Decanterberry Tales - A Willamette Valley Wine Blog - rioja tag

Rondan, (Crianza) Rioja, 2001

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:51:26 GMT

Apparently, we've just started a Spanish wine kick, and this is the second (of a many coming soon).

The nose is oak/vanilla, pepper, cinnamon, bark, a slight bit of chemical. Yes, oak again, but no where near the level of oak in that Toro we just had. The taste is mainly cherry, but there's something tart in there too -- maybe raspberry, and maybe some cranberry. This is not exactly fruity, though it is much more so after all that southern French wine we've been drinking these last few weeks. The finish is oak, cherry, arugala (bitter veggie), yet it has some of that citrus (tangerine) acidity, especially at the start of the finish. The body is medium.

Cost: (it's normally $11, but we paid just short of $10)

Rating: 6.0

Campo Viego, Reserva Rioja, 2003

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:37:15 GMT

The nose has a definite chemical smell -- turpentine -- along with some bark. Ignoring the turpentine, it smells like an Oregon forest right after it rains.The taste is thin. Here and there, you can pick up some salmon berry and currant. Sometimes there's raspberry too. It's very dry. The bark returns as a flavor too (no, not an oak/vanilla ... it's bark). It's flat on the finish, and the flavors just disappear on the tongue. Disappointing.

The really bad part is that there's an Immediate hit of vinegar, but not because it's old or had gone bad; it seems like it's just got a bad taste as part of the package. The wine was actually better just as we opened it. Then it got pretty lousy within 20 minutes. Some sips are good; many are not. It tastes good with the Caprese salad, but was horrible with marinade shrimp.

I really like Rioja: it can be complex, inexpensive and tasty. So I'm always looking for good Rioja's that are cheap. And this one was $12 and designated 'Reserva'. However, I would never have guessed that by the taste. It was definitely more like a poor Crianza (the lowest designation for Rioja).

Cost:

Rating: 4.5

El Coto, Rioja (Crianza), 2004

Thu, 08 May 2008 03:05:00 GMT

This is wine is the start of a number of less expensive wines that we'll be reviewing. We can't afford to drink expensive wines regularly, so I've gotten a number of bottles that are in the $7 to $15 range. We'll likely review these over the next few weeks. Yes, this is the eternal holy grail of wine: cheap and good. We'll see what we find.

Smell: Bark, saw dust, pomegranate, motor oil ... no not in a bad way, but chemically. Very slight citrus, like a kiwi.

Taste: Pomegranate again, red cherry, blueberry.

Finish: The bark is back, and prune. Fiji apple and unripe cantaloupe.

Cost:

Rating: 6.5

Generally, I think this is a pretty good "table" wine, but then, I'm pretty partial to tempranillo. I will be buying more of this.

Arbanta, Rioja, 2002

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 02:04:00 GMT

Smell: Earthy, herbaceous, leather.

Taste: Spicy. Like a mouthful of walnuts. Makes the mouth pucker.

Finish: Chalky, sour, acidic. A bitter bite that really lingers.

Cost:

Rating: 2.0