From the Cellar
Three Outstanding Older Wines (Spain / France/ Argentina)
30 Jul 2014- Details
- Category: Uncorked Tonight
(May 24, 2014) ... What's more fun than throwing a chunk of a muddy root on the fire and leaving the party? I don't know, you'd have to ask my neighbor cause that's what he did, but who could blame him, I plied him with enough alcohol to stop a mule, how was I to know he felt guilty about leaving an alcoholic liquid in an opened bottle (he later told me it was because he is Italian - "It's a sin to waste wine") ... Good thing for him it's just a quick walk home.
I started him off with a Bodegas Lan 2006 Crianza Tempranillo, aged beautiful this light red had aromas of dried raspberry, plum, Christmas spice, spiced cherry, and a subtle cedar underlay ... Flavours proved just as exciting: spiced cherry, anise, white peppered plum, a pure pleasure both smells and tastes; the best part: it hardly shows its age. Simply put, this was a lovely starter.
Moving on from Spain, but staying in Europe, I hopped, skipped and jumped to France, I was originally going to pour the gorgeous 2010 of this wine but then noticed I has an E. Gigual 2005 Cotes du Rhone, another brilliant vintage for this wine, so why not - it's the reason one keeps a cellar, isn't it? This was even better than the Lan ... The wine just kept giving on both the nose and palate, in fact I lost track of what came from where, but complexity ruled: black cherry, plum and wonderfully spiced, with a dry finish. There was also strawberry, smoked-mocha and smooth silky tannins.
Was there a way to top that last wine? Probably not, but I tried with a Catena 2008 High Altitude Vines Malbec from Argentina. This one proved to be delicious as well but seemingly simple by comparison: blueberry, raspberry and chocolate ruled the palate here.
Winner of the evening was the Guigal, hands down, or should I say muddy-root-in-the-fire down. Or even more appropriately, man down - my neighbour went to bed/sleep very quickly (according to his wife's report).
