Bottle #100 in the Virtual WIne Tasting group!  We concluded the 25th tasting with this Spanish Tempranillo.  The underlying lesson of the session was the use of oak.  Our first red was made using old oak, the second bottle seeing a mix of new and old whilst this bottle would hopefully show off lots of new oak being a Reserva.

In the glass this wine is deep ruby- opaque AF.  On the nose the lesson was quite obvious- Tar, smoky, coconut, chocolate, leather, charred oak barrel, dark berries, bramble, dust and a touch of heat from the alcohol (it blew away eventually).

On the palate this wine was a touch tart at the beginning with black cherry akin to Luxardos, dried black fruit compote, spice, clove, vanilla, cinnamon and a new one- ‘Nummy”.  High tannins, medium acidity, full body and a long finish made this my WOTN that scored 18 marks.  At $50 and 92 points it get 5 stars from me- delicious stuff that worked beautifully in my oak lesson.  This wine needs a juicy leg of lamb, grilled and served with au gratin and a side of asparagus.  At 12 years of age it is just now reaching maturity and will drink nicely till 2030.  Salut….