January 19, 2012: Vinea Crianza 2009 (temperanillo)

Tonight I made a really spicy and absolutely delicious vegetarian enchilada with mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, peppers and green chiles with a red enchilada sauce. So what better than a saucy red wine from Spain. And this one did not disappoint!

One of the great things about this bottle besides the simplicity of the bottle and the complexity of the wine inside is the improper but still really enchanting English description on the back: "Vinea, Latin for vineyard, the eternal protagonist behind the wine. The temperanillo vineyards are planted in the Cigales DOP in the poor and pebbly soils of the Castillan plateau at more than 700meters. The fruit has been hand sorted followed by a careful elaboration aiming at a fruit driven wine. The wine has been barrique aged for a year. Versatile, matches red meat, stews and lamb."  Charming and I think I understand!

These high elevation vineyards have an extreme continental climate with long, cold winters, late spring frosts and a marked contrast between day and night temperatures. Soils are an extremely well drained combination of sand, limestone, pebbles and clay. Vine age ranges from 12 years to over 50.  Fruit is hand-picked, sorted and vinified in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks with frequent "remontage" or pumping over to encourage depth, concentration and complexity. The resulting wines are aged for 15 months in French and American oak barrels (60% American/ 40% French) and then bottled without filtration and aged an additional 12 months prior to release.

Interestingly, this particular wine does NOT seem to be a "family product" and is instead produced by the Baron de Ley group, a group of "prominent Rioja professionals" who ventured into wine making in the mid 1980s.

JUST THE FACTS:

This wine pours a lovely deep purple.

On the nose, we smelled the fruit--dark red cherries and plums as well as some of the tannins.

On the palate,  we tasted cherries and blackberries. Some have noted boysenberry. We also got a background of expresso with a long, smooth tannin/ basalmic finish.

The typical rating on this wine is 82-88. We think it would score high 80s to 90 after 5 years of cellaring.

The price range for this bottle is $13-$20. We got it for $15.99 in Asheville, North Carolina. So a good buy for under $20!

To your health!

WINE QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.”
― Ernest Hemingway