Tag: Great wines under 10 bucks

All my wine blogs, All wine reviews, La Mancha, Red wine, Spain, Tempranillo

Pallas 2011 – a very cheerful wine

Vera C.

Winemaker: Rafael CoñizaresPallas Comp
Grape: 100% Tempranillo
Region: La Mancha, Spain

See other wines from this winemaker:

I was excited to find this new Jorge Ordoñez/Rafael Coñizares join venture (Venta Morales project), a new wine from La Mancha, called PALLAS.

When I saw its label, it brought back some memories. The memories of my visit to Span, region of La Mancha, and my first meeting with the winemaker Rafael Coñizares. He seemed to be very shy, soft spoken man, who didn’t like to talk about his wines much. Or, could it be that I didn’t speak Spanish and he didn’t hold a conversation in English? Either way, we both preferred to drink those wines rather than talking about them.

Rafael Coñizares
Rafael Coñizares

The label of this new, 100% Tempranillo wine, is full of stones. Just like the large river stones, an underlayment of unique La Mancha sandy soils, with lots of iron, clay and chalk. La Mancha, the largest wine region in the world, with around 474,000 acres of higher altitude land devoted to vine growing, is “nurturing” its vines with rough winds, cold winters and hot summer days, turning into cold nights.

Combine that with almost no rainfall, and Rafael’s devotion to keep vine’s yields very low – and you have the recipe for concentrated, deep colors and superb flavors in wine.

moje logo small3Tasting notes:

Although this wine was stainless steel fermented, and didn’t age in oak, it offers surprisingly dark, ruby, almost purple color. Lovely aroma of dark berries and perhaps a little dust of cocoa.

On the palate it was fresh, full of yummy fruit flavors, reminder of dark cherries, sweet and acidic blackcurrant from my mom’s garden, with a little spice of black pepper. When you got to drink a greatly made wine , without oak, it actually shows you the bare, clean, unmasked wine flavors in its best glory. I loved what my husband said about Pallas, when he took his first sip: this wine is cheerful!  Yes, it’s rich fruity flavors with silky tannins made our dinner cheerful event.La Mancha

Incredible value wine for hard to believe $8.00.  I left my second bottle opened till next day, and almost liked the wine better than when I first opened it. Which is sometimes the case with some really expensive, big reds, when the wine is not “opened” enough yet. But it hardly happens with wine in this price range. Kudos to Jorge and Rafael for this one!!!

By the way, if you follow my blog for a while, you know that I am crazy about Spanish wines. Especially those that I can consider “house wine” based on their, more than reasonable, price. Jorge Ordoñez, my favorite Spanish wine importer, put his seal on many great, affordable wines from different parts of Spain. Its common denominator is the uncompromising quality, no matter what the price tag. You can imagine why I felt like a kid in the candy store, when I saw this shelf at Boca Raton’s Whole Foods. Wow, they have some wise wine manager there!

IMG_1453C

Carinena, Garnacha, Great wines under $10, Red blends, Red wine, Spain, Tempranillo

Las Valles 2009

Vera C.

Produced by: Bodegas Virgen del Águila
Grape: 50% Tempranillo, 40% Garnacha, 10% Syrah
Region: Cariñena

This is one of those unexpected finds that might become your next house wine. I was preparing my private wine dinner at home for the first weekend of January. When my menu was decided, I came to my favorite wine store to buy the wines. Campos Reales, an unoaked red wine from La Mancha, Spain was in my mind, when composing the third course of my menu.

I needed wine that had a lot of character, yet it wasn’t too big to overpower my smoked salmon/spinach rolls. To my disappointment, the wine manager told me that the distributor was out of stock till maybe February. Well, that didn’t help. It was obvious that I will have to improvise.

When I asked my friend, the wine manager Tryg, what he would recommend instead, a wine that would be similar style to Campos Reales (and unoaked), we walked through isles and pointed out few bottles. The last one was Las Valles. I looked at the label and it said: Tempranillo, Garnacha, Syrah. Hmm, sounds pretty big red to me.

“Are you sure it’s not a big wine?” I asked Tryg. He promised me it’s not – and that it would be probably his favorite out of those he showed me so far. I grabbed 3 bottles. The price was unbelievable and I figured – let’s open one a taste it before my guests come to wine dinner party and I embarrass myself.

Wow, that wine was fantastic! So I went on-line and looked it up. I learned that: “Las Valles” is produced by Bodegas Virgen del Águila, a modern, progressive cooperative near the town of Paniza that also produces wines under the “ia” label for Hand picked selections. The bodega offers a wealth of vines (nearly 5,500 acres!) planted in prime terroir (more than 2,500 ft above sea level!) nestled against the Iberico mountain range.

This includes a wealth (nearly 190 acres) of old, 50+ year-old Garnacha, Tempranillo and Macabeo vines, as well as newer plantings of international varietals. ”

This red blend was stainless steel fermented and never saw an oak. Well, I can tell you, this may as well be my new house wine. Especially for the price of $ 7.99 I paid for it. That’s a serious steel!

Tasting notes:
Beautiful aroma of fresh red berries, cherries or raspberries. On the palate this is clean, medium body wine. Really nice exposure of mixed wild berries flavors spiced up with Syrah (or is it old vines Garnacha?). Either way, Las Valles is totally impressive wine, especially for that price. Complex, balanced with perfect acidity to pair easily with many foods. Loved it, and so did everybody else at my wine dinner.

We might have just found our next favorite! See, sometimes it’s good when you need to change plans. What seemed like a bad news first, let me to discover something new and exciting! Don’t miss the chance to taste it!
And yes, I still love Campos Reales, whenever it’s going to be available again.

Dry – Off dry- Medium sweet – Sweet
Light – Medium – Full body
No oak – Aged in oak
Retail price: about $ 8.00

Ideal food pairing:
Roasted peppers and eggplant dip, Vermicelli con melanzana, Vegetable lentils, Shish kebab with eggplant hash and Tzaziki sauce, and many more… mild cheeses, Italian Antipasto, spiced cured meats etc.

Calatayud, Garnacha, Great wines under $10, Grenage, Old vines, Red wine, Spain

Garnacha de Fuego 2008

Vera C.

Grape: 100% Garnacha Old Vines
Region: Calatayud, Spain

See other wines from this producer:
Atteca 2008

Producer of this wine is Bodegas Ateca, another successful joined project of Gil family from southern Jumilla and Jorge Ordóñez. Grapes are sourced from different vineyards, located in the region at 3000 ft above the sea level, planted with vines that averages 60 – 120 year old vines.

Due to extreme conditions for growing vine – with most vineyards located high on the hillsides and with very low rainfall, the old vine produces low yield of very concentrated fruit, that is harvested by hand.

After the harvest of perfectly mature clusters there is an additional sorting of grapes at the sorting tables in the winery.

2008 vintage, just reviewed by Jay Miller/Wine Advocate 89 points! :
“The grapes for this new project were sourced from 60- to 80-year-old vines whose already low yields were reduced an additional 70% by the weather conditions of the vintage.

A glass-coating opaque purple, remarkably deep for a wine of this price made from Garnacha, the wine offers a nose of brooding black cherry and blueberry. Concentrated, ripe, and balanced on the palate, this flavorful, lengthy effort will drink well over the next four years. It is an outstanding value.”

Tasting notes:
Rich, dark ruby wine with outstanding aroma of dark mature fruit, with a touch of smokiness. Full bodied red that is bursting in rich fruit flavors, yet has a very silky texture and is perfectly focused and balanced.

This is a serious red wine for serious wine lovers. If your friends has a tendency to be prejudice about the quality of the wine at this low price, don’t spoil the occasion and don’t even tell them what you paid for it. Trust me, they wouldn’t believe you!

Dry – Off dry – Medium sweet – Sweet
Light – Medium – Full body
No oak – Aged in oak
Retail price: about $ 8.99

Ideal food pairing:
Anything from the grill, roasts, steak, barbecue, Shortcut drunken chili, Bison burgers, Flank Steak Fajitas, and many more