The nose displayes ripe red fruit, with violet and cinnamon notes enlivened by rose petal-like nuances.
It is a medium bodied wine with well defined cherry and raspberry flavours enhanced by a touch of smokiness and earthiness.
For NZ$ 19.
Showing posts with label Grenache/Garnacha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grenache/Garnacha. Show all posts
I was at a wine auction last Friday.
Bought some really interesting wines but one of them seemed even more interesting than the others.
A grenache (garnacha) from Clare Valley (Australia) from 1995.
I'm a big fan of spanish style varieties (especially tempranillo), so I could hardly wait to taste this one.
For many years grenache has been seen as a nasty word, yet most of the winemakers would agree that along with the more famous shiraz, it has been a workhorse variety of Australia.
In this the fruit was picked ripe, at optimum flavour levels, and the wine was matured for a short time in a mixture of new, two and three year old American oak barrels.
Buying a 15 year-old wine is always some kind of lottery (you never know where it was stored during the years).
I was more than lucky this time.
This one has a ruby colour with orange pale.
Sweet raspberry and vanilla on the nose.
A very complex, full-bodied wine with low acid and high tannin, quite a long aftertaste.
Superb. A brilliant example from Clare Valley.
Vina Alarba makes for pleasant drinking in a characterful, deep and brooding way.
Made from vines aged between 40 and 100 years from the small region of Calatayud (Zaragoza province).
A region perhaps not as well known as the neighbouring Carinena and Borja regions.
A deep-ruby colour, purple in the glass.
Predominantly plum and cherry nose with notes of spice and raspberry.
A medium-bodied Grenache with tannins that nicely contrast the refreshing, light acidity.
Cherry and plum sweetness with spice and a balanced earthiness/minerality.
Matching well with barbecue, roasts, Asian takeout and veggie pastas.
And for less than US$ 10.
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