El Malbec de Ricardo Santos 2000 Malbec (evidently) Mendoza 13,5% Alc.
Toro MURUVE Crianza 1998 13,5% Alc.
Cava KRYPTA BN 12% Alc. (Chardonnay-strong)
Priorat EMBRUIX 1999 14% Alc.
Priorat CIMS DE PORRERA 1997 14% Alc. (Cariñena mostly)
----
Castell del Remei GOTIM BRU 2000 13% Alc. (Tempranillo + CS+ Merlot)
Castell del Remei ODA 2000 13,5% Alc. (Merlot + CS + Tempranillo)
Toro QUINTA QUIETUD 1999 14% Alc.
Ramos Pinto RUBY 20% Alc.
Bollinger SC
Bollinger Grande Année 1992
Please notice the gap dividing Friday from Saturday (
). This was mostly BTG, save for the Bollinger (
).
Friday at the BSS, from this side of the bar at the new Tasca (again a customer, or almost).
EL MALBEC DE RICARDO SANTOS 2000 Malbec (evidently) Mendoza 13,5% Alc.
Sturdy and somewhat a little too raw in the mouth, will hopefully still develop in aromas and civilize a little. Blurred black fruit and animal aromas promise more in the nose than the wine actually delivers in the mouth. Spiky tannin dominates the mouthfeel. Finish is again somewhat drying. 86
Toro MURUVE Crianza 1998 13,5% Alc.
Much better than I had expected, this wanted some air and eventually opened beautifully. As a 98 it was holding good fruit and offered a fairly polished, yet powerful, body frame. Plummy and inky aromas with a touch of overripeness somewhat tamed by its bottle age. Could have been fresher but acidity was sufficient. With some good bit of air it expanded in the nose, acquiring a beautiful balance. Average finish but satisfying and a bargain at 6-7€ 87+
Cava KRYPTA BN 12% Alc. (Chardonnay-strong)
This is one of the products that nobody outside Spain (and the WE: 91) seems to understand: an ambitious cava with good % of Chardonnay and a price well above $20. Dangerously close to champagne prices, but pretty good sparkling wine anywhere: fine bubble, fruity nose with baked apple, flower petals, yeasty echoes of its prolonged crianza, and good acidity. 88
Priorat EMBRUIX 1999 14% Alc.
At least I could swear it was the 99 and not already a 2000. Decanted for 2 hours, I think. What this needs is bottle, not air: pleasantly uncivilized nose and mouth, but also a sense of waste at this moment that I didn’t perceive in October or so, when I went through my bottle. Characteristic black berry and cherry fruit though lacking a little focus, good acidity and robust tannin. Minerality is less evident that desirable, wanted more Priorat noblesse. Throwing heavy (meaning far too visible) sediment for a bottle this young. 87-88
Priorat CIMS DE PORRERA 1997 14% Alc. (Cariñena mostly, with some Garnacha)
What an unexpected find here! Offered this week BTG in the Tasca at $8. This was only their second vintage. I somewhat infanticided a bottle of this in late 2000 and last Friday I had the opportunity to see how it has developed. The cariñena character rules: the nose is driven by spicy, balsamic and mineral aromas; the mouthfeel is pleasantly polished, warm and round. Soft but barely sufficient acidity holds it nicely focused. 88-89
This was all consumed with some amazing cheeses: cured goat cheese from the south of Tenerife and Queso Zamorano Vicente Pastor (sheep, of course, and the natural partner/neighbor for Toro wines), and a little Jamón Serrano that I guiltily confess I’m beginning to like…
Saturday siesta/sobremesa/après-midi:
I lunched at home, unaware of the fun that awaited me. Arrived at the Tasca and Óscar Santos, the Jorge Ordóñez of Tenerife, was praising Castell del Remei beyond belief (literally, he sort of misses a little objectivity from time to time). Tried the two 2000 reds and a bunch of bottle ends…with more Vicente Pastor…a lunch in itself…
Castell del Remei GOTIM BRU 2000 13% Alc. (Tempranillo + CS+ Merlot)
Pretty good stuff, no question, but perhaps more robust and less graceful now that the 1999 not so long ago (ie. I’ll wait a while on my only bottle). Perhaps the percentage of CS/Merlot has gone up? Concentration displaces grace, decidedly, though the flowery perfume of Tempranillo does eventually emerge. Decidedly, I need a bottle for myself to retry… 89+ (costs here the hefty amount of 9€)
Castell del Remei ODA 2000 13,5% Alc. (Merlot + CS + Tempranillo)
This was the surprise. I had switched my affections to the Gotim Bru and expected less from the Oda. Well, this is the Merlot-based blend, and the perfume was simply great, though the bottle was just opened and served fairly cold. I warmed it up in my hands and the nose opened up incredibly. Violets and chocolate, black berries and a fine cedary touch…superb… and well under $15! 90
Toro QUINTA QUIETUD 1999 14% Alc. 12m in a mixture of French (70%) and American oak, not all of it new.
This was a bottle end that Sergio smuggled for me. Decanted for a couple of hours, then. The latest darling of the wine press arrived on the shelves just hours too late for my Toro tasting last week. The 2000 promises to be outstanding, but this pouring was so small that I tend toward a 88-89 rating: Pretty good fruit concentration in the nose, with plums, blackberries and cherry blended with intense inky aromas. Fine oak adds a touch of smoky elegance (THAT’S hard to spot in a cigar-friendly environment, I tell you) and the mouth seems to be finally becoming approachable now (I wonder what the lunchers thought of it upon pouring, but I certainly got the better part). Good acidity and robust backbone, no longevity concerns here, and excellent persistence. 88-89
Ramos Pinto RUBY 20% Alc.
A shame, the cheese was over by the time the port arrived. I was curious about the pairing. Simple but satisfying Ruby, with good fruit, refreshing acidity, and decent structure. 84
Bollinger SC
Since it was Natalia’s birthday (Juan’s wife), Nikola opened a bottle of Bollinger. Perfect finish for the “late-second-lunch”…well after six… What can I say about the Special Cuvée…it has made me a convert.
Three hours later we were sitting at the bar in CLAVIJO 38 with another bottle of Special Cuvée and a plate of Vicente Pastor (amazing ingredients, but a pairing that will make me stop at purgatory for about a week). As though the EWI (“Excellent Wine Intake”) that day had been small, Nikola phoned Óscar and got a bottle of …
Bollinger Grande Année 1992
Paired with superb Serrano ham, and not such a bad combination. The rotten apple skin element was far more pronounced here, and it showed less fresh and far more oxidized, but was it thrilling! A step up in the Bollinger ladder, and just a little tragedy that it wasn’t the 1995, but who’s complaining. Ask me now what regard I have for “the buzz.” I was fast repenting about the (totally unnecessary) second glass of Ruby when I heard what we were in for. The buzz is merely an impediment for wine appreciation, though I was pretty fresh when I drove 15 miles for our final destination in the Finnish sauna of Fran & Pili, also friends of the BSS. To bed by 5:00 like a happy child…
------------------
Free Winona!
rses AFAIK 
Is this a pun on "Jam On"? or am I missing s 
