Sangre de Toro

2007
Rose
Spain

I wanted something chilled, but not beer, and I didn't want my usual summer Chardonnay. I was making black bean and guacamole tacos. So I wanted something that could stand up to strong flavors without canceling each other out. I decided on a cheap Spanish Rose.

I brought it home and chilled it and then had a glass while cooking dinner. It was OK. Not bad. Just not great. No knocking off of the socks. As I mashed avocados for my guacamole, I ate a slice of avocado. I then had a sip of the wine, and THEN I smiled. NICE combo. I put sliced fresh hot red peppers in the guacamole and found a sip of the wine really brought out the pepper in the meal as well. Later, way after the tacos, when cleaning up the kitchen, I had a spoonful of organic ground turkey that had been sauteed in olive oil and red onion and had another sip of wine and had another smile. Really good accompaniment.

The really nice part is you get your own little plastic toy BULL (Toro) attached to each bottle of Sangre de Toro! It was like when I was a kid and I chose the box of cereal by the prize inside. Oh, but THIS wine has a bull attached to it! Every girls dream come true.


7.75 out of 10
13% alc. by vol.
$9 / 750 ml. bottle

ETIM Seleccion

2006
Spain

I really enjoyed this wine. Tremendously. Our friends gave it to us to try. They thoroughly enjoyed their first experience with this wine, but not their next one. They thought their first experience involved food and their second one didn't. But they really couldn't recall. And they weren't sure if they had two different vintages - what a difference a year can make :)

They found the wine "dry". And I agree. It is dry. But there was a LOT of wonderful flavor there. And a lingering finish that I just loved. Dark berry, slight smoke, slight earth, and mushrooms. It especially tasted well with our meal. I tried to make a "Spanish" oriented meal and made spinach with roasted pignolia nuts, Spanish olive oil, and garlic. I marinated shrimp in olive oil and garlic and grilled it. And we had the wine with it. It was all very good and I was happy.


"Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more."
- Proverbs 31:6-7:

For those of you who prefer a rating from a higher authority: Robert Parker gave this wine 91 pts.

8.25 out of 10
$14/750 ml. bottle
14% alc. by vol.
www.etim.es

Burgans Albarino

2007
Rias Baixas
Spain

Will drink again.

Having been craving an Albarino for a few weeks, I purchased the only one a local wine shop had a lot of. This was it. I enjoyed it, though not quite as much as the Nora Albarino I reviewed here in November 2007. But I would still recommend this.

A friend from another planet recommended Albarino to me last year following a business-related trip he'd made. He loved it. I'd never heard of it. Months later, in 2007, I tried a Nora Albarino at a restaurant with my tuna entree and loved it. I haven't had one since, though I've read it is THE wine to have with shell fish and/or paella. So, tonight I was stir-frying shrimp and figured I'd try to locate one. We had shrimp with ginger, garlic risotto and spinach and this Albarino accompanied it perfectly. I am in love with the lemon and mineral notes I seem to pick up in the only two Albarinos I've ever had.

Though this one was more floral and citrus-y, and much lighter in color than the Nora, I still enjoyed it. It reminds me of a cross between a lemony Sauvignon Blanc and a woodsy Chardonnay. Nice. I may not be a connoisseur, or have big bucks to spend, so you may choose to believe I'm just blowing words out my ass, but this wine goes especially well with sea fish and shell fish. Trust me.

Josiah
Seven years old
AK-47 forced into your little hands
The weight of it causing you to lose balance and fall over
Forced into battle against the "rebels"
You never survived your first RPG experience
Your one and only day in battle
Crying out for your long ago separated mother
Your life ends
And my faith once again mocks me
Where was the God I trust?

(I've been reading the true and heart-wrenching Ishmael Beah's "a long way gone - Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" of his life in Sierra Leone. Josiah's story struck me especially hard as he was the same age as my youngest and I can't imagine a child having to experience these horrors at any age, yet so many have, are, and still will until the hatred and violence ends. But first, help must come from elsewhere. UNICEF saved Ishmael.) PAIX / سَلام / paz / 平和 / pace / ειρήνη / 和平 / 평화(의) / damai / мир / rahu / der Frieden / friður / PEACE

http://www.unicef.org/

Robert Parker gave this Albarino a 90.

$13 / 750ml. bottle
8.0 out of 10
12.5% alc. by vol.

Marques De La Villa

2005
Toro
Red Wine
Spain

Might drink again.

I recommend drinking this wine alone. Although it did accompany lasagna well, I enjoyed it a bit more prior to eating. After salad it was "yuck". This is a dry red with a hint of rasberry and heat in the scent. It had an earthy "hot rock" initial taste that I liked very much. That flavor was enhanced for a bit with the lasagna, but then it totally disappeared forever following salad.

My religion makes no sense
and does not help me
therefore I pursue it.

When we see
how simple it would have been
we will thrash ourselves.

I had a vision
of all the people in the world
who are searching for God

massed in a room
on one side
of a partition

that looks
from the other side
(God's side)

transparent
but we are blind.
Our gestures are blind.

Our blind gestures continue
for some time until finally
from somewhere

on the other side of the partition there we are
looking back at them.
It is far too late.

We see how brokenly
how warily
how ill

our blind gestures
parodied
what God really wanted

Anne Carson - "My Religion"

7.75 out of 10
$7.99 / 750 ml bottle
14.5 alc.by vol.

Rioja Vega

2001
Reserve
Viana, Spain

50% Tempranillo
25% Mazuelo
25% Graciano

Will definitely drink again.

This was a dark cherry color with an ever so slight cloudiness to it. The scent was black cherry and granite. Upon tasting, I was hit initially with dryness, thinness (which did have me worried) then a quick changeover (that kept me interested) to licorice and a hint of smoke. The finish saved it completely. It was a very nice finish with high-end Barossa-like flavor (I can't exactly explain that flavor and finish if you haven't experienced it - it's a distinct experience - suffice it to say it is worth it). The Guy is away, though he will return tomorrow night, and I am trying hard to save some for him to try.

My recommendation is to drink this without food. It loses it's flavor with food, and the "thinness" returns. Otherwise, you're golden.

Robert Parker gave this a 90 rating.

Is it not better to never know,
than to ever have to watch one go?
Is it not better to always wonder,
than to lose the glorious thunder?
Is it not better to have it be,
a happy he and a happy she,
if only ever together under the same sky
and neither ever wanting to say goodbye?
Is it not better to only imagine what won't ever be,
than for them to know complacency?
Is it not better to always have a friend,
than to bitterly lose it all in the end???

8.75 out of 10
13.5% alc. by vol.
$19.99 / 750 ml. bottle

Altos de Luzon

2004

Jumilla

Spain

Another gem brought by The Bro this Christmas. A dark plum in color, Altos de Luzon is a smooth, full bodied, well balanced blend of 50% Monastrell, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 25% Tempranillo. An ever so slightly bitter blackberry flavor with granite earthiness, this wine lost the slight bitterness and became more smoky with air. I liked it much more the second night than the first (though it was very good the first night as well - it was just better after it had been opened).

Wine Enthusiast gave this a 91 rating; Robert Parker gave it a 90 rating.

From one of my favorite singer-songwriters, one of my favorite songs - because my diamonds are on the inside:

A candle throws its light into the darkness

In a nasty world so shines a good deed

Make sure the fortune that you seek

Is the fortune that you need

Tell me why the first to ask

Is the last to give every time

What you say and do not mean

Follows you close behind

She had diamonds on the inside . . .

Ben Harper, "Diamonds on the Inside"

8.25 out of 10 (The Guy says he'd give it a whopping 9.0)

14.5% alc. by vol.

$15 / 750 ml bottle

Red Guitar

2005
Navarra, Spain
55% Tempranillo
45% Garnacha

Will drink again.

Very fruit forward, this wine was good on its own. I never did pair it with food. Hints of cherry and a bit of leather, it was slightly dry on the way down. But I liked it, especially for the price.

I heard someone describe the label as "dorky", yet it was the label I liked. Whimsical and simple. Just like the wine.

Can't beat the price.

I'm holding on your rope,
Got me ten feet off the ground
I'm hearin what you say but I just can't make a sound
You tell me that you need me
Then you go and cut me down, but wait
You tell me that you're sorry
Didn't think I'd turn around, and say...
It's too late to apologize, it's too late
I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late

One Republic - Timbaland To listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm0T7_SGee4

7.75 out of 10
$8.99 / 750 ml bottle
http://www.vinonavarra.com/