oak, the wine soaks up all the oak flavour but doesn't get the small amount of oxygen contact that oak barrels allow. This one from Protos has been done very well, the oak is a passenger on this ride, the fruit is doing the driving.

A clean fruity nose of cherry and plum, with a touch of raspberry followed by some vanilla and herbs. Really nice fruit here: sappy plums, dark cherry and black current with Christmas cake spices and earthy/gamey animal notes in the mouth . Some chocolate joins the party as the wine gets more air. Very clean and driven by some quality acid that leaves your mouth fresh and ready for more. Some fluffy tannins on the finish round it out. This would be a killer by the glass in a bar. 90 Pts.

Source: Broadway Liquor Distributors Price: $30 Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.bodegasprotos.com

So, continuing down the line from Protos is this Crianza.  It's a fairly classic crianza: fermented in stainless steel vats followed up by 12 months in American oak, then a year in bottle. Again, its a fairly traditional wine: you won't find a big, highly extracted thing here. Its all about the savoury fruit, good oak treatment, texture and balance. Don't worry that this is from the hot 2003 vintage, I couldn't find any baked or heat associated characters here.

A smokey, earthy nose with some nice mulberry and dark cherry fruit and a dollop of barnyard. A touch of caramel oak completes the picture. Very smooth and textured in the mouth, the soft fruit tannins and expansive mouthfeel are cleaned up by a charge of acid towards the end. Pure cherry and mulberry with some minerals and sage leaves on the palate. The finish is long and shows an iron rich earth kind of character. Ready to go now, but could do 8-10 years of hard time in a dark place. 91 Pts.

Source: Broadway Liquor Distributors Price: $55 Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.bodegasprotos.com  

This is the first of three wines I have from this producer, and I though why not start at the top. Protos is a fairly traditional producer, they do use a bit of french oak but otherwise the wines come across as classic old school Ribera del Duero. They are one of the oldest bodegas around and hold 400 hectares of vines in the valley, at the same time buying in 50% of their grapes from 274 growers. Its all kind of mindboggling big. And usually you'd think that would affect quality, but all three wines are of a very high standard.

A bit of wood influence apears on the nose first, some nutmeg and creamy mocha followed up by some blackcurrent, mulberry and dark cherry with a touch of rosemary, thyme and a little barnyard. In the mouth it's medium boddied and shows nice and clean with lush tannins and a moderately long finish. Juicy fruit on the palate: more earthy blackcurrent with some plum and minerals. Really well done and if you're into the traditional stuff you're in for a treat. 92 Pts.

Source: Broadway Liquor Distributors Price: $90 Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.bodegasprotos.com

Ahhh back in Ribera del Duero. I haven’t had a bottle of wine from this region for ages it seems. Don’t get me wrong, I love the wines from all the other regions, but Ribera del Duero just seems to push a few extra buttons. Its the fruit profile, the texture, the tannins give and the overall structure that sucks me in. And when its a wine of this calibre it bloody well should. Unfortunately, you’ll probably struggle to find a bottle of it, it sells out in minutes.

I know I keep going on about it, but again the 05 looks more balanced to me. I’d love to see them both in 10 years, but alas I have none in the cellar. I’ll have to scour the wine auctions in a couple of years. 

Classic modern Ribera nose earthy, smokey mulberry, blackberry, blackcurrant with an added touch of plum. A few shakes of  sage, a slurp of cola and a shot of espresso and anise.  You need to time this right if you’re going to see anything, it shuts up shop after a couple of hours in the decanter. Almost medium bodied with some raspy tannins until it builds with more air. The tannins open up soft and silky giving the wine a velvet mouthfeel. The acid keeps the structure  in the mouth and its all too easy to drink. It shows great intensity in the mouth, juicy mulberry, black current and blueberry with minerally sarsaparilla and spice. An uber long finish, which is great because I don’t want it to end. But after a good performance for a couple of hours, the shows over. So drink now if you want to see what all the fuss is about, but I’d give it 5 year in the cellar to sort it self out, then drink over the following 15. 96+ Pts.

Source: The Spanish Acquisition Price: $175 Closure: Conventional Cork

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

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 

This is one of my favourite wines from Ribera del Duero.  It isn't over the top, its very classy, and ages very well.  You pay a bit more than your average Crianza, but its worth every cent.  2005 was an almost perfect year in Ribera del Duero, except for some small patch of frost at the end of September and one of the driest summers on record.

As always this wine has a very expressive and aromatic nose of cherries, mulberry, violets, earth and mocha coffee.  In the mouth the wine shows great balance and intensity with fine tannins and a touch of acid on the finish.  The palate is a bit closed at the moment. But this is normal at this stage, this wine tends to need a couple of years to really strut its stuff.  Cherries and Mulberry, a bit of earthy sage and pepper.  If you're a Ribera del Dureo nut, this is a must buy. If you do grab some,  put it in the cellar for a couple of years, then drink over the following 8.  93 Pts.

Source: The Spanish Acquisition Cost: $55 Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.cillardesilos.es

Other vintages: 2004

Deep red in the glass, with a purple rim.  Its Ribera straight out of the box with earthy, floral notes of violet with great cherry and mulberry fruit.  More interest is added with some smoke and creamy oak. The palate shows similar fruit with added sage, minerals and iron ore.  Loads of soft fruit tannins, the acid is a touch low.  Excellent drinking now and over the next 10 years.  93 Pts.

Source: The Spanish Acquisition RRP: $55 Closure: Conventional Cork

Other vintages: 2003 

This wine is made from mostly Tempranillo with 10% Merlot.  Unfortunately, this bottle suffered quite badly from the smell of late night circle work that doesn't blow off.  It has a nice deep purple colour in the glass and under the burnt rubber it has some red fruit and plum on the nose.  Actually quite nice in the mouth, nice soft tannins and some red fruit with liquorice and spice.  This bottle is not quite right, I'll grab another at some point.  79 Pts.

Source: Toro/Woods wines Price: $22 Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.marquesdevelilla.com

I think that 2003 is a very good year in Ribera del Douro. This seems to be contrary to popular belief, but every wine I’ve had from this vintage has been top grade. The heat made the vintage in my book. This is an area that can deal with very hot days as at night the temperature plummets to single figures. I think those who put in the vineyard work, reaped the rewards and made great wines. The alcohol is up a little (14.5 in this case), but there is plenty of acid and intense fruit.

Deep purple in colour with a nose of mulberry and cherry with cola, espresso coffee, earth and chai tea that jumps out of the glass. Smooth, silky and dead sexy in mouth, with fine tannins that add texture as the wine builds with air. Perfect balance and concentration. On the palate there is some more mulberry with some currents and blackberry, cola, minerals and pepper. Very long finish with more minerals. Already very complex, I would put this away for at least two years then drink over the following 15. 95+ pts.

Source: Boccaccio Cellars Price: $105 Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.bodegasalion.com