The weirdest imaginable event, with cheese and wine to begin, champagne and chocolate to finish, on account of V-day.
Rueda BORNOS Verdejo 2001 Ribera del Duero VIZCARRA Roble 2001 13% Alc. MANZANEQUE Syrah 1999 (D.O. Finca Élez) 12,5% Alc. DOMINIO DE VALDEPUSA Petit Verdot 1998 14% Alc. MANZANEQUE Reserva (No D.O.) 1995 12,5% Alc. BOLLINGER Special Cuvée
Some of these days I must remember to begin “Once upon a time” but meanwhile the good old “Friday at the Bodega San Sebastián” will do. The original lineup was attractive enough: a young “roble” from the promising 2001 vintage, a reputed Syrah from the recently created single-state D.O. Finca Élez, and the PV from its companion in this venture, the Dominio de Valdepusa. Both have been recently conceded the rank of official D.O.s à la Chateau Grillet, but only the Finca Élez Syrah label (1999) could exhibit this right now. I bet this news will provoke amazing fun/confusion among foreign drinkers. You’ll see the new labels any time, and the Castilla La Mancha wines of the Marqués de Griñón (in Toledo) and Manuel Manzaneque (in Albacete) will no longer appear as anonymous terroirs but rather on the contrary, as their own namesake “Pagos” or single vineyards.
The Cheese experience was just short of epic, with lots of Vicente Pastor (Zamorano), local goatsmilk, and some excellent Idiazábal to complete the assortment.
Rueda BORNOS Verdejo 2001 RRP in Spain $5 Very good intensity in the nose, excellent with a little bottle age, and probably still growing, but the tropical exotic fruit (mostly guava and passion fruit) is just stepping out of the “boring” line. Count me among those who appreciate the almost violent twist from the green herbaceousness of traditional Verdejo to the wider range of aromatics in the modern versions, but isn’t this a bit over the top? Their Sauvignon is usually excessively perfumed too. Perhaps more bottle age will bring out the varietal Verdejo-ness, but right now this is more the aperitif I ordered than a food wine. 85
Ribera del Duero VIZCARRA Roble 2001 13% Alc. RRP in Spain is $8 Beautiful intense deep cherry color still with blueish hues. Nose initially of plum crystal drops, then very creamy/lactic, eventually integrating into a fine balanced and powerful young Tinto Fino, with lead pencil (or actually pencil lead, as I believe it should be cf. the Squires board discussion re this), good red and black berry fruit and a balsamic hint plus spice (pepper). In the palate it is obviously still young, with good integration and balance already to accompany hearty food, but will grow in bottle in the course of the next few months. Pretty good wine at quaffer prices. 87-88
MANZANEQUE Syrah 1999 (D.O. Finca Élez) 12,5% Alc. RRP in Spain $15 Uh, so this is a Syrah? Well, not until it had been in the glass for about 30’, and even then give me any Oz version, but still this was a very pleasant warm and polished Mediterranean type, with meaty and spicy aromatics and good body and length. A foodie by all means, and very much in the dusty/earthy old world tradition. 87
DOMINIO DE VALDEPUSA Petit Verdot 1998 14% Alc. RRP in Spain $25 At last a good bottle of this. I had a musty bottle last June and was somewhat disappointed with this wine. But this bottle was just great. Decanted for a while this was an impressive young full-bodied red with tons of fruit yet not excessive or lacking interest. It has a very earthy component that keeps it attractive and the decanter allowed it to grow for the rest of its brief life. While the rest of the other bottles was sold BTG we finished this one with Nuria, Fran & Pili, who had just joined us. I still don’t know what PV is supposed to be like (the other Spanish bottling is by Abadía Retuerta and costs around 100€), but it’s an impressive effort by all means. Either I’m too easily influenced by label or this wine is strongly, though vaguely, reminiscent of Bordeaux. More likely both. 89
MANZANEQUE Reserva (Non- D.O.) 1995 80%C-S + 10%Merlot + 10%Tempranillo 12,5% Alc. RRP in Spain 18€ This was the one so-so wine of the night. Faint nose of leather and tobacco leaf, with soft acidity and little body. Perhaps better for a traditionalist, but far too polished for my taste, and probably punished by the wine-context. Decanting might have helped, but I honestly doubt it. 84
BOLLINGER Special Cuvée So I produced the chocolate bars: it was a mere coincidence that it was V-day, in fact when I say the chocolate I mean up to 99% cocoa solids so nothing easy and sweetie! The Cluizel Ilha de Tomá has just arrived here at last, so I decided to put up a minitasting for the usual suspects at the BSS. They loved it. The Lindt 85% had a marginally less following. The 99% (Lindt too, though there’s a Cluizel version I must try too) was the palateblaster it was meant to be. Only Fran seemed to like it, and he’s a choconaisseur anyway. Nikola—the businessman in him—offered the trio to some customers, needless to say we were dying to see their faces when they reached the 99%!! BTW, the Bolly was as good as ever.
The strongest I've had is 95% wich is Bendick's (yes English to all those that think English chocolate is just vegetable fat with flavouring), but that covers a strong mint - good combination.
No mint here, you bet, but an unbelievably intense nuttiness after the bitterness has given way to more "flavoral" nuances. The pairing would have to be along the oloroso (not PX) line, with vaguely distand sweetness but intense, pungent nuttiness: not any oloroso, but a pretty old one...
