December 2, 2017
Well this is another experiment in spending an extra couple of dollars for an older red wine. The general principle being tested here is that red wines improve with age. With most of the inexpensive red wines on the shelves being sold at around the two to three year mark, does another couple of years aging make an inexpensive wine better?
At five years this wine is decidedly better than most of those other two to three year olds. The wine has had time to blend itself together into more of a whole. The wine is generally smoother than a younger wine, with less rough edges. What does that mean? Consider a new t-shirt, put it on straight out of the package and it feels stiff and rough. Wear it for a while and put that t-shirt through a couple of washes and it gets softer and cozier.
This wine is relatively cozy. There are less of those little sharp edges. There are still a few, so maybe another two or so years in the bottle will make the wine cozier still.
Just because age tends to make the wine cozier, doesn’t mean the basic characteristics of the wine have changed. After all, a blue t-shirt is still going to be blue after a few cycles. This is a strong wine, very much like a strong Cab, even though the grapes are 100% Tempranillo. In fact rather than a nice mellow blue, this is more of an in-your-face red, a red that doesn’t fade in the wash. So buyer beware, there’s lots of character in this wine. If you’d like to see how the various styles of Rioja wine compare, check out this. If you like a strong California Cab this may well be the best $10 “California Cab” you’ll ever buy. In general, the wine gets a little above average reviews on the web, 3.5 out of 5, with a few nods to the relative value of the wine (quality/price). Price of $9.99
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