Torres San Valentin Parellada 2008

A new grape!  Too bad the wine wasn’t better. 

— Iron Chef’s Review —

The grape, Parellada, is one of three grapes used in the Spanish sparkler Cava.  Never had this before.

Nose- Lemon and honey. Some floral notes and seashells by the seashore.
Taste- Fresh lemon rind, watermelon and more honey. Good mouth-watering acidity. Some vicious notes on the palate.  Also a plasticine taste on the palate that I did not care for.
Overall- certainly smelled better than it tasted- it was fun to try once, probably not a second time.

Price: $12.99
Value 2.5/5
Score 83
Spain, Catalunya
Grape  Parellada
Alcohol 11%
UPC 8410113001177

Finca Antigua Petit Verdot 2006

Peanutman posted this in the Make a Suggestion thread, but I think it deserves a separate post, even though it’s no longer in stock.  As it happens, Kelly and I just had an excellent Australian Petit Verdot last night, though not the one that is currently available at ANBL.  This seems to be a grape worth looking out for.  Anyone else had a Petit Verdot recently?  Anyone have more comments on the de Bortoli Vat 4 that ANBL carries?

— Peanutman’s Review —

Just wondering if anyone bought the Finca Antigua Petit Verdot 2006 at the Wine Festival. I had my first bottle tonight. Too bad NBLC doesn't have any in stock. Wow. what a good wine. Very blackberry ish and smooth to boot. A little tannic but not much. Probably perfect time to drink it. I don't remember what I paid, probably around $20. Smell is simply beautifully fruity, like something you would want to have on your toast in the morning. I would give it a 4.5 out of 5 and I would say that it was better than the Australian Petit Verdot available at NBLC. Simply enjoyable.

Value 4.5/5
UPC: No longer available.

Torrelongares Tinto Garnacha 2008

This is the other half of Iron Chef’s twofer Grenache review. This is more like what I’d expect for the price.

— Iron Chef’s Review —

Nose- Dried herbs, like a greenish tobacco. Some woody popsicle notes. Hot cherries with some plasticine aromas.
Taste- Chalky sour cherries- like drywall plaster. Some green pepper veggies tastes late on the finish.
Overall- not my favourite style of wine, but it was good to try opposite the Borsao.

Price: $12.99
Score: 81
Value: 1/5
Region: Spain, Carinena
Alcohol: 13%
UPC #8424659010067

Borsao Joven 2008

A 91 score for $13!? I'm going to have to try one and see for myself. Luckily, there are about a billion bottles of this left in the province.

BTW, Chef sent this to me as part of a twofer, but I'm going to post the other review separately.

— Iron Chef’s Review —

Nose- Dried Herbs, Cloves, sage, spearmint and tobacco. An interesting smell of grape seeds. Lots of candy apples from the Frex.
Taste- Hot Chocolate and cherries. Some grenadine but good balance of acidity /tannins and sweetness. Very clean finish, a little short.
Overall- Certainly the better of the two Garnachas. I really enjoyed the Borsao. I will be adding a number of these to the cellar for the holidays.

Price: $13.29
Score: 91
Value: 5/5
Region: Spain, Campo de Borja
Alcohol: 13.5%
Grape: 70% Garnacha, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Tempranillo
UPC: 8412423120036

Condesa de Leganza Crianza 2003

Come on everyone, don't make Iron Chef do all the work. I know you're out there drinking wine - so send in a review. Either e-mail it to me directly at NBwines /at/ gmail /dot/ com or just post it on the "Make a Suggestion" thread and I'll repost it separately. It doesn't have to be long and no fancy wine words are required - the idea is just to get the conversation going.

--- Iron Chef's Review ---

Nose- Dried Flowers, Older cedar, some hot alcohol notes. Extracted Cherries.
Taste- Red, Ripe Cherries mixed with raspberries. Chalky tannins and Dill pickle chips. Much longer finish that I would have guessed for the price.
Overall- this was a dead ringer for a Spanish wine. It showed a bunch of nice favours and more depth of taste than expected. The Dill on the palate was interesting. I liked this wine.

Price: $15.79
Value 4/5
Score 88
Region: Spain- La Mancha
Grape: Tempranillo
Alcohol: 13.5%
UPC: 8436013812644

Osborne Solaz Shiraz Tempranillo 2005

Summer is white wine weather, but with this rainy weather it seems like fall, so a red wine review seems appropriate.

--- Iron Chef's Review ---

Smell: Dried Raisins, Cloves, Dried Flowers and warm oak- Great Spanish Nose - wood and dried fruit- exactly what I look for in Spanish wine.
Taste: More Dried Fruit- Prunes and raisins. Good Structure- tannins in the palate. Loads of toasty Wood. Some cherry extract, but not too sweet. There is something to this wine that makes it very enjoyable to drink.
Overall: Nice wine, especially with food that needs structure- Beef on the BBQ, but not Ribeye class- maybe Striploin Ribeye would demand at least a Montecillo. Has the elements that I seek in a wine, Dried Fruit, good wood and a little something extra. Decanted+ good cork.

Price: $13.79
Score: 88
Value: 4/5
Region: Spain
Alcohol 13.5%
UPC #022851804019

Casa de la Ermita Jumilla Crianza 2003

By coincidence I received two separate reviews of this wine today (Friday) so obviously it had to go up next - in fact, I’m going to break my ‘every other day’ rule and post this Saturday. I'm very enthusiastic about this development - the point of the this blog is to try and get a variety of opinions, on the theory that "two heads are better than mine." In this case it is interesting to see that both reviewers independently gave it the same score and pretty much the same value rating!

— Peanutman’s Review —

This wine was suggested to me by one of the NBLC sommeliers. For the price, I was very pleased. I had a hard time with the smell. I wasn't blown away by the smell and I swirled and swirled. Jam, maybe, forest, maybe. I just couldn't tell. My wife and I both like big bold wines, and we both felt this one met our criteria. It is full and flavourful. There are some sweet tannins, but nothing to bug you. There is a decent length to it and it seems that I could actually chew on this wine. In addition, it obviously spent some time in oak, with a hint of vanilla somewhere in there. Basically, we just really liked this wine and it was as good on the second day.

For $23, I would say it is a 4 out of 5 for value. At $17.50, I would give it a 4.5 out of 5. My score, 89 (for whatever that is worth)

— Vasco da Gama’s Review —

Viva Espagna! Iron Chef was looking for a review of a more moderately priced wine, so here you go.

Picked up a couple bottles of this in the wine sale, and was not disappointed. This is quite the concoction of several varietals. This wine is fairly dry, but still juicy (and fruity) and has moderate tannins and quite a bit of acidity...probably will hold up for another couple of years.

This wine reflects a bit of everything; nice and fruity (after it opens up a bit)-cherry strawberry, but not overly. You get some of the benefits of the aging, with the 6 years bringing some light earthy characteristics. The key is that everything is very well integrated. This is a very nice and enjoyable wine for the mere $18.

Upon looking, I see that there is none left in Fredericton, but lots in other cities. May be worth getting some shipped in. If anyone gets their hands on some remember to let it breathe for a couple hours to fully appreciate what this wine has to offer!

Overall 89pts
5/5 for value (complexity normally seen in the high $20s low $30s)

—

Price: $17.47 (on Sale)
Score: 89
Value: 4.5 - 5 / 5
Region: Spain, Jumilla
Grape: Tempranillo, Monastrell (Mourvèdre), Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot
Tasted: March 2009
Alcohol: 13.5%
UPC: 8435053323035

Marqués de Cáceres Crianza 2004

Kelly's note: "Raspberries, vanilla, cheap wine essence. Clear on palate, then very dry on finish. I initially guessed pinot, then merlot. Poor value at the price."

This crianza is is 85% Tempranillo and the remaining 15% is Garnacha Tinta (Grenache) & Graciano. Incidentally, the term "crianza" is the Spanish designation for the youngest officially recognized category of wine that is matured in wood; "reserva" and "gran reserva" denote longer wood aging, while wines without any of these designations - "joven" or young, may not have any cask aging at all. "Riserva" is the Italian term; it also denotes a period of aging, but the Italian usage is not as strict and some riserva wines may not have any cask aging at all.

Price: $22.49
Value: 2/5
Score: 83
Region: Spain, Rioja
Tasted: Nov 2008
UPC: 8410406311006

Montecillo Reserva 2002

Here's a review from Luke. Incidentally, when he first posted this in the "Make a Suggestion" thread, there was none available in F'ton. They've now brought some in, along with the Torres Celeste that Luke also mentioned in that post.

Here's Luke's review of the Montecillo:

"The Celeste has left me in the mood for Spain since I had it, so I opened a 2002 Montecillo Reserva (Rioja) today. I got something different on the nose every time I went back. Cherries, earth, cedar, lavender, spice, and maybe even tea and chocolate. The fruit and vanilla were most obvious on the palate, which had a medium to long finish with a nice hint of chocolate. A very complex wine.

The deep garnet colour has hints of brown that are starting to show quite well. There is still good acidity and tannin, I look forward to trying this in another year or two. Very enjoyable now, however."

Price: $24.29
Score: 87
Value: 4/5
Region: Spain, Rioja
Grape: Tempranillo
Tasted: 30 Nov 08
UPC: 022851208015

Tapena Garnacha 2006

This review is from Iron Chef:

The colour is a deep violet purple. The scent is Gamey, meaty with wood vanillas and Asian spices- a real fun smell. The palate is very drying but devoid of grippy tannins. Possibly coriander seed mixed with wild berries, Raspberry and black berry. A slight stemmy nature also. The smell is better than the taste, long mouth feel shorter on the palate though. A fun wine with vibrant fruit, reminds me of an reduced oak Vinsobres.

Price: $14.99
Value: 4/5
Score: 82
Alcohol: 13%
Tasted: Nov 2008
UPC: 033293051008

Castano Monastrell 2006

Monastrell is a Spanish name for Mourvèdre- or rather we should say that Mourvèdre is a French name for Monastrell, as the grape is native to Spain. The Yecla region is in the south-east of Spain, next to the slightly better known region of Jumilla.

I thought this was a reasonable wine in this price range, but not more than that. A bit of apparent sweetness, some heat, a bit candied, decent fruit. I'd give it 85 except for the candied aspect, which downgrades it to 84, for my taste. If you don't mind that style you might like it better.

I may be missing something here. Stephen Tanzer, or more precisely his sidekick Josh Reynolds, really liked this wine, giving it a score of 88 and Joe thought it was "fantastic" as well. So I'd be interested in hearing what everyone else thinks.

BTW, Bodegas Castano has a great website.

Price: $15.79
Value: 3/5
Score: 84
Alcohol: 14%
Tasted: Oct 2008
UPC: 8422443001208

Marqués de Riscal Tempranillo 2006

Here is a review from Vesper:

"Last night I had a couple glasses of the Marqués de Riscal Tempranillo and really enjoyed it. Nice deep berry nose. On the palate it was fairly full bodied and smooth with good tannins. Really nice mouth feel too. I had this in a restaurant so not ideal conditions for tasting but I like it enough to buy a bottle and to try it again. Note: I had two glasses and the second one (initially) was a touch cooler and slightly more sharp on the finish. I put this down to opening of new bottle or the like.

ANBL has this (2006) for $15.79. I think this could make it in the top ten under $20. If anyone else tries this let me know what you think."

Price: $15.79
Score: 86
Region: Spain
Tasted: Nov 2008
UPC: 8410866430477