Campo Viejo Reserva

Sí, después de un mes, este blog tiene español oficialmente ido.

Just kidding. Now, on a serious note, I have a deep, dark confession: I drank wine over the weekend, thus the Spanish title. I know, I know...I feel like Alfalfa from The Little Rascals betraying the He-man Woman-Haters club by going out with a girl. The truth is, however, I have nothing against wine. I just rarely drink it with the never ending various options in the world of beer. But I plan on changing that in hopes to learn more about wine and expand the subject matter of this site further. The good news is that I'll try my best to not snob up any posts about wine...the bad news is I won't be able to do that nearly as well as Gary V.

Now on to the wine...Campo Viejo Reserva '05, a triple grape wine: Tempranillo, Graciano (grenache) and Mazuelo. I chose this bottle because of the Tempranillo, which makes up 85% of this wine. Tempranillo is a Spanish grape that I discovered at a couple of tapas restaurants. They are now planted in all of the major wine-producing regions but they're native to Spain, mostly in the Rioja region which is kind of central north. The name means "little early one," referring to the fact that these grapes ripen weeks earlier than other Spanish grapes.

Even though they ripen early, most tempranillo wines are aged in oak barrels. This bottle sat in oak barrels for 18 months and then in the bottle for 18 months before being sold. At about 10 bucks a bottle, I won't say this wine will blow your mind. The flavor was great, but I wouldn't mind if that flavor was a bit more in-your-face explosive. That said, the subtlety and balance made it smooth; after all, you can't have in-your-face explosiveness all the time.

Check out the Spanish varietal section of the store for tempranillo wines, which are often part of a blend.