Vera De Estenas, Crianza, D.O. Utiel Requena 2001 ($16) – A blend of 50% Tempranillo, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon & 15% Merlot. Dark ruby in color with aromas of blackcurrant, spice and mint. Black cherry fruit together with black pepper and spices make for a delicious wine and excellent value. Score: 9/10
Bodegas Javier Asensio, Crianza 2000
Bodegas Javier Asensio, Crianza, Navarra, Spain 2000 ($17) – Garnet in color with an aromatic plum, spice and eucalyptus nose; nicely concentrated and forward dark fruit flavors with some mint and dusty tannins; excellent balance of fruit and tannin. Needs to breathe for a while to show it’s best, but a very good wine made from 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 20% Tempranillo. A producer to watch for unique and complex wines at bargain prices. Score: 8.5/10
Winecast 38 – Tempranillo
Today’s podcast features Spain’s Tempranillo grape and I continue the cellaring series looking at the many cellar management solutions available.
Show Notes:
00:20 – Welcome and show theme
00:30 – Background of the Tempranillo grape
02:19 – Tasting Notes
02:31 – Bodegas Ercavio, Tempranillo “Roble” 2003 ($9)
02:54 – Bodegas San Valero, “Manyana”, Tempranillo 2004 ($8)
03:14 – Vina Albali, Tempranillo Reserva 1999 ($10)
03:33 – Tikalo, “Rubens”, Tempranillo 2003 ($10)
04:03 – Best of tasting
04:08 – Best value
04:14 – Cellar Management Solutions
06:25 – Hurricane Katrina PSA
06:57 – Appeal from Wichita Rutherford
08:00 – Contact details
08:23 – Next show theme
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Copyright 2005 Tim Elliott. Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
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Osborne, Solaz, Spain 2003
Osborne, Solaz, Spain 2003 ($7) – A blend of 80% Tempranillo and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. Ruby color, bright black cherry nose with forward cherry flavors. Fairly decent value and good house wine. Score: 7.5/10
Bodegas Javier Asensio, Torsa Tinto 2003
I picked up this wine originally for Wine Blogging Wednesday #7 (WBW), as I had never heard of the name “Torsa” which I incorrectly assumed to be an obscure Spanish grape variety. A Google search didn’t turn up any details on the wine, but I was able to find out more about the people who made it and their email address. A day later, I heard from their US importer, International Gourmet, who provided details of the blend being made from Tempranillo (60%), Cabernet Sauvugnon (30%) and Merlot (10%). A couple days later I also received an email from Javier Asensio confirming the percentages noted above.
Since this violates the rules of this month’s WBW, I offer my tasting notes here:
Asensio Vinedos y Bodegas, “Torsa” Tinto, Navarra, Spain 2003 ($8)
Dark ruby, fresh strawberry/cherry nose with hint of cloves; robust, bright cherry flavors explode on the palette, nicely balanced with light tannins. Would make a nice “house red”. Very good wine and an excellent value. Highly recommended!
Score: 8.5/10
Asensio Vinedos y Bodegas is a family owned winery founded in 1994 in the Navarra region of Northern Spain near the town of Pamplona made famous by the annual running of the bulls. They grow 72 HA of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tempranillo that are used to produce all their wines including Torsa. I am very much looking forward to tasting their other bottlings.
Thanks to Christine Steil of www.internationalgourmet.net for her assistance with the details and label picture and Javier Asensio for making such great wine for the money!