Community Tasting Note

chablis28 wrote:

Saturday, June 18, 2011 - In Praise of aged Rioja! Is your budget limited like mine or are you 55yrs old and not excited about being 70 before you pop your 09 Burgs with age? Check out aged Rioja. This is my fav new region I've been discovering these past couple years. The good news is its not a trendy region and that means you can get really complex aged wines at very modest prices. In fact, many store clerks will look at you with a blank face when you ask if they have any aged Rioja like Lopez Herdia. Tonight we had a '96 Bodegas Las Orcas Solar De Randez Reserva from Rioja that I picked up recently for $30. This wine easily drinks like a $100+ aged Burg. I was amazed by the complexity of both the aroma and the spicy dried red fruit, tobacco infused palate. Even more amazing was the mouth coating length of this lightly colored red. This has one of the longest finishes of any red I've ever had. There is so much in common with great Burgundy here that I can't believe more Burg guys aren't singing the praises of aged traditional Rioja! At age 15 this btl had very modest sediment, showed some light bricking and was extremely fresh. The cork was soaked up about 1/4". Kermit Lynch would be all over this wine but he didn't import it. If there was a cable show called "American Wine Pickers", they'd be all over this "pick"!

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