Community Tasting Note
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drwine2001 wrote:
April 5, 2017 - Medium ruby. All pine resin on the nose, which just gives me a viscerally negative reaction, just like the sickening florality one can sometimes find in Gewurztraminer. Medium weight, cherry and plum, some cocoa dust and spice, but at the end of the day, it is the oak that speaks most loudly and squashes everything else. It is always the same story from La Rioja Alta; beats me as to why I even keep trying them since I hate this style.
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3 Comments
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Geoffy commented:
4/6/17, 12:59 AM - I think you're always going to be disappointed ......... This wine will always have these characteristics.
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Empirate commented:
4/6/17, 3:37 AM - Thanks for the note (and not flaming it with a low score because its a style you don't enjoy).
Lots of folks chiming in on this one. I'm trying to follow the recommendations of many who say to wait, hoping it will settle down/integrate. -
drwine2001 commented:
4/6/17, 9:34 AM - Geoffy-You are absolutely right. Although I don't care for the style, I really admire the consistency of the house; it is nice to know what you are going to get. My note reflects more frustration with myself for refusing to learn from prior experience than with the wine (i.e., don't like American oak, the don't buy those bottles!!).
Franklin-It is easy for me not to dole out a low score (or a high one, for that matter) since I have never scored a wine in my life :)
While I have had many surprising, even amazing bottles of old Rioja, my own take is that a wine that starts out like this is likely to wind up astringent, green, and fruitless down the road.