Taste of Spain: #5 of 5

Ok folks, so here's the last review from our visit to Spain. What's sad is that there are soooooo many wines I would love to review here, but there are simply too many. Do yourselves a favor and sample Spanish wines...so much variety, at reasonable prices! And, since I wrapped up Argentina with a white wine, I figured I might as well do the same for Spain.

By the way, our next visit will be Portugal...thanks for all your votes. However, since things are a bit crazy next week, we'll be postponing our trip to Portugal for a week. We'll head to Portugal and start reviewing the wines on Monday, February 12...just in time for Valentine's day! Look at the bright side, it gives you an extra week to explore Spanish wines. Speaking of Spanish wines, let's get to the 5th and final review for this week. Hope you enjoyed our visit...

The Wine: Naia Naiades 2004
Country: Spain
Region: Rueda
Category: Verdejo
Price: $20.99
Decanted or Not: No

Tasting Notes:

The Color: Bronzy yellow.

The Nose: Surprisingly powerful nose wood, pear, citrus and liquorice.

The Taste: Full and thick. Very juicy, and actually feels somewhat chewy. Powerful fruit flavors: pear explodes, melon, citrus. Very mild on the wood flavor, but noticeable. Very tasty, but much fleshier and thicker than what I expected. Finish is long, smooth and silky with a burst of orange and something else at the end...maybe liquorice, maybe cinnamon.

Never had this type of wine before, and likely won't try it again for a while. Pretty good, but not my cup of tea. Consistency is too oily for my liking...actually has a similar texture to orange juice, if you know what I mean. A hearty juice.

The Verdict: 6 corks

Once again, our world tour will continue on February 12, with Portugal. But you can vote now for where we go after that.

Taste of Spain: #4 of 5

The Wine: Bodegas Hijos de Juan Gil 2003
Country: Spain
Region: Jumilla
Category: Mourvèdre
Vintage: 2003
Price: $14.99
Decanted or Not: No

Tasting Notes

Color: Dark Ruby

The Nose: Fruity bouquet, showing currants, raspberries, maybe even a touch strawberry and vanilla.

The Taste: As the nose would suggest, dried cherries and currant flavors, lots of fruit up front, mellowing out with some mineral notes, vanilla and spice from oak. Beautiful silky texture and mouthfeel. Just an all around well crafted wine. Highly recommended, delicious wine.

As many of you have probably noticed, I don't give out corks very easily, but I particularly liked this wine. I paired it with a pork braciole (did I spell that right?) and acted a worthy foil to the cheeses and hearty red sauce. Mrs. Grape Nut actually purchased this wine and it was a great find. She knows me well.

Verdict: 9

Taste of Spain: #3 of 5

The Wine: Bodega Felix Sanz Ciranza 2001
Country: Spain
Region Ribera Del Duero
Category: Monte Negro
Price: $20.99
Decanted or Not: Yes - 60 minutes

Tasting Notes:

Color: Deep ruby/purple

The Nose: Very big nose. Dark fruits and smoked wood. Cherries, currants and herbs.

The Taste: Flavors as big as the nose. Very powerful and dense fruit up front, without being over the top. Dark wood, earth and spices. Very nice, long finish with moderate tannins. Finish pushes those dark fruit flavors throught he back of your throat. Very, very good, but not for the faint at heart.

If you typically drink fruity Shiraz, this one may take you for a loop... it packs a nice punch! Highly recommend dacanting for at least an hour.

The Verdict: 8 corks

Taste of Spain: #2 of 5

Hello wine lovers. I hope you're enjoying the tour of Spain thus far...but remember there's plenty more to come. Grape Nut and I wanted to try to give you as many duel tastings for Spain as possible, so here is yet another one. This too is a bottle we had at the dinner party Grape Nut mentioned...is was served with lamb chops (season three different ways), veggies and some delicious horseradish mashed potatoes.

Quite honestly, of all the wines we drank that night (I lost track at 7), this Spanish Merlot was the one I enjoyed most. Perhaps adding to the enjoyment is the fact that getting a Spanish Merlot can be a difficult task since Merlot makes up only 2% of the wine produced in Spain. So this was a rare treat for me, and you'll see in the notes that it did not disappoint. Anyway, to the notes we go...

The Wine: Castillo de Monjardin Deyo Merlot
Country: Spain
Region: Navarra
Category: Merlot

Vintage: 2002

Price: $18.99

Decanted of not: No

Tasting Notes:

The Color: Deep ruby red

The Nose:

The Vine Guy: Beautiful bouquet of ripe dark fruit: cherries, plum and currants. Nice spice and oak.

Grape Nut: Lots of fruit, smells of currants, raspberries, other red fruits

The Taste:

The Vine Guy: Full and savoury in the mouth. Lots of sweet, juicy fruit up front. It starts rich and smooth. Nice touch of spice, and very slight oak lead to a long velvety finish. Aftertaste brings back a blast of the fruits. Delicious!

Grape Nut: Nice silky texture, great mouth feel, fruit upfront with currants and other red fruit; long finish with an earthy, chalky dryness.

The Verdict:

The Vine Guy: 8 corks (would be 8 1/2 if we used half points)

Grape Nut: 8 corks

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE FOR WHERE WE GO NEXT!!