2005 Bodegas Ignacio Marin Marin Old Vine Garnacha

Community Tasting Notes (2) Avg Score: 90 points

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  4/11/2014 - DaveZack Likes this wine: 92 Points

  I'm hoping these notes are for the correct wine; I went with the UPC code (30179 99569), though the image on this website is different than the one on the bottle ("Mancuso" is the prominent word on the label, though the other entries for "Mancuso" had nothing to do with the producer (Bodegas Ignacio Marin).
  
  Anyway, this is a wonderful, well-aged, robust, delicious, Spanish old-vine Grenache (which they call Garnacha).
  
  I got this wine from winestilsoldout.com based on professional reviews (either Wine Spectator, The Wine Advocate, James Halliday, James Suckling, and/or Stephen Tanzer) and original release price. After I decided to score this wine 92 points, I went and retrieved the print-out from winestilsoldout.com to see who gave this wine what score: Wine Advocate gave this wine 96 points with a $100/bottle release price. I bought three bottles at $29.99 based on the great score and the big discount from the original release price.
  
  I don't believe this is a 96-point wine, but it is indeed wonderful. The bouquet exhibits gorgeous red fruit, tons of spices, and elements of earth. The wine pours rather dark; some Grenaches can be almost Pinot Noir-ish, being light-bodied with mostly red fruit and peppery/herbal elements. This wine pours and tastes much more like a Syrah.
  
  There are indeed red and dark fruits up front (black cherries, raspberries, plums, and currants), along with a mountain of black pepper and savory herbs and spices (especially herbs like thyme and rosemary). At almost ten-years-old, this wine is still shockingly young and exuberant, with firm tannins (that display a silky, easy-to-drink accessibility), food-friendly acidity, a core of earthy terroir, with fantastic balance, structure, and weight.
  
  This beauty is drinking gorgeously right now and will probably continue to age nicely for another 5 to 10 years (if not more). I drank this bottle with three home-made hamburgers (with a TON of caramelized/spiced/curried onions) but would pair even better with a marvelously-spiced rib eye, prime rib, lamb chops/shanks/racks, and/or just about any other red meat dish.
  
  Though not quite 96 points, this is a wonderful, delicious, well-balanced red with fantastic depth-of-flavor. I wouldn't pay $100 for it, but at $30 a bottle and almost ten years old, this is (so far), one of the best reds I've had all year. If I knew it was going to be this good, I would have bought an entire case!!

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  2/25/2008 - andrewstevenson.com wrote: 88 Points

  There is restrained black fruit on the nose, along with some dusty oak. Very good on the palate, with a nice, impressive, generic Spanish feel. An unchallenging wine, but it works very well.

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