WineLife365

Posts Tagged ‘Spain’

From: Barcelona, Spain
Price: $5.50

If there are two things that I’m a sucker for – it’s a willingness to try any wine regardless of price and red wines hailing from Spain. The Rene Barbier Mediterranean Red (NV) is cheap – Me like. It’s also from Spain – Muy bien, I definitely love the sound of that!

Unfortunately that’s where the story ends for this inexpensive Spanish red that consists of an odd and rather bland tasting combination of Tempranillo and Merlot. I sure wanted to be swept away to that cute little table and chair overlooking the beautiful sunset on a beach.  Instead, I found myself sticking a cork in this fantasy as quickly as I possibly could and snapping back to reality.

I award the Rene Barbier Mediterranean Red (NV) 1 star out of 4.  This is a Mediterranean getaway worth passing up.

WineLife365 Rating: 1-Star

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From: Spain

Price: $8.99

The first thing that stands out about this particular wine is it’s simple yet bold electric orange label.  The lettering on the label on front of this wine bottle lies somewhere between X-Files meets The Terminator.  The label on the back of the bottle is a wine lovers’ dream.  It  gives would be buyers all kinds of useful information like what grapes are inside the bottle, a little bit about the wine itself, some geography, what kind of soil the grapes were grown in, etc.  Kudos to the nice peeps at Vinos Pinol for providing such a nicely detailed label about their wine!

Now that I know exactly what I’m drinking, I’ll tell you what I thought about how it tasted.

The 2007 Vinos Pinol Ludovicus is a very good everyday red wine made in a traditional Old World Spanish style.  This wine is comprised of 35% Garnacha, 30% Tempranillo, 25% Syrah, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The upfront berry taste of the 2007 Vinos Pinol Ludovicus when it first hits your tongue is just so-so, or at least it was for me.   However, this wine delivers a generous amount of black pepper, ripe berry, and spicy vanilla oaky flavors on the backend that linger around for quite a while.

I award the 2007 Vinos Pinol Ludovicus 3 Stars out of 4.  Although the label may look modern, the contents inside the bottle say Old World Spain, and at $8.99 it is a terrific value.

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From: Spain

Price: 10.99

So I have to tell you – I didn’t think that it was possible to find a Spanish dud from the Ribera Del Duero wine growing region in Spain.  I have a personal fondness for red wines that are produced in the Ribera Del Duero.  The climate in this Spanish region can be described as hot days and cool nights with moderate rains.  This type of climate makes for ideal growing conditions for tempranillo, the most widely planted red grape in Spain.

I love Spanish Tempranillo wines for their awesome ripe cherry flavor.  The winemakers that work with this grape know how to precisely integrate oak and spices to really make them enjoyable, food-friendly wines.

However, in my opinion, the 2006 Torremoron Tinto is a very poor display of the type of Tempranillo wine that one can purchase at this price level.  I found this Spanish Tinto to be rather bland, with nothing going on in the way of spices.  It was simply tasteless and boring.  Unfortunately, I’d have to say that the 2006 Torremoron Tinto is one of the worst Spanish red wines that I’ve tried in a while.

WineLife365 Rating: 1-Star

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From: Spain

Price: $8.49

This red wine is made with the native French grape Mourvèdre.  However in Spain, this red grape is known as Monastrell.  Call it Monastrell or call it Mourvedre… I call this wine damn good.  The 2007 Castillo del Baron Monastrell is one of the spiciest red wines that I’ve tried in a long time.  I really enjoyed its heavy black peppery taste.  Unfortunately though, the fruit part was no match for its big spices.  It does have very nice black and red fruit flavors and a great spicy finish.  If this wine just had a tad more fruit in it, it would be a “knock you over the head” crazy good wine.

The 2007 Castillo del Baron Monastrell is a perfect match for anything off the grill (especially steak) or any Spanish dishes.  Of the red wines we’ve tried in 2009, this ranks near the top of the list.

WineLife365 Rating: 3-Star

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From: Spain

Price: $13

Let me start by saying that I personally love Spanish red wines. To me, they just have the right amount of fruit flavors and weight to them. I also feel that their consistency and overall quality level is pretty good year after year.   That being said, one of my dislikes of Spanish red wines is their lack of identity or individuality.  Most Spanish reds to me have a terrific dried cherry taste. This is a taste that I personally like.  But where’s the individual expression in these wines?  They all seem to follow a textbook exactness that has no room for freedom of expression on the winemaker’s part.  Again, I love them.  But, I would really be excited if these bodegas (Spanish word for wineries) changed their formula a little bit and took a walk on the wild side. 

This particular LAN red wine suffers from this “complex”.  It’s textbook great, but at $13 bucks a bottle, it’s not a screaming buy.  This 2005 LAN Crianza Red is a rock-solid wine that possesses all of the qualities that I love about Spanish red wines, but it fails to really excite me. There was a time when Rioja, Spain was crawling with red and white value wines.  Now the values seem to have migrated to Rueda in Spain.

I give this wine 3 Stars because it’s consistently good year after year.  It’s just starting to bore me a bit.  A better bet for less money is the 2004 Hermanos Lurton red wine from Rueda, Spain.

WineLife365 Rating: 3-Star

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