Q4 2910 Wine Club - Aged Spaniards
The Apt
Tasted November 2, 2019 by MC2 Wines with 153 views
Introduction
Wasn't quite sure how this would work out as many of the old Spanish wines I think do better when they have more time in the glass and are able to open and be followed throughout the day. Despite that I think most folks enjoyed the tasting and wines all showed quite well. As expected they did change throughout the day and it was fun to go back and revisit.
Same process as always - we try the wines single blind for our own and double blind for all of the others. Each participant is given 5 pennies to allocate across the wines. Can be five pennies in one wine or one penny across five wines. Or anything in between. The winner gets a fabulous prize (this time a bull decanter).
Flight 1 (12 notes)
Red
1997 Alvaro Palacios Priorat L'Ermita
Spain, Catalunya, Priorat
Wine #1: Opened and decanted for prob 4.5 hours before being rebottled. Very spicy, lots of red fruits, comes across as very young even with all of that time. This was a wine that continued to evolve through the evening and I thought never really hit the peak. Would love to see it again in like 20 years. Built to last. I enjoyed it though.
One of my favorites of the tasting. (5 pennies)
Red
1986 Bodegas Alejandro Fernández Ribera del Duero Tinto Pesquera Reserva
Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero
Wine #2: My initial impression here was a bit of sweetness to the wine. Again the red fruits. There's a lot more age than with the first wine. This came across as being much more in the drinking window. Some almost green right at the end but not in an offputting way. Some thought this wine was a bit tired but to me it was just about right. (1 penny)
Red
1994 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Valbuena 5°
Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero
Wine #3: Also opened and decanted for about 4.5 hours before being rebottled. It's possible this wine did not need that quite as much as the Priorats. There's an aged quality here. A bit of almost balsamic. A bit of darkish fruit. This was one I appreciated coming back to a few times.
Drinking quite nicely. (3 pennies)
Red
1996 Clos Erasmus Priorat
Spain, Catalunya, Priorat
Wine #6: Opened and decanted for 4.5 hours and then rebottled. When I first tried this it was quite young tasting. There was a bit of heat left but that went away. Lots of red fruits. A certain freshness to it. Some very fine tannins. Another favorite of mine in the tasting. (7 pennies)
Red
1976 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva
Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
Wine #7: Interesting as this was the same as wine #10 and yet the different is rather striking in the pennies. The label on this one was also much less clean than the other and yet it seemed to be the better bottle.T This is really aged Rioja. It was more popular with the broader group than with me. Fruit all faded. More leader. Saddle oil, a touch meaty as well. (9 pennies)
Red
1981 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Viña Real Reserva
Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
Wine #8: This was probably my favorite of the group. Darker red fruits with a nice balance of spice and a great balance to the wine that comes from age without being over the hill. Had been opened prob two hours in advance and was decanted which helped it I think. Very nice. (11 pennies)
Red
1978 Bodegas Beronia Rioja Gran Reserva
Spain, La Rioja, Rioja
Wine #9: Had never heard of this producer, but I found myself quite liking this wine as well. I think I appreciate the ones that have a bit more spice notes which this very much did. Some dried fig. Some leather. In a very nice drinking window. Drinks younger than the 41 years. (3 pennies)
Red
1976 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva
Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
Wine #10: Funny that this is the same wine as #7. Also interesting because the other bottle seemed to be more compelling for most, but my notes for this one were a bit more positive - here I got a touch of spice and pepper and a just little bit of background of the red fruits and then a touch savory at the end. I actually went back to revisit this before voting because I remembered being positive first time around - this came across as a bit less vibrant than some others and that was why it didn't get one of my pennies. (2 pennies)
Red
1995 Alvaro Palacios Priorat L'Ermita
Spain, Catalunya, Priorat
Wine #11: This just tasted incredibly young. It was double decanted and then rebottled and still my impression was this was a new release wine (which of course doesn't quite fit with the theme, but there it is). It's still all red fruits and oak and a bit more heat to it. The wine just needs a lot more time. But would love to try again in 20 years. Went back and revisited a few times during the evening and it never got to peak.
(2 pennies)
Red
1966 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva
Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja
Wine #12: This is a wine where the cork had fallen into the bottle a few days before and so it essentially had a few days of decant. There was some question of how it would show, but it ended up being basically a standard old Rioja. A touch musty, but not more than the others. Some leather. And saddle oil. Drinking alright. (7 pennies)
Closing
I agreed with the winner which was also my favorite. Interesting, but I didn't find myself enjoying the CUNE Imperial as much (there were quite a few of them and they tended to be fine wines to me, but nothing that really jumped out).
Here are the final results:
11 pennies:
Wine #8: 1981 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Viña Real Reserva
9 pennies:
Wine #7: 1976 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva
7 pennies:
Wine #6: 1996 Clos Erasmus Priorat
Wine #12: 1966 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva
5 pennies:
Wine #1: 1997 Alvaro Palacios Priorat L'Ermita
3 pennies:
Wine #3: 1994 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Valbuena 5°
Wine #4: 1995 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva
Wine #9: 1978 Bodegas Beronia Rioja Gran Reserva
2 pennies:
Wine #10: 1976 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva
Wine #11: 1995 Alvaro Palacios Priorat L'Ermita
1 penny:
Wine #2: 1986 Bodegas Alejandro Fernández Ribera del Duero Tinto Pesquera Reserva
Wine #5: 1989 La Rioja Alta Rioja Viña Alberdi Crianza
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