Ladies and gentlemen-

I have sadly had 1 spanish wine in my life. Pathetic really. A Rioja Bodegas LAN 95. I enjoyed it, sort of a medium bodied less earthy Nebbiolo style.

WS and WA are writing more about the wine making regions of Spain. Traditional buying grounds at home are enduring poorer quality vintages and schizophrenic price delusions. Can anyone recommend some at <$40.00 that would give me a good quality representative taste of the spectrum of Spanish reds now being produced? This would need to have some volume of case production to make it here in the land of distilled wine country.

TIA,
DR T

DrT

I bought the Remelliuri '99 Rioja for $23 at Wine Library. I definitely recommend it. BTW, RP90 WS 82. Go figure.

jb

Though not as well-versed as others, I have an affinity for both the rustic and more modern reds coming from Spain. Ditto jb on the Remelluri - the '96 and '97's I had were great wines. I only wish our local suppliers had more sense to explore the Iberian pennisula a bit more. Some of my other favorites are:

'94 Bodegas Monticello Gran Riserva - $21 (full throttle red w/lots of style)
'95 Bodegas Arzuaga Crianza - $16 (Beautiful smoky Temparanillo w/leather, olives, and spice)
'96 Bodegas Alion Ribero del Duero - $32
'96 Abadia Retuerta Cuvee El Campanario - $35-40
'96 Abadia Retuerta Cuvee El Palomar - $30-35
'98 Abadia Retuerta Rivola - $12 (Great stuff cheap! - the '99 is $10 and 90+ pts.)
'94 Muga Rioja Reserva - $17
'91 Muga Rioja Prado Enea Gran Reserva - $27
'97 Marques de Riscal Rioja Reserva - $17
'95 Bodegas Roda Roda II - $35

FWIW, Suckling did a Marques de Riscal vertical tasting in July of '98 of their Rioja bottlings, dating back to 1879. At that tasting he rated the 1897 @ 96 pts., and the 1945 @ 99 pts., saying the '45 '...will outlive us all...'.

Dr. T
Must hurry now, but probably I'm not U.S.-price conscious enough to be of great help, anyway. VinoMe and tw2, as well as Otis & Eno, I think, & several others I cannot recall now, usually attend multi-Spanish tastings and know the retail facts better than I do. There's quite a bit of Spanish action in these forums, and most of the wines talked about are usually available SOMEwhere in the States, but can't be certain from here. In any case I'm pretty willing to answer anything more specific that comes up in this thread, or anything else from Monday on, so count on an insider...
If you haven't tried ANY other but that LAN then you should probably give individual chances to modern Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Priorat, Toro, Tarragona, etc. Depending on what you like we could be much more specific.
In Rioja try REMIREZ DE GANUZA or TORRE MUGA.
In Ribera, there's quite a lot: too many for my suggestions to be useful, they'd rather sound like closing your choice range: EMILIO MORO, HACIENDA MONASTERIO, AALTO, ALION, SASTRE, etc.
In Priorat CLOS MARTINET, CLOS MOGADOR, CIMS DE PORRERA, and quite another dozen (I'm just shooting for representative stuff).
In TORO there's SAN ROMÁN, NUMANTHIA...
From Tarragona try the top bottlings of CELLER DE CAPÇANES...
By Monday there should be lots of other names suggested by others, Europeans too, hopefully. Lots of QPR deals I didn't include...

Having dinner guests over tonight and will be tasting several Spanish reds, including the '94 Montecillo Gran Reserva (mentioned by Kybo), the '98 Fra Fulco Priorat, and the '98 San Roman from Toro (mentioned by Gastro), plus 2 others that our guests are bringing.

I'll post TNs.

Cheers,

Otis

Agree with kybo's Abadia Retuerta Rivola for sure - at $10, I went through 15 or so bottles. RP gave it a 90.

I'd also throw in the Bodegas Balcona Parta Bullas Crianza at $19 - it's a temp/cab mix that's absolutely delicious. It's got everything you'd look for in a red wine at a very reasonable price.

Plus, I've seen it everywhere around here...

Recently had 2 wines from Navarra, both from Bodegas Nekeas. The first one, generic 2000 Tempranillo Merlot would not be considered outstanding, but it is a really good value for money. My score would be around 85, but look at its price: $8 Canadian!!!
Another one was much more impressive: 1999 Chardonnay Cuvee Allier. Wow! For less than $13 (Canadian) you get a beauty (88 in my opinion). In general I think that Navarra has a potential to compete with Rioja.

Oh, yeah, do not forget a Portuguese take on Temranillo, it is just called the different name there: Tinta Roriz. A lot of delicious wines, especially in the blend with the other Port grapes, e.g. Touriga Nacional and Tinto Fino.

I would second Gast. choices. My favorite houses are Muga, Moro, Mouro, Numanthia, Castano, Ganuza. Try some Riojas and some Ribera wines, then move onto Priorat and Toro, Zamora, La Mancha. Just buy as many of these wines that is possible, you can't go wrong

also to add some notes about my fav affordable region ... love the 96 Lan Lanciano ($23), 96/98 Ganuza ($44-40), 98/99 Artadi Vinas de Gains ($15), 98 Cosme Palacios y Hermanos ($9), and 96 Conde Valdemar Reserva ($14). All of these are widely available, at least in Chicago.

Doc - try this

Bodegas Casa de la Ermita 2000 Jumilla
Score: 90 Price: $13
Country: Spain Issue: Jun 30, 2002

Ripe plum and blackberry favors marry well with chocolate oak notes in this lush, velvety red. It's harmonious, and dense without heaviness; approachable now, it should age well. A successful modern-style wine. Drink now through 2006. 3,000 Cases

Parker also gave it 90 +/-

Doc, I could give you recommendations on lot of great wines from Spain, but most of them are not anymore in a low price-region.

Amongst the reasonable priced spanish wines, the following are my personal winners and all of them are outstanding and < USD 30:
- Pie Franco, Casa Castillo, Monastrell
- Arzuaga Crianza, Bodegas Arzuaga, Tempranillo
- Les Terrasses, A. Palacios, blend of Garnacha, Cariñena and a few others
- Allende Crianza, Finca Allende, Tempranillo
- Collection, Bodegas Castaño, Monastrell, CS, Merlot
- Merlot-Merlot, Enate, Merlot
- Bierzo, A. Palacios, Mencia

Dr.T,

You know that my wine drinking and buying revolves predominantly around Europe. Believe me when I tell you that Spain represents the value wine region in the world today. Here is a link to 15 Spanish notes I posted a month ago:

http://web8.winespectator.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=003142

I think I'll pull out a bottle or 2 from Spain and bring it with me in 2 weeks. Don't forget that I'm holding 2 bottles of the 1999 Valderiz Ribera del Duero for you.

VM

The '94 Monticillo Gran Reserva is excellent (WS 91?-Spectator Selection)about $20. The '96 San Vicente (WS92)is also very good. About $24, usually wrapped in cello. Most of the Muga's are pretty good as are the Allende. The Torre Muga is one to try but now you're over $50. Many just a few years old are turning orange at the edge but don't let it scare you. Many good values at reasonable prices.
A problem I have had with Spanish wine is cork leakage or soggy corks. I had a case each of the above Monticello & the San Vicente for the cellar. After about a year, I noticed that the corks were either soggy or the wine stain on the cork was nearing the top, usually a quarter inch away. I sadly moved these wines to the top of my "drink now" list They are all gone now . Has anyone noticed this problem with their Spanish wines? I've stopped buying them for the cellar & only buy to drink soon.

Dr. T

Don't know what your shipping ability is, but Premier Cru has '94 Remelluri Rioja ($25,RP93) and Numanthia Toro (both 98 and 99, both $45, RP95).

bobbyj: I opened 5 Spanish reds on Saturday and 3 of the 5 had nearly completely saturated corks ('95 Pesquera, '95 Ganuza, and '94 Montecillo).

Aren't most corks sourced from Portugal? Maybe Spanish producers use corks from local trees that don't seal as well. Just a guess.

Cheers,

Otis

RE: CORKS

The problem with corks is not source. Portugal has nothing regarding corks that Spain is missing (actually the bigger neighbor of the two is likely to hold the vaster plantations ). The problem with corks has been the supply/demand ratio. Twenty years ago the number of bottling wineries was ridiculous compared to today's. The New World boom is largely--though hardly solely--responsible for this. Even in Spain the bottle production has soared because in spite of lower yields there are many more Has. planted, more producers bottle their wine, most people demand better quality corks...and the supply is limited: the tree must be 30 years of age to produce good cork. Once it's been "denuded" it takes another 10 years to recover. New plantations have been introduced, but these will be productive in due time, and the guys planted with only reasonable expectations in mind, never quite ready for the end-of-century phenomenon.
The problem is really complex, but boy, does it drive me mad too when I waste a bottle...

I thought I would resurrect Dr. T.'s thread here. Considering the Toro region is getting quite pricey (I think) there is some discussion over where the next Spanish value play of really excellent juice will be.

I have heard rumblings that Bierzos will be one of the next up and coming regions. Thought anyone?

www.vinocellar.com -- Mm-Mm-good

Priorat...even though it's not a new region, you'll find about as many bargains there as you'll find world beaters.

"This wine should be eaten, it is too good to be drunk."
Jonathan Swift

Neither Bierzo nor Priorat are regions that produce what you'd call great QPR-wines. I'd rather look for wines from Toro and Jumilla.

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Anche dio è di-vino

Bierzo is too small and of irregular weather conditions. Jumilla and Alicante are the place right now. The region of Castilla-La Mancha, where I live now, is producing amazing juice for the money. They are very weary of the pejorative historical connotations of the word "Mancha" in the world of wine, so most good stuff in coming under the names "Vino de la Tierra de Castilla" (Torre de Barreda, Corpus del Muni, Martúe, Finca La Estacada, La Plazuela, Ercavio) or upandcoming small DOs such as Manchuela (eg. Finca Sandoval, Salia) or Méntrida (eg. Arrayán). Besides, they still lack wines of over $50. Toro, Priorat, and soon Bierzo (I fear) already have wine(s) in the three figures...

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Free Winona!