When my family and I were in Barcelona, enjoying the hospitality of
some of the world's friendliest people, we were given a lesson on
Spanish wine by an enthusiastic veteran of a Los Ramblas eatery. He
introduced us to a wine from the Ribera del Duero, which he said
was better than the Rioja we had in mind and for a third less. The
wine was brilliant - layered with ripe dark fruit, tobacco pouch
leather, and a cedar-like spice. We were smitten. As will you be.
Although the Ribera del Duero is now well known in the U.S., it
is one of Spain’s newer wine regions. For example, when the
Valduero estate was established in 1984, it was only the sixth
winery in the region! In the ensuing 25 years, they’ve earned a
reputation as a winery offering quality and value. Their estate
wines are from grapes sourced from their 500 acres of bush-trained,
low yielding vineyards.
This wine showcases the intense raspberry fruit you will find in
better Tempranillo, and though the wine shows a fair amount of
tannic structure, it’s still quite approachable. This is a wine
that will never last as long in the cellar as its owners intend -
but not because it won’t age impeccably for decades. ;-)
"93 Points" Wine Advocate
"The 2005 Reserva Cuvee was sourced from older vines and spent
30 months in barrel. It reveals an already complex bouquet of
cedar, tobacco, spice box, incense, black cherry, and blackberry
liqueur. Suave on the palate, it has loads of succulent fruit,
impeccable balance, tons of spice, and several years of cellaring
potential. This lengthy offering can be enjoyed through 2025 if not
longer." ~ Jay Miller, for Robert Parker's Wine Advocat. April
2010.
Cheers!
Dave "the Wine Merchant" Chambers
