Nose: Asparagus (Pino Nior style) stink, charcoal, tempranillo style sweet chrries, delightful complexity
Palate: Vanilla is prominent as is a spritly dance of strong acid and pucker-inducing tannins. Stony.
Finish: Vanilla oak again with soft red fruit hints ending quickly
Overall: After a nice couple called down and waited for about 20 minutes or more for a new bottle of red wine, this was delivered to the club lounge. I thought I'd better at least have a taste and blog the findings.
This 2005 consists mostly of the Aragonez varietal (my first taste) and is from Sanguinhal in the Estremadura region of Portugal.
According to the label, it owned/run by the Fonseca (of Port wine notoriety) family. According to the label it was aged 6 months in French oak
It shows a quite youthful purple in the glass. The wine is very enjoyable. It is balanced though strong in both the acid and tannin area. The clear vanilla flavors bring out a likableness that is immediate. It is the inviting grin of an unpretentious yet obstreperous stranger who wants nothing more than to be your friend. After a sample, it is hard to say no.
Raise a Glass!
The nose knows...
ReplyDelete"Tempranillo-style" -- this isn't your first taste of Aragonez because Aragonez is a local name for Tempranillo. Portuguese grapes rarely are known exclusively by a single name, unfortunately.
Cheers.