1989, Marques de Murrietta Castillo de Ygay Rioja Gran Reserva Especial
This wine was something else - a truely memorable wine. It is alway really great to find a wine that was meant to be aged and was aged properly. So many "trophy" wines are bought and drunk every year that American consumers are not aware of what a truely delicate and well aged wine should be like. They have no context for the flavors and the elegence that these wines can have, and often these wines can be over-looked as inferior products when in fact they are really what great wine can be all about.
This wine was probably in the perfect zone for drinking. The flavors and acid and structure are all right in tune with eachother. Maybe another few years before it starts to fade.
This particular bottle was curtosy of a friend that had purchased it about ten years ago and stored it properly in his cellar.
Color was great: dark brick-red with almost no fading to the rim. No brown or off colors - just a slight watery edge due to the wood aging.
Aromatically this wine started to crank from the very beginning, as soon as we opened the bottle. Loads of sweet cherry and the spices and earthiness that are found in Worcestershire sauce. Great length and depth to the flavors, which only got better as the wine opened up, aerated and warmed in the glass.
On the palate this wine is rich and so smooth it just slid across your tongue. Acidity is well defined to the point of being almost refreshing and a perfect compliment to the fruit flavors.
The finish just went on and on with all of the aromatics of the cherry fruits and orange and spices lingering for a longtime.
This is one of those wines that you really remember because there is so much to remember.
4-15-2006
B.C. Mitchell
This wine was probably in the perfect zone for drinking. The flavors and acid and structure are all right in tune with eachother. Maybe another few years before it starts to fade.
This particular bottle was curtosy of a friend that had purchased it about ten years ago and stored it properly in his cellar.
Color was great: dark brick-red with almost no fading to the rim. No brown or off colors - just a slight watery edge due to the wood aging.
Aromatically this wine started to crank from the very beginning, as soon as we opened the bottle. Loads of sweet cherry and the spices and earthiness that are found in Worcestershire sauce. Great length and depth to the flavors, which only got better as the wine opened up, aerated and warmed in the glass.
On the palate this wine is rich and so smooth it just slid across your tongue. Acidity is well defined to the point of being almost refreshing and a perfect compliment to the fruit flavors.
The finish just went on and on with all of the aromatics of the cherry fruits and orange and spices lingering for a longtime.
This is one of those wines that you really remember because there is so much to remember.
4-15-2006
B.C. Mitchell
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