EAST COAST PALATE

When someone calls into your room where you're busy writing and sipping on a Sam Adams.  "Come try this wine," they say, and the night gets a bit better.  This is a 2007 Rioja from Dominius del Marquesado.  With a deep, inviting color, and aromas of strawberries, cherries and leather, I'm into this wine even before I try it.  There is a slight chemical aspect to the smell, like laquer or modeling glue, but it's not enough to ruin the aroma; it just makes the strawberry smell more sythetic, like flavored pancake syrup or a Jolly Rancher rather than fresh fuit.  The wine is medium bodied, not-too-tannic, leathery and very well balanced.  I'd like to see more body, maybe more oak even.  This is an elegant wine that is smooth and ready to drink.