EAST COAST PALATE

A tasty inexpensive blend from Spain's Jumilla region... It's earthy with deep fruit and leather aromas.  It has a strong finish and would go perfectly with Mediterranean cuisine, and a YouTube journey through the history of flamenco.  My friend Kristen shared this with me, and I saw it later at Metro Liquor near Adam's Morgan for about $10.  The MCS stands for Monastrell, Cabernet, and Syrah - the three varietals that make up this wine's composition.  I am finding more and more value  out of the south of Spain, and it's nice to have discovered this José Pastor selection wine.  Solid B score: 86-87 points.

So I was eeny-meeny-ing through the bottles at home, and decided to open a bottle of Bodegas Castaño Hécula.  This is a wine comprised 100% of Monastrell, a.k.a. Mourvèdre grapes.  The region that it comes from -Yecla - is in Murcia, in the southeast of Spain, with two stellar winemaking D.O.s as its neighbors: Jumilla and Almansa.  These vines dig deep through limestone and gravel, and their efforts produce very concentrated flavors in the grapes at harvest time.  The 2005 vintage in this area wasn't exceptional but this wine is excellent.  
Its color is a deep reddish purple.  The raisin, dark cherry, and blackberry aromas on the nose yield to deeper layers of cedar, resin, and stone.  The mere act of smelling this wine brought up memories of putting resin on a violin bow as a kid, of walking into a woodshop, of eating fruit rollups. 
Even though this wine doesn't have much of a finish, it has substance and elegance.  The tannins are soft, yet pronounced.  There is a hint of spice.  The stony soil in which the vines grow even imparts a cool mineral feel to the taste and body of this wine.
This is a great bottle of wine...90-91 points and only $12 to $14.
The more I try the wines from Murcia, the more I feel compelled to go visit.  If you could visit one winemaking region in the world, where would you go...and why?

This bottle came into my life thanks to my friend and neighbor - Carolyn - who shares some of my enthusiasm for Spanish vino tinto.  This Crianza was aged 14 months in American oak and consists of a blend of Tempranillo (85%), Garnacha (5%), Graciano (5%), and Mazuelo (5%).
The nose is hearty and full of oak, with a whiff of black cherries lurking just below the woodsy aromas.  The flavor profile follows suit; this wine is tannic and spicy.  The oak is smelled and then felt, but on the palate it isn't so dominant.  After it was opened for a half an hour the cherry emerged a bit and melded well with that leathery, saddle/baseball mitt smell that I love so much in many Riojan wines.
This wine would go better with food, but it worked well with a movie, too.  It came from the Wine Source up in north Baltimore, where it costs $13.59.  For me it's a solid B to B+, however some people won't like it due to the oaky component.

This bottle delivers a well made 100% Monastrell  (a.k.a. Mourvèdre) that is soft and elegant.  I picked this up a few days ago a Circle Wine in Chevy Chase for $18.  Really I had to get a wine from the Murcía region of Spain in honor of my friend Do's birthday.  This just so happens to be one of her favorites.
This wine's color is a rich, regal hue of purple.  The nose is dominated by earthy and stoney scents.  When I sniffed it first it reminded me of being in a cellar or a used book store.  The berry and anise aromas it has are subtle and quite inviting, too.
In the mouth this wine is fresh.  The minerality picked up on the nose definitely carries over into the flavor profile.  There's a hint of dark chocolate and berry, and plenty of acidity.  I've tried some Monastrells or Mourvèdres with more body and tannin (especially some of the French wines from the Bandol region), but I enjoy this bottle a lot.  For my palate it finds itself right on the B+/A- threshold.  If you're a fan of Côtes du Rhône wines, I think you would like this wine. 

This wine rocked my world, and subsequently the world of everyone around me (especially my aunt who may have found the love of her life).  This Rioja blend is mostly Tempranillo, but has some Garnacha, Graciano, and Mazuelo to complete the recipe.
At first the aromas were shy and limited to a leathery, earthy, slightly cranberry smell.  Over the course of the next 3 hours this wine evolved into something beautiful.  The tightness of the nose released and out came the cherries, the chocolate, the spicy pepper, and the stoney minerality.  There is a wonderful balance between the acid and the tannins, allowing this blend to drink smooth on its own, or act as a complement to dishes like the peppery gazpacho or the portobella mushrooms.  I really liked this wine and scored it 92 points.  At Mrs. K's it was on special for $35, which is a great price considering a bottle retails for about $28.
For good reason has Muga been recently dubbed the most popular Spanish wine in America.  With a wine as good as this one, they're sure to create fans all around the world.  Take a look at the winery's website at www.bodegasmuga.com.
For those that tend to finish a bottle of wine within an hour, I suggest taking the time to see the contents change.  It is one of the most fascinating aspects of wine, and from time to time we all need to slow down, uncork a couple of bottles, and smell and taste the evolution of new scents and flavors over the course of a few hours. 
I'm now on the hunt for more Muga, does anyone have other Rioja recommendations?  Share the wine love.

This mostly Tempranillo blend really seems to me to capture a lot of what is typically associated with the wines of the Ribera del Duero region.  It has a oily leathery stink, a dusty resinous aroma that is a little hot, and very concentrated.  Even though I wasn't completely taken with this wine, I really enjoy the aromatic nuances...the cherry, the black olives, the barnyard animal.  Seriously, it has some funk that is sultry and inviting.
The tastes take their time unfolding, starting of with a rich, creamy mouthfeel, rising into the moment when the tannins take hold, and then slowly finishing with a cherry/leather senstation on the palate.  It is a medium bodied feel, not over-oaked by any means.
It's a good wine that I bought for $12.  I'd rate it in the upper 80's.  Really the aromas did more for me than the flavors.  But it's well balanced, a bit chalky and slate-like, which I like.  I couldn't pin a number on this one, so let's just call it a high B.
Sometimes I feel wierd because the more unusual the aroma, the more I want to stick my nose in that stink.  Is this a funky wine aroma fetish or something?  What are some strange smells or flavors that you have encountered in wine?  Share your stories.

So after my first sabrage I still needed to evaluate the wine.  I'm not sure if the manner in which I opened the bottle affected the wine's effervescence, but this bubbly has very sparse sparkling action.  It could almost pass for a still white wine.
This Cava has some nice aromas of apple, lemon and pear.  But there is an off burnt smell lurking beneath the yeasty aromas.  This comes through in the taste as a slightly bitter flavor.  It still has some toasty components, and a little lemon zest and peach fuzz flavors that I enjoy.  For me it is an 84 point, B Cava, but it will always be a good inexpensive bubbly... perfect for making mimosas or bellinis.  This is a good bottle to start a meal during the middle of the week, or to start brunch on the weekend.

This wine comes from Valencia, Spain.  While that region might not have the DOC (denominación de origen calificada) status like some other areas in the country, this Tempranillo is impressive.
The nose is a balance of fruit and dirt, dark cherry and leather, a hint of ripe red apples, and the candy scent of an open pack of Twizzlers.  It smells delicious. 
The tastes fulfill the promise of the aromas.  There is a smooth texture to this wine that is backed by solid tannins.  The fruit flavors are rich and concentrated, but kept in balance by a leathery quality that I really love in a good Tempranillo.  The red apple comes through on the tart, tannic finish leaving my palate wanting more.
This is a well made, A- wine that reminds me very much of some Tempranillos I've had from the Rioja region.  The bottled is a pretty package, wrapped in a gold filagree (much like some of the other "Marques de" bottles from Spain).  The price is only $11, which only impresses me more and makes it a fantastic value wine for any occasion.  I'd love to have this wine with some steak or a pork chop, but it's fine on its own as well.
For those fans of Spanish wines, what is your favorite wine region in Spain?  Any preference on varietals or vintages?

This medium bodied  Garnacha brings a lot of inviting aromas, a lush and leathery flavor, and a bit of a zing from that 14.5% alcohol (and most labels downplay the actual ethanol content of the wine).  The 2007 Las Rocas Garnacha can be found for $10-$12, and for me is a bottle that I'll definitely be revisiting in the future.
I'm winding down after a 2 hour drive back from a teetotaling Thanksgiving dinner in the Shennendoah Valley, and this wine seemed like a good pairing with post-paintball aches, and a stuffed bellyfull of turkey.
There is an allure to the nose of this wine that is almost sythetic, like a strawberry Jolly Rancher, but it's mixed well with a smokey, leathery component that immediately lets you know there's more to this wine that just fruit.  In the mouth it is a burst of berry flavors that yields to some tartness and the solid grip of some moderate tannins.  The alcohol comes through clearly, kind of like when you bite into a chocolate that is filled with a cherry AND some Cognac; with this wine you get the trio: fresh sweet fruit, dark bitter chocolate, and a slap in the face (a kind of playful slap, though) from that 14.5%. 
But the key to making that combo work is balance, and this Garnacha has that.  It isn't some elegant, super-complex Chateauneuf de Pape, but it is smooth and well structured.  I like it.  It gets a solid B/B+, with 88 points.  It's great value wine for its price.

$7.50 is an amazing price to pay for the quality wine that you get from this bottle.  This blend comes from the southeast of Spain, in a region called Almansa, where in 2005 the heat was strong and the grapes ripened extremely well.  This wine consists of about 2/3 Garnacha and 1/3 Syrah.  There are some resinous dark cherry and leather components coming from the Grenache in it, while the Syrah adds some ripe plum and a peppery kick to the final product.  You can tell the wine spent some time in oak barrels, but those tannins are very well integrated with the fruit and acid it the wine, bringing a toasty cedar note into the mix.  The acidity here will put a pucker on your face, like a big swig of cran-grapefruit juice would, if you can imagine the sensation.  Early on I detected a bit of that nail-polish-remover, chemical odor (ethyl acetate) that can really screw up a wine.  But if it was a bit flawed, it wasn't to a strong enough extent to mask the great aromas, flavors, and overall balance of this red blend.  In any case, I'll be buying more of this wine, so I'll be able to compare the bottles I open in the future with the first one.  Overall I'll give this wine a solid B rating at 88 points.  I love that it matches or surpasses many of the wines in the $20-$30 range.  It is a drink-now kind of wine that bring with it many old world characteristics, and I recommend it to everyone.
I have to say thank you to Nick Henning for pointing this wine out to me at YES Organic Market in D.C.  Otherwise it could've passed under my wine radar and I would've never known what I do now.  Currently it is the wine of the month at YES, so there will be plenty in stock throughout the holiday season.  I am pumped up to know about this wine.  Tell your friends.  Share this wine at parties.  It's only 7 bucks and worth every sip.