Ribera del Duero
Bodegas Finca Vaqueros I’Corus Condado 2003
This wine is a bit older and gets a couple of extra months in American oak than its younger brother, Quinta, and its all the better for it. Again, its a fairly savoury and rustic with some amazing acid and balance.
Protos Roble 2005
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 [...]
Protos Crianza 2003
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 [...]
Protos Reserva 2001
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 [...]
Flor de Pingus 2005
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
Cillar de Silos Crianza 2005
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 [...]
Telmo Rodriguez M2 de Matallana 2004
I mentioned this in an earlier note, but I think it deserves a post on its own. These mid level wines from Telmo are really good value if you want to add some top shelf Spanish gear to your cellar. Espessially this wine and the Gago from Toro.
Deep red in the glass, with a [...]
Grandes Bodegas Marques de Velilla 2006
Here is a cheapy from Ribera del Douro. I'm fairly sure that this wine has had a bit of carbonic maceration treatment (and has a bit of an ethyl mercaptan issue). Its a fairly popular method for Joven wines, it brings out the softer, fruitier aspects of the wine. But it can also has a downside [...]
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