This Friday, March 28th, 2014 from 4 to 7 p.m. — $5/person…..Free for Grape Nuts — Join us this and every Friday for a Friday Wine Down; that’s fancy talk for a wine tasting! It’s the perfect way to end your work week and your week end off to a good start. As I said in the newsletter intro, this is a tasting you really don’t want to miss. Richard McKinney of Tryon Distributing is one of our favorite and most knowledgeable wine reps, and he’ll be on hand to pour you a tremendous lineup of wines from the sun-drenched vineyards of Spain. We’ll have a nice mix of daily, house wines along with some top shelf selections for you to “try before you buy.”
We’ll start with the 2012 Bodegas Muga Rioja Blanco, a barrel fermented blend of Viura and Malvasia, the two traditional white grapes of Rioja. Dry, lively, and fragrant with a nice mix of citrus and orchard fruits, it finishes with a little kiss of vanilla. Up next is the new vintage of one of our best selling Spanish reds, the 2012 Coto de Hayas Garnacha/Syrah blend; it offers tons of flavor for a wine that comes to you at less than $10. After that, it’s another duo of Garnacha-based wines, the 2010 Bodegas Borsao Berola (a blend of Garnacha, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon) and the 2011 Coto de Hayas Garnacha “Centenaria” (a cuvée of 100% 100+ year old Garnacha). In both of these wines, the aromas and flavors are towards darker fruits and intense spice and both absolutely fall into the full bodied camp.
We’ll finish the tasting in style, with two big, fat, opulent wines from Spain’s southeastern Alicante and Jumilla regions. The 2011 Bodegas Volver Triga blends Monastrell with Cabernet Sauvignon and is fermented and aged in a combination of French and American oak; the resulting wine is explosive! We’ll finish up with a very special treat, the 2005 Alma de Luzon, a proprietary blend of Monastrell, Cab and Syrah that was just released! It is a complex and complete red wine, and one that must be tasted to be believed!
The Wines
All tasting wines are 10% off by the bottle or 15% off if you mix any six of them.
1. 2012 Bodegas Muga Barrel Fermented Rioja Blanco
(Rioja, Spain)
2. 2012 Coto de Hayas Garnacha/Syrah
(Campo de Borja, Spain)
3. 2010 Bodegas Borsao “Berola” Red Blend
(Campo de Borja, Spain)
4. 2011 Coto de Hayas Garnacha “Centenaria”
(Campo de Borja, Spain)
5. 2011 Bodegas Volver “Triga” Red Blend
(Alicante, Spain)
6. 2005 Luzon “Alma de Luzon” Red Blend
(Jumilla, Spain)