Bought during a recent Friday jaunt to Majestic Wines. Price tag was around £7.50 at time of purchase.
This strong and beautiful red comes from Valencia and has the demarcation of 'Gran Reserva'. This means that it has to be at least 5 years old and aged for 2 of those years in oak casks. This makes the flavours of a well made wine become more complex and deeper and while this has happened here, it has not let go of it's fruity and vibrant origins.
Tempranillo is a very important grape variety to the Spanish and is the heart of the more familiar, Rioja.
I usually give red wines a bit of time to adapt and get themselves ready for drinking before diving in but work had been particularly hard and I couldn't be bothered to wait. Admittedly, this meant that I didn't get much out of the smell other than the hint of cork. The taste was everything I was hoping to get though, firstly a slight kick of spices (pepper perhaps?) before giving way to a deep, silky, oaky taste which blended well with dark, mature, red fruits such as plums, cherries and blackberries. The ageing had given the fruit an evolved taste, similar to alcohol soaked raisins. The finish continued to be smooth as well as comfortably dry and lingering. I considered that it would be good to have with a steak, especially one with peppercorn sauce to compliment the spice in the wine but I ended up having it with pizza and oven chips and it did just fine.
I got two bottles of this, the last was demolished on Sunday by me and Julie and it was every bit as impressive the second time round. I wouldn't hesitate to buy this again but I would have a meal in mind, rather than drink it on it's own.
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