No, this is not a movie review…
Okay, white wine drinkers, give us red wine drinkers, lovers, and winos our due. Yours will be in an upcoming post. Before we get started on Spanish wines I had two aunts from our Northern Neighbors come to visit recently and one of them brought up the time she was blamed for writing “Zorro” countless times on the bedroom walls with bold colored crayons. Seems that on a particular weekend my aunt, at the time was 19 and was babysitting for me while the parents went out to paint the town. Well, the story goes that my father went in to work that next Monday and told his co-workers that his sister-in-law (my great Aunt D) wrote a plethora of “Zorro’ s” on my bedroom wall. His co-workers thought this was odd as well, I mean, what 19 year old would be so inconsiderate of someone’s home? Come to find out (not sure if my father ever found this out or not) but at the age of 7 or 8, Zorro was my childhood hero. Hmm, did my aunt take the fall for me? Just think all this happened before my crush on Hayley Mills and the British Invasion from whence we discovered The Beatles et al.
Okay, here are some Spanish wines in memory of the legend of Zorro. Yeah, I know it’s a Mexican folklore, but it’s as close as I could muster as I do not know anything of Mexican wines.
Fuga 2008 Ribeira Sacra Mencia. This wine was made from the Mencia grape located in the Ribeira Sacra region of Spain where the climate is cool and dry and upon opening this wine it portrays a medium body with a ruby red color. Plums, raisins, earthy herbal notes with a hint of pepper hit the nose in harmony where one aroma does not overpower another, a very good balance. Raspberry and strawberry flavors gently caress the palate leaving a delicate finish with very faint nuances of blueberry and grated European chocolate. This reminds me an awful lot like a Cabernet Franc. I paired this with an onion thin crust pizza and was mildly surprised as I have only found Zinfandel’s seem to go with pizza. Goes to show ‘ya that you can learn something new everyday. I also had this the next day and enjoyed this more as a stand alone wine hence I bumped this up 1 rating point. $9.99, 88 rating.
I’m really starting to like Spanish wines, what about you??
Fuego 2008 Old Vines Granacha. Aromas of sweet plums and a hint of cherry lead into tart raspberry and mocha flavors with a peppery finish, probably white pepper more so than black pepper. I had this as a stand alone wine and the $8.99 price tag yielded an 88 rating.
Okay, two Spanish wines delectably exhibiting raspberry and mocha nuances (goodness, are there any better flavors?) at an 88 rating all under $10. Cousin Carl, does this fall into your low priced red wine category? My only regret is that it has taken me sooooooooo long to discover Spanish wines.
Here’s to good wine, good food, and good friends….