Ribera del Duero

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 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