The SOMM Journal

April / May 2015

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84 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } APRIL/MAY 2015 { spain } Vilarnau Brut Nature Cava ($18.99) Scents of lemon, toast, baking spice and dried lemongrass lead to a brisk palate with fine, yet abundant, mousse and flavors of toasted brioche, lemon, lemon pith, yogur t, green apple skin and mineral. Viñas del Vero 2013 La Miranda de Secastilla Garnacha Blanca, Somontano ($13.99) Pretty with aromas of delicate white flowers and minerality. There's medium-plus body in the mouth and flavors of just-ripe peach, chervil and gentle tropical fruit, The soft attack gives way to a fresh mid-palate and distinctly mineral finish. Viñas del Vero 2012 La Miranda de Secastilla, Somontano ($13.99) This refined blend of Garnacha (85%), Syrah and Parraleta, aged eight months in French oak, layers black cherry, sweet spice and dark, and savory minerality on a backdrop of slightly charred oak. Drink now through 2018. Blecua 2008, Somontano ($72.99) Blecua makes just one wine. Initially, it was a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Tempranillo and Garnacha. Now, Syrah replaces the latter. The 2008 is a tremendous wine of power and longevity, resembling a very fine Barossa Cabernet-Shiraz blend, but spor ting a Spanish accent. There's black plum, black currant, toasty oak and spice, cigar box and graphite on the nose. The palate is masculine and disciplined with excellent tension between the acidity, fruit and two textures of tannin, fine and silky and heavier with chalk. Black cherry, spice and mineral are the dominant and long-lasting flavors. Beronia 2007 Rioja Gran Reserva ($28.99) The average vine age for the Tempranillo (92%), Graciano (6%) and Mazuelo in this wine is 60 years and the wine matured 27 months in French oak barrels. Enticing aromas of red cherry, pastry, light baking spices precede a nearly full-bodied palate with fruit, alcohol and fine but prominent tannins in good balance. Substantial complexity awaits with a fur ther five-to-ten years of bottle age. Finca Constancia 2012, Tierra de Castilla ($14.99) This red-fruited wine with accents of coconut, oak and spice is a blend of traditional and modern Spain, with 35% Syrah, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Tempranillo, 2% Petit Verdot and 2% Graciano aged 13 months in new French and American oak barrels. Body is medium-plus and the generous finish darkly mineral. Finca Constancia 2013 Parcela 23, Tierra de Castilla ($18.99) Made solely from Tempranillo grown in a particularly chalky patch of soil, this lightly oaked wine smells of raspberries, warm red cherries and mineral. The palate is masculine with black cherry, earth, dark flowers, spice, cigar box and charcoal. Give it plenty of air to let those flavors blossom. Finca Constancia 2012 Altos de la Finca, Tierra de Castilla ($29.99) This savory Syrah–Petit Verdot blend shows smoke, bacon fat, black pepper, violets and a range of black fruit. Full-bodied and rich, it leans toward hedonism but kept in line by plenty of fine, chalky tannins. Delicious now but suitable for five years in the cellar. On my recent visit to Spain, I taed the producer's fu range of offerings. Here are some, available here, that I' be sking out for my own enjoyment. Gonzalez-Byass wines are available through their U.S. import company, Vin Divino.

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