December wines... 1/2

Some awesome newcomers, some disappointments and... some-some ;)

- Riesling D’Alsace 2005. Appelation Alsace Controlee. Mis en Bouteille par La Cave de Turckheim (Haut-Rhin) (5.6 EUR)
In the last week some bottles have arrived to the shelves of my usual market. Cheap bottles indeed, but for this price I decided to give them a chance. Maybe the reason is my (our) usual oeno-sickness or maybe for the scent of the remind of a VdPdJdF drank some years ago. It’s a great wine for a couple of bucks. That’s why I’m tasting this bottles. ’Til now this wines are really boring with the Muscadet exception. I’ve drank some of it and it’s a really nice quaff.
Well, here we go with this wine. Slightly riesling if we talk about smell and taste. Reasonable fruit. In fact white sweet fruit, but no trace of sweetnes. Remarkable citrus acidity. It’s not a big thing, but an easy wine. Not so bad with a fish pudding.

- Montesierra Tempranillo-Cabernet 2005. Bodega Pirineos. DO Somontano. (3.6 EUR)
Many time without drinking this wine and it shouldn’t happen. It’s still the wine with fruit, vivid and honest that was in my memory. Touch of tannins, but no that round tamed tannins, but the primary tannins from the fruit. A hint of astringency as well. Summing, it’s a really honest and nice wine with good QPR.

- Julián Santos Tempranillo. Crianza 2001. Bodegas Julián Santos S.L. DO La Mancha.
I’m always scared when somebody gives you a bottle as a present and says how good is the wine made in his village.
Well, it’s nice wine, at least better than I expected. With good fruit and it’s an easy quaff, nevertheless the cocoa has a strong presence. It’s a pitty. Maybe time in bottle will make this cocoa disappear and some other and better wine characteristics arrive. At this time I choose to make this wine sleep under a powerful dish of tripestew (’callos’ in spanish).

- Marcel Lapierre Morgon 2005. AOC Morgon (13.5 EUR) 13% vol
This wine was in my ";to-do"; list for some years ago. I found it for an affordable price finally... and I’ve uncorked it some months later. Yep, I know I’m never in the mood to hurry up for anything...
Fresh, vivid, soft and licquorized red fruits. You can drink the whole bottle without realize it. It’s a wine made to be paired with food. Almost any kind of food. Now stop the enthusiasm! It’s a really nice wine, but I miss more complexity. Or maybe it’s a lack of complexity at this very moment. The crux of the matter is that the
price was 13.5 EUR in an off at the winestore, usually it’s above 16 EUR and this price are big words and I demand ";more";.
It’s been nicely paired with a rissotto of Portobello mushrooms with Torta de La Serena cheese, tomato and ’jamón serrano’ crostinis (pa amb tomaquet) for dinner and next day with sautée pork (a piece of meat named ’secreto’ in spanish) with Torta de La Serena (cheese) and sautée mushrooms. Versatile. Nice. ’But’.

- A Priori. Cavas Colet. DO Cava
I like it, I like it, I like it. Different since the last time I drank it. Less ’different’ and more the elder brother of Blanc de Blancs. For instance I found no trace of flowers, roses, but nuts (peanuts indeed). Have I said I like it?

- Analivia 2004. Bottled to Pagos del Vicario. DO Rueda. 12.5 %
Ok, not so bad, not so good. Despite the label says it’s Verdejo
it tastes to me as with the usual notes of Sauvignon Blanc in Rueda.
Short quaff from every point of view, but plenty of correctness.
Boring.

1/2