Tasting and a potential book pairing

Hubby and I live in an area of Atlanta that's frequently called a city of functional alcoholics. I would say I don't know why the Decatur/Avondale Estates part of town has that nickname, but we do have a lot of great pubs, bars, restaurants, and wine, beer, and liquor shops.

One of our favorites is the Little Wine Shop in Avondale Estates. We're members of the wine club there and are regular attendees of the wine club tastings, which occur on the first Tuesday of the month. Typically a representative from the distributor will come and talk about the wine, and one of my favorites is Jeff Hagley from Atlanta Wholesale Wine. He's helping me with a blog project, and hopefully I'll be hearing from him soon. Meanwhile, I'll talk about last night's Spanish wine tasting, which occurred in the lovely loft space at TLWS:

Photo shamelessly borrowed from TLWS website.

When Jeff lined up the bottles after the tasting, he put them backwards, so, from right to left, here's the lineup:

And the highlights:

The first bottle, the bright green one with the yellow label is the Ulacia Txakolina, which is a lovely crisp white with a little frizzante, which is wine-speak for some fizz but not sparkling-wine level bubbles. This would be one to impress your friends with.

Of the reds, I liked the 2012 Al-Muvedre Monastrell from Alicante. The nose promised blackberry and dark cherry, and after some determined swirling it delivered, but in a nice, elegant way. The term used for this one was "quaffable." I agree.

Finally, my favorite of the evening:

This was the "bonus wine," a chance for Jeff to bring something special in his portfolio. The 2009 Abadia Retuerta Seleccion Especial from Ribero del Duero is a blend of 75% Tempranillo, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Syrah. It got a "wow" from me in my wine notes for its spiciness, but in a good flourless chocolate cake kind of way. Alas, it was only available for special order, and the price point - $33.

If you like to pair wine with books, check out the Little Wine Shop's Wine, Women & Words book club, which meets quarterly. My book The Mountain's Shadow is the selection for May, and there are still spots available. You can purchase your tickets here. The cost is $15.00, and that includes two wines with tasting notes and munchies. I'll be there to lead the discussion, and of course I'll have goodies to give away. Yes, it's for women only. Hope to see you ladies there!

Tasting Notes: Dr. Goldilocks and the Six Tempranillos

Once upon a time, there was a stressed-out allied health professional with curly hair the color of old pennies, but shiny. We'll skip the debate as to whether it's blond or red, and we'll completely ignore the gray that's popping in – they're just really light blond, darnit! She had a long four-day week with lots of patients, emails from a marketing minion who wants everything NOW, and a very patient adminion who wouldn't let Dr. Goldilocks put off important tasks for too long. Oh, and contract work that makes for a nice change of pace, but which needed to be done before she left the next day to see Dr.-in-training Goldilocks 2.0 (aka Babysis) in Philadelphia.

So yes, she was stressed out, and when she finally left the office at 8:30, she was tired, hungry, and ready to have some wine. She wandered through the food aroma gauntlet of downtown Decatur (of which Atlanta is a suburb in case you're reading this, and you're Carl), but having given up red meat for Lent, Ted's wasn't an option, Ruby Tuesday was too chain restaurant, and Leon's was just too crowded. It was too early for the Decatur Diner, so she ended up at JavaMonkey, where she knew her friends would be gathered for the biweekly wine tasting, in this case Tempranillo.

Tempranillo, if you're wondering, is a Spanish varietal red, and the only people who can say the name right are from places like Peru. Seriously, it sounds like they're making love to it in their mouth. It's swoon-worthy. You may know it better as the primary grape in Rioja, which goes with fun words like Crianza.

For the sake of narrative, I'm going to mix up the tasting order. Just bear (no pun intended) with me.

Dr. Goldilocks tried the 2008 Protocolo Tempranillo (Vino de la Tierra de Castilla, Spain). Aged in American oak, she proclaimed, "This wine is too thin!" Indeed, it didn't have much to it outside the cedar-y finish.

Then she tried the 2009 Vega Sindoa Tempranillo (Navarra, Spain). This one she deemed as, "too earthy, and it's doing strange fruity things on the roof of my mouth!"

The 2008 Emilo Moro Finca Resalso (Ribera del Duero, Spain) had interesting caramel-cedar notes, and had a caramel/chocolate finish. "It's good, but still not what I'm looking for."

Enter the 2006 Raimat Viña 43 Tempranillo, which spends 18 months in Virginia oak. Because there's nothing like knowing *exactly* where your wood comes from. It has to be good if the founding fathers got drunk on it, right? This one was all cherry smoothness. "That's more like it!"

The 2006 Sierra Cantabria Crianza from Rioja, Spain (told you!) had a nice raspberry-cherry nose that Hubby said had a whiff of sunscreen. It went very well with the Bello Prosciutto sandwich. "This one's very good."

Finally the 2007 Venta Mazzaron Tempranillo (Tierra del Vino de Zamora, Spain) had a little hickory smoke to it, but was well-balanced with yummy fruit. It also has an interesting history in that it's mostly from un-grafted, pre-phylloxera vines.

"Ah," said Dr. Goldilocks, "this one is just right!"

Look for blog and Twitter updates this weekend from Pennsylvania wine country!

Tasting Notes: Tempranillo at JavaMonkey

I love these sensual reds from Spain and South America! Jess at JavaMonkey introduced us to a few more this past Thursday at a tasting dedicated entirely to Tempranillo.

The wines:

2005 Lorinon Crianza (Rioja, Spain): A blend of 85% Tempranillo, 5% Garnacha, 5% Graciano, and 5% Mazuelo
"Crianza" means that the wine spends at least 12 months in oak. This one started with much promise, dark and rich with a little pepper on the nose. It's a little rough on the palate at first with an acid bite, but it finished smooth for the first few sips. Then it fell a little flat.
Rating: Good

2007 Reinares Tempranillo (Castilla, Spain):
A whiff of cinnamon-clove on the nose leads to nice fruit undertones with a little green pepper on top and not much of a finish.
Random wine quote for the evening: "This one is wham, bam, but no 'thank you, ma'am.'" (per Dan Browning)
Rating: Good

2006 Orobio Tempranillo (Rioja, Spain):
This one is made by a Tempranillo specialist. File that one under "jobs I want." Black cherry and other dark fruit with cedar on the end, this is the kind of Tempranillo that makes me happy.
Rating: Very Good to Excellent

2008 Emperador de Barros Tempranillo (Ribera del Guadiana, Spain):
A wine that tastes like grape juice. This one got a universal, "WTF???" from the table.
Rating: Meh

2006 Atalayas de Golban (Ribera del Duero, Spain):
Burnt caramel on the nose (one couple said acetone, but they're geeks). Oaky-smoky caramel popcorn. This one gets props for being interesting but still fruity.
Rating: Very Good

2006 Creta Roble (Ribera del Duero, Spain):
Yummy jam and dark fruit, this was a good fruit bomb to finish out the evening. It also has enough acid to make it good with food.
Rating: Very Good to Excellent