TEMPRANILLO: SPAIN

+MUST TRY+
Bodegas Lan Rioja Crianza
Espana: Rioja
100% Tempranillo (red)
2006
$10.99
89 pts
Two strong Tempranillos in a row! The 2006 LAN Rioja Crianza, available at Binny's for under eleven bucks, is a top-notch Spanish red priced about the same as the Kool-Aid wines that line the shelves of most grocery stores. Deep ruby red in the color, this wine offers red fruit, black pepper and a hint of leather on the nose. The taste profile features plum, dark cherry, plenty of earthy barnyard (in true Old World style), and a bit of vanilla on the back end. There's a nice balance to this wine, too, with the red fruit and earthiness and hints of oak working in concert, each complementing the others and ultimately blending nicely into a unified whole...no showboats in this glass! Highly recommend the Lan Rioja Crianza. Drawbacks? Flavor a bit light on the finish, and the length is decent but not great. But hey, for ten bucks, you'd have a very hard time IMO finding a better vino tinto. Salud!


+MUST TRY+
Bodegas Ochoa Garnacha & Tempranillo
Espana: Navarra
50% Tempranillo, 50% Garnacha (red blend)
2008
$13.00
90 pts
At $13.00, this is a great buy...a very solid wine for little dough. The nose offers vanilla, tobacco, black cherry and white pepper. For $13.00, that's a whole lot on the aroma. Hell, I'd pay five bucks just to smell this wine. It really is fragrant and appealing. The initial attack offers raspberry & plums, followed by mucho tobacco and, on the very back end of the taste profile, flowers and some Spanish dirt, earth. Color is a pretty dark purple. The length? Nice, as well. Recently had an entry-level Barolo I paid over thirty bucks for, and it was nowhere near as rich, complex and rewarding as the Ochoa Garnacha & Tempranillo. Picked this up at Vino 100 on Elston. And I recommend it: a definite +MUST TRY+. Could be one of my Wines of Winter 2011-12!

Tierra de Vientos Tempranillo (by Bodegas Altizia)
Espana: Castilla-La Mancha
Tempranillo (red)
2005
$11.99
87 pts
The Tierra de Vientos is a rich and beautiful violet color, and offers a wonderful nose with tart cherries--a pleasing Sweet Tart candy aroma that makes me salivate--with some licorice or cocoa notes. There is also a unique savory quality to the nose, almost gamy. On the palette, the initial attack is full of the savoriness, followed by lots of black licorice and then, on the finish, the bright cherries. While I certainly appreciate the variety of flavors this wine offers--and it possesses a decent length, too--the mid-palette really lacks punch. It's a little like a movie with an intriguing start, a long dull middle, and a fun ending. It won't win an Oscar, but at this price, and given how much garbage is out there at any given time, it's worth checking out On Demand, after it's left theaters. By no means is this a true Spanish Tempranillo (no earth here at all, not much to indicate its Old World roots, and over-oaked for my taste) but an interesting little wine at a discount price--and one I'd buy again, but only in a pinch. PS: Translation? Tierra de Vientos = Wind of the Earth: kind of cheesy.

Ercavio Tempranillo Roble
Espana: Manchuela
Tempranillo (red)
2007
$10.99
84 pts
This is an average Tempranillo, despite the Wine Advocate's ridiculously high 90+ rating. Yikes. It's not offensive, mind you, but it's just there. The color is absolutely gorgeous...black cherry, ruby red. The taste offers the same black cherries, along with a little lingering black pepper on the back end, but the mid-palette is a weak vanishing act, and the weight is awfully light. Length, though, is above average. Offers nice, soft tannins. Drinkable, but in the end, lacking flavor, complexity, and the ability to stand up to most foods one would enjoy with Spanish red. In a pinch would be better than most $10.00 reds, but overall, just an okay wine.

Protocolo (by Dominio De Eguren)
Espana: Manchuela
Tempranillo (red)
2006
$7.99
86+ pts
Decent Spanish red at a discount price; hint of pepper, licorice; not bad for $8.00. Clearly an Old World, musty kind of flavor profile that many will not like, but I don't mind. However, for just $5.00 more you can land the Ergo Tempranillo (see below), which is, for me, a 90+ wine. But if had only $8.00 to spend and had to drink a Tempranillo here in the states...I'd go with this one. (:

Sierra Cantabria Crianza (by Bodegas Sierra Cantabria)
Espana: Rioja
Tempranillo + Graciano (red)
2004
84 pts
Bought in Spain in December 2008; a spicy, really hot red; lots of pepper; not my favorite Spanish red.

+MUST TRY+
Ergo Tempranillo (by Bodegas Martin Codax)
Espana: Rioja
Tempranillo 85%, Mazuelo 15% (red)
2006
$12.99
90 pts
This is an outstanding Spanish red, with good black pepper and tobacco (the tobacco really pops on the bouquet). The red fruit is subtle but rewarding, and the Ergo offers a rock-solid finish and very good length. Dana bought this for me once, and after a quick smell and a single taste, I was hooked. Along with the da Vinci Chianti, this is my winter workhorse wine. Affordable, a great example of what the Spaniards from Rioja can do with Tempranillo, and readily available here at home. Not easy to find a $13.00 wine with this kind of integrity and reliability, year after year. This one's a MUST TRY!