Bodegas San Alejandro Baltasar Garnacha VV 2003

If you read eBob at all, you will have heard of this wine and its stable mate the Las Rocas.  BBB and his grenache loving followers have been crowing about the 2001 vintage of this wine for years now, Bob gave it 93 points.  Not bad for an 12 Euro wine.  Jancis Robinson is also on board, sprooking the 02 as one of the great value wines from Spain.  The 02 and 03 apparently are a slight step down in complexity, but the 03 at least is still a mighty fine wine.  The 04 is apparently a repeat performance of 01, one to watch out for if you like a good garnacha or a southern Rhone now and then.

Bodegas San Alejandro is a co-op in D.O. Calatayud.  The vines are 70-100 years old, truly earning their vinas viejas title.  The wine sees 10 months in oak, with only 10% of that being new oak.  If you grab a bottle of this, have a look at the quality of the cork, it is outstanding, one of the best corks I've seen.

The wine comes up as a bright cherry colour in the decanter and reveals slightly muted aromas of light cherry, minerals and lavender.  After an hour or so, the nose builds some extra intensity.  Very smooth and easy to drink. If you are used to low acid grenache your in for a shock, there is a lot of acid here which allows it to work every well with food.  There is sweat fruit in the mouth, red cherry, with some minerals and woody herbs.  The finish shows some light, soft tannins.  At $25 its good value.  88 Pts.

Source: Winestar Price: $25 Closure: Conventional Cork

Alto Moncayo 2003

The last in my Garnacha trio from Campo de Borja, and I have saved the best for last.  This is the mid level wine from this bodega, the top flight Aquilon was not made in 2003.  A slight step up in price from the Veraton, this wine drinks like it has seem a lot more work in the winery and is built for aging.  Oddly, out of the 3 wines, this needed the least time in the decanter to show it stuff.

Dark ruby in colour. The nose builds with time in the decanter with aromas of  blackberry and mulberry, cinnamon and pepper with coffee and herbs.  A bit more palate weight and concentration than the Veraton but it remains balanced. A great expression of ripe mulberry and blackberry fruit under a strong herbal influence and gamey, animal flavours.  A bit of oak influence and black pepper pops up after about an hour in the decanter.  Rich tannins and a sparkle of acid on the finish.   Again a very persistent finish that keeps going for ever.  If you are looking for something to cellar, I think this will be well worth your time in 5 years. 93 Pts.

Source: Winestar Price: $55 Closure: Conventional Cork

Alto Moncayo Veraton 2003

Wine number two in the Garnacha Trilogy.  Alto Monayo produce 3 levels of wines, this is the first rung on the ladder.  The venture is the brainchild of Jorge Ordonez who has Chris Ringland doing the wine making.  Again the wine is 100% Garnacha, there doesn't appear to be a lot of oak treatment on this one.  Remember to decant, it seems that the grenacha based wines from this area really benifit from a good hour or so. 

Big heavy bottles seem to be in vogue in Campo de Borja, all three of these wines have thick heavy bottles with big punts and flashy labels.  A real bugger to take of photo of, but they look great.

A brilliant ruby in the glass, with aromas of dark cherry and mulberry, cinnamon and pepper with a wiff of old leather.  Smooth and well balanced in the mouth, there is a core of great mulberry and cherry fruit with some black pepper, herbs and gamey, animal nuances.  Tannins are there, but well integrated and smooth.   The acid was overbearing initially, more time in a decanter and the wine integrated really nicely.  The finish is very long, surprisingly long.  If you want to look at Spanish Grenache outside of Priorat, this is the bottle to pick up. Drink it over 5 years. 91 Pts.

Source: Winestar Price: $40 Closure: Conventional Cork

Borsao Tres Picos 2004

This is the first of three wines I tried over the weekend from Campo de Borja.  All three are Garnacha, the leading grape from this region. From the stats I have it looks like most of the wines from Campo de Borja head out of Spain to the US, Parker is a big fan of some of the bodegas here apparently.

From my small amount of experience with these wines, they need a good decant.  Not the thing to pull out when friends drop over unexpected. I found these wines to be all over the shop for the first hour or so, angular and hard with a bit of sweetness and lacking any real nose.  A good 1 to 2 hour decant fixed this up nicely, bringing the fruit to the fore and opening up the nose.

A brilliant ruby in colour, the nose starts of slow with a balsamic character and builds in the decanter to reveal subtle blackberry and mulberry fruit with licorice and sooty, dusty earth.  International in style, but the fleshy, fruit profile makes me think Spain.  More blackberry and mulberry on the tongue, pepper and intense cinnamon develops with air, as does a medicinal herb note (wintergreen and sage).  Good balance, there is a brief bit of heat on the finish.  Built for drinking now I'd say. 90 Pts.

Source: Winestar Price: $40 Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.bodegasborsao.com

Coto de Hayas Reserva 2001

Grenacha is the queen of Campo de Borja, in fact the regulator for the DO is calling the place 'the Granacha Empire', sounds like a good catch phrase to put on a license plate. 

This is a co-op wine and a very good one at that. These guys produce about 30 wines from local and 'International' varieties, but grenacha is really where its at.The reserva is 100% grenacha from 40 year old vines and sees 15 months in a mix of american and french oak. 

Medium cherry in colour.  Dark fruits on the nose, cherry and plum, with some smoke and spice.  Medium bodied in the mouth, more dark fruits but if you are looking for loads of fruit,your in the wrong place. There is some highlights of caramel, asian spices and a bit of earth.  There is quite a bit of acid in there that makes the wine seem austere, it mellowed out a bit after 20 minutes in the glass. The tannins are quite soft play a supporting role, given a bit of time they develop into a good texture.  Great with good pizza, it cuts through the cheese and handled the salami very well. 90 Pts.

Source: Boccaccio Cellars Price: Around $30 Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.bodegasaragonesas.com