Yet again, we’re tasting some pink, bubbly wine.  And again it’s a brut rosé Cava.

If you love sparkling wine, but haven’t discovered Cava yet, you’re missing out on some awesome bargains.  Cava is Spain’s version of Champagne.  Of course, Champagne being not just a generic name for sparkling wine but being a sparkling wine from a specific region in France.  Similarly, Cava not only represents a style of sparkling wine, but also a region—in this case the region (or regions) are in Spain.  It is regions (plural) because Cava can be made in six different wine regions within Spain.

The methods used to produce Cava are very similar to the methods used to produce Champagne, however the grapes often differ.  In the case of this Brut Rosé from Juvé y Camps, however, the grapes used are pinot noir, which is acceptable in either region.

The nose of this bubbly is predominantly yeast, although there are some strawberry and floral aromas tucked underneath that.  The palate is bone dry, showcasing the mineral side of this wine.  It also offers tart cherry, cranberry and citrus flavors.  The finish leaves you with a nice balance of mineral and fruit, that I can only describe as salted berries.

Wine: Juvé y Camps Brut Rosé
Variety: Sparkling Rosé Cava – Pinot Noir
Vintage: N/V
Alcohol: 12%
Rating: 86
Price: $17.00

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Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.

We’ve been reviewing some rosé wines lately, and more specifically we’ve tasted a number of sparkling rosé wines.  So, let’s continue that theme with another rosé cava that’s an absolute bargain.

Segura Viudas Brut Rosé is made from 90% Trepat and 10% Garnacha.  The grapes come from an estate in Torrelavit, Alt Penedès in Spain.  I’d say this would make a nice salad wine, or would go great with fish.

The nose is a well-balanced blend of light strawberry and yeast aromas.  The palate is more on the citrus side, with flavors like orange peel and lime juice.  It also shows some light strawberry flavors, particularly in the mid palate and toward the finish.  There’s a touch of mineral on the finish as well.  The mouth feel is beautifully bubbly.

At a mere ten bucks, this one is a steal!

Wine: Segura Viudas Brut Rosé
Variety: Sparkling Rosé Cava
Vintage: N/V
Alcohol: 12%
Rating: 87
Price: $12.00

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Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.

It’s time to talk about more pink bubbly stuff.  Wine, that is.  Cava, to be more specific.

Yesterday, we highlighted a unique rosé cava from Freixenet, their Elyssia Pinot Noir Brut.  But if you’re looking for an even better bargain, then it may be the Freixenet Cordon Rosado Brut that piques your interest.  It’s a few dollars less expensive and comparable in quality, although the flavor profile is different, so read on.

The Cordon Rosado Brut is made from a blend of trepat and garnacha.  One interesting note about trepat is that there are only about 1,000 hectares of it grown.  It is an indigenous Spanish variety and needs a special type of soil to grow well.  Garnacha (or grenache), on the other hand, is one of the most widely planted grapes in the world.

The nose offers a beautiful balance of yeast, apple and berry aromas, with moderate intensity.  The palate brings a delicate mouthfeel with vibrant flavors.  A good bit of acidity give this wine a burst of granny smith apple flavor up front followed by cranberry and raspberry flavors.  It finishes dry and with a touch of mineral.  This is a really tasty bottle of bubbly rosé at an absolute bargain of a price.

Wine: Freixenet Cordon Rosado Brut
Variety: Sparkling Rosé Cava
Vintage: N/V
Alcohol: 12%
Rating: 87
Price: $12.00

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Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.

Freixenet is a pretty big name in the bubbly wine aisle as they are a pretty reliable brand for tasty-yet-affordable sparkling wines.  They are known for their cava, which in simple terms is Spanish sparkling wine made in the traditional champenoise method… yes, there are more specifics to cava, but let’s keep it simple for now.

While Freixenet is best known for their black bottle sparkling wines, my eye was caught by the elegant bottle design of their Elyssia Pinot Noir Brut.  It’s simple, sleek and stylish with a ribbon connecting the neck to the label.  The color of the wine inside this bottle makes this one stand out.  And fortunately, the taste of that wine is also something that stands out.

This sparkler is made of 85% pinot noir and 15% trepat.  Resulting in a tasty sparkling rosé brut.

Tangy raspberry aromas and a touch of yeast give this wine a pleasant and intriguing bouquet.  The palate continues the raspberry theme, but also offers a bit of blackberry and some white pepper.  The bubbles and acidity give the wine a vibrant mouth feel.  It’s quite a harmonious and elegant wine and a bargain at this price.

Wine: Freixenet Elyssia Pinot Noir Brut Cava
Variety: 85% Pinot noir, 15% trepat
Vintage: N/V
Alcohol: 11.5%
Rating: 88
Price: $18.00

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Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to taste a short flight of wines from Spanish producer, Camp Viejo.  This Rioja-based winery has been producing wine for a good 50 years and produces three different wines, each a specific style as regulated by the Rioja DOC.

Rioja, for those who don’t know, is the leading wine region in Spain.  It’s located in the northern part of Spain and they are predominantly known for red wines.

Campo Viejo 2007 Crianza

Wines labeled as Crianza must have spent at least 12 months in oak casks.  This particular wine was oaked in a combination of French and American oak, but the majority of it was in American oak.  The wine was also given 5+ months of bottle aging before being released.  The blend in this wine is 85% tempranillo, 10% garnacha and 5% manzuelo.

Cherry, plum, smoke aromas and a touch of vanilla give this wine a complex and exciting nose.  It has really nice acidity on the palate.  There’s plenty of tangy fruit on the palate too, with characteristics of cherry, raspberry and plum.  It finishes nice and spicy.  It would be a nice wine to pair with turkey.

Wine: Campo Viejo Crianza
Variety: Red blend, mostly tempranillo
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 86
Price:  $10.00

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Campo Viejo 2006 Reserva

Rioja DOC wines labeled as Reserva are required to have spent at least 18 months in oak.  This wine spent that time in a combination of French and American oak.  It has also had an additional 18 months of bottle aging.  The blend is 85% tempranillo, 10% graciano, and 5% manzuelo.

This wine shows a nice balance of fruit and earth on the nose, with aromas of coffee, plums, blackberry and tobacco.  The palate has a medium body (i.e. not too big) with flavors of plum, blackberry and spice.  It finishes spicy too.  It’s a tasty wine.  Pair this wine with grilled pork.

Wine: Campo Viejo Reserva
Variety: Red blend, mostly tempranillo
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 87
Price:  $14.00

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Campo Viejo 2003 Gran Reserva

Rioja DOC Gran Reserva wine must be oaked for a minimum of 24 months.  This one was oaked in 80% French oak and the remainder was American.  The wine was also given 36 months of bottle aging.  The blend is 85% tempranillo, 10% graciano and 5% manzuelo.

Chocolate aromas slap you in the face with this wine.  It’s loaded with spice aromas too, like cloves and allspice.  And it also shows some plum and smoke aromas.  There’s a lot going on in this wine.  The palate offers deep plum, blackberry and raisin flavors up front, with dark chocolate on the mid-palate and raisins and coffee on the finish.  This is a very nice wine.  Break out the red meat for pairing with this wine.

The suggested retail price is $21, meaning that you can most likely find this wine for less than that.  And at that price, it’s a steal!

Wine: Campo Viejo Gran Reserva
Variety: Red blend, mostly tempranillo
Vintage: 2003
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 91
Price:  $21.00

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Disclosure: These wines were received as a sample.

When I first launched this site, nearly four years ago, Spanish wines were what I was excited about, especially garnacha.  But since the first few months of the site, I find myself tasting less and less Spanish wines.  I have nothing against them, in fact I still have some trusted favorites in the Spanish section.  I just seem to be coming across Spanish wines less often these days.  I’m sure some of that is due to the outstanding bargains coming out of Chile, which are really overshadowing some other value regions.

Nonetheless, I still love a good Spanish wine and I was glad to have the opportunity to taste this one.  I should note that I did not taste this wine blind, as I generally prefer to do for reviews.  But without a lineup of a few different Spanish blends, it just wouldn’t work.

This wine comes from Rioja, which is probably the most well-known of the Spanish wine regions.  But it’s not one I generally think of for “value” wines, and at $20 this one may not be considered a bargain by some consumers.  Although, that is the “suggested” retail price and you may find it as low as $12.

The wine is a blend of 60% garnacha, 35% tempranillo and 5% manzuelo — a very Spanish blend.  There are a couple other things that make this wine interesting to me too.  It was bottled unfiltered, for one.  When it comes to inexpensive wine, I actually find this to be rather rare.  Probably due to the fact that this can leave some sediment in the bottle, which can be a turnoff to some consumers.  But others think the wine is more true if it’s bottled unfiltered.  I’ll let you be the judge of that.

The other thing that caught my attention is that the wine was fined using egg whites.  Fining is a process in which winemakers add “fining agents” to a wine in order to clarify it.  Think of it as the egg whites grabbing a hold of solid particles in the wine and pulling them to the bottom, leaving a clear wine at the top.  It’s not that big of a deal, really.  But there’s something natural (i.e. non-chemical) about using egg whites to do this that I find appealing.

While all of that’s interesting, we all know that it’s the smell and taste that really matter.  So, on with the tasting.

This wine shows a combination of fruit and earthiness on the nose, with some plum and blackberry aromas contrasted with tree bark, herbs and allspice.  On the palate, it offers sour cherry and a hint of strawberry flavors up front with a black tea quality in the mid-palate—which has a touch of bitterness.  The finish is relatively long with soft fruit and leather flavors.  The tannins are soft and the acidity is strong.  This is more of a food wine than a sipping wine, to be paired with red meats, perhaps with game.

Wine: La Montesa
Variety: Red Blend
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 87
Price:  $19.99

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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

You know what they say about first impressions.  That’s right, they’re very hard to change.  And the Viña Don Royo red makes a really nice first impression, which I think benefited the wine as I reviewed it.  Pop the cork on this vino tinto and it offers up a rich and robust nose, with ripe raspberry, hints of fig and marmalade, with singed toast.  I was eager to see what the wine would offer up on the palate.   If it delivered half as much complexity and intensity at it teased up in aroma and bouquet, then surely we would have a winner on our hands.

So, excited for what I was about to experience with this wine that had so quickly captured my admiration, I diligently sipped a small amount to acclimate my palate.  The wine’s rich fruit quickly activated the taste buds on the tip and edges of my tongue.  It offered an intriguing sour-ish tang that further built up the excitement.  I was eager to begin a thorough examination of what appeared to be an impressive wine.  It seemed this Spanish charmer had made an impression on my palate as well.  However, in my enamored state, I failed to notice that this wine made very little to no impression at all on the finish.  I’m sure I simply dismissed it, assuming that I was distracted by what was going on in the front of my mouth.  I tasted again.  And again a burst of raspberry, plum and acid tantalized my tongue, smoothly transitioning through to the mid-palate and finish.  And again, as the wine finished, my mind was still focused on the initial impression the wine was imparting on my tongue.  I was enamored.  This wine had seduced me.  It had tricked me.  I continued, taking another sip….and then another.

Now I was catching on.  That first impression was beginning to flicker, and it was allowing me to come to my senses.  The lack of finish was now becoming the most prominent element.  Lack of finish may be putting it kindly.  The Don Royo’s finish seemingly drops off a shelf, and flat goes away, leaving the wine a bit unbalanced.  I checked the bottle for the alcohol content, expecting 12.5 – 13%……..not even close.  This wine is 11% alcohol by volume, not enough, in my opinion, to provide any real amplification to the complex fruit the wine was offering.  But the first impression persisted, and I still found myself enjoying this more elegant style of Spanish Grenache, despite missing an important aspect of a quality flavor profile.  You know what they say about first impressions….…..they’re very hard to change.

A  Salute!

Wine: Viña Don Royo
Variety: Grenache
Vintage: NV
Alcohol: 11%
Rating:  84
Price: $4.50

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

One the heels of the red blend review we did yesterday, tonight we’re checking out another red blend called Seven.  This one comes from Spain and is produced by Bodegas Osborne, one of the oldest wine producers in Spain dating back to 1772.  And today, after all those years, the company is still run by descendants of founder Tomas Osborne Mann.

Seven comes in a three liter bag-in-box package.  But it’s not just your average box, it’s an “Octavin” which is an octagon shaped package that looks a little nicer than a square box.  It’s also not your average boxed wine juice inside the bag.  Skeptics of boxed wine will be pleasantly surprised by this one.

The box holds three liters of wine and is said to keep the wine fresh for up to six weeks after opening.  I can attest that I’ve had bag-in-box wine a few weeks after opening it and it has been as good as the first day.

Guess how many grape varieties are in Seven.  It should be obvious, and if you guessed seven, you got it right.  This wine is a combination of 24% shiraz, 24% cabernet sauvignon, 11% graciano, 11% garnacha, 10% tempranillo, 10% merlot and 10% petite verdot.

The nose of this wine is a nice medley of red and blue fruit, with cherry, blueberry and raspberry aromas, but it doesn’t stop there. It also shows some interesting spice notes, chocolate and a hint of leather.  In the mouth it’s lively with cherry and raspberry flavors, which are abundant in fruitiness but don’t have a lot of concentration.  In other words, it’s a little watered down — but just a little, it’s not totally thin.  The finish is a blend of red fruit, nutmeg and mineral.  It’s not bad for a light, fruit-forward wine.

Wine: Seven
Variety: Red Blend
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating:  84
Price: $21.99 for 3 liters (equivalent to 4 bottles)

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

In days past there was a regular monthly occurrence called “Wine Blogging Wednesday” when wine bloggers from around the world would all write about a common theme.  There was also a “host” to the event who would write up a summary of all the participants so that you could go to one place to find all the contributions to that theme.  It was a fun time of collaboration, community and sharing.  I was fortunate enough to participate in a few of these events and I’ve even hosted one.  But as time passed, somehow the event fell into obscurity.

My read on the dissolution of Wine Blogging Wednesday is that the organizers just got busy and burned out on organizing it.  Although there were still people interested in participating, in fact there was a lot of interest, nobody wanted to “steal” the idea even though the originators had lost energy for it.  So, it fizzled.  I also theorize that the rise of Twitter and Facebook were part of the fall of WBW since a big part of WBW was the community factor and social media replaced that community activity.  But all of that is just speculation.

And so, today Wine Blogging Wednesday returns thanks to our gracious hosts Ryan and Gabriella at Catavino.  The theme for this return of WBW is Spanish wines, and Ryan and Gabriella have challenged participants to find something that we’ve never had before.

First, I’ll confess that I didn’t put as much time into preparing for this one as I did in the old days.  I used to spend days hunting down something that I thought would be really unique for these challenges.  But life has just been busy for me lately and I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare.  And while I was tempted to just right a review of a garnacha/tempranillo blend and pretend I didn’t notice the rules of the challenge, I lucked out.  When I searched through the wines I had on-hand, I just happened to have a verdejo… and it just so happens that this is the first verdejo that I’ve tasted.  That’s one more entry for my Wine Century Club application — which I can’t believe I haven’t finished yet.

Verdejo is a white wine varietal that produces light, fresh wine similar to sauvignon blanc.  While most verdejo is grown in the Rueda region in Spain, the Tapeña Verdejo is from the “Tierra de Castilla”, outside of the D.O. system.

The bottle I happed to have is from the 2008 vintage, which you can still find on the market in some locations.  But the 2009 has also been released, so you may find a different vintage if you go looking for this.

The nose of this wine at first glance is similar to a sauvignon blanc, but with less intensity and not quite as tropical as many SBs.  The aromas are like lemon drenched pears and peaches with a wisp of nuttiness weaving through it.  The palate has plenty of crisp apple and pear flavors with reasonable concentration and sufficient acidity.  It finishes with a touch of lime.  This is a really nice, light wine that would go well with a light fish.

If you like sauvignon blanc, this is worth a try for something different.

Wine: Tapeña
Variety: Verdejo
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 86
Price: $10.00

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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

Years ago, I turned my wife on to sauvignon blanc from New Zealand.  It’s now her white wine of choice.  In fact, when white wine ends up on the grocery list there usually isn’t any second-guessing.  So tonight as I was in the process of making dinner, my wife said she was up for a glass of wine.  So I checked the fridge, and then the cellar, and sure enough, we were fresh out of SB.  So I decided to improvise.  I took the opportunity to review one of the white wines we recently received – the 2009 Martín Códax albariño.  I figured I’d at least get a review in, but maybe, just maybe, broaden my wife’s white wine horizons.  So I poured us both a glass, and went back to getting dinner ready.

Martin Códax produces this albariño from fruit grown in the Rías Baixas region in Northwest Spain.   Because the region gets an abundance of rain, a pergola system is used to keep the vines high and dry.  Winemaker Katia Alvarez allows the grapes to ferment in stainless steel for 3 weeks.  Additionally, 40% of the juice undergoes malolactic fermentation to, as the winemaker’s notes suggest, “increase flavor complexity without sacrificing acid freshness”.  On the nose, the wine offers up intense bell pepper, pear and honey.  On the palate, the wine is surprisingly balanced offering good acidity, crispness and well integrated tropical fruit.  The finish is also nice, but I’d prefer a bit more intensity.

Overall, this Martín Códax is a good example of the richness and intensity that albariño offers.   Although it’s not exceptional, at this price point, it does represent a good value.  If you haven’t tried albariño before, this is a great example with which to discover the varietal.  Just ask my wife.  I think albariño just made it on her grocery list.

A  Salute!

Wine: Martín Códax
Variety: 100% Albariño
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 12.8%
Rating: 85
Price: $15

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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.