Vintage generalisations  are usually misleading.  But 2007 is turning out to be one of those vintages where hard work in the vineyard and careful wine making will really show results. Yes, it was a wet vintage, but this wine looks positively sunny. So how does that happen? Well the weather isn’t everything in producing wine (it is a lot, granted) and the effects of poor weather can be very localised or  broadly distributed over a whole region. Also, a ‘wet vintage’ is a relative term. In Ribera del Duero, the average rainfall is 650mm a year, they got 800mm in 2007. Compare that to the Yarra Valley with an average of 1200mm… As an aside, this is the 500th post on Tinto y Blanco…

I’d sum this wine up with four words: light, bright, earthy and fruity. It’s not a ‘Sunshine in a bottle’ type of wine by any means, but it has very clean cherry and blueberry fruit that’s striking and the real star here. The palate and nose add a few earthy herbs,  a bit of liquorice and a little violet. Medium bodied with a few soft tannins, it’s a fun drink that works with food or on it’s own. 88 Pts.