1997 Condado De Haza Ribiera Del Duero

[VouvrayHead]

13% abv Recently the wine store I work it put a bunch of the Condado de Haza and Pesqueral Wines on sale. I bought an entire paycheck's worth.

I was slightly worried this one would be getting a bit tired since it's not a riserva like most of the others, but I am delighted to inform you that I was wrong.

Decanted an hour, heavy sediment.

maroon-brown color, light brick on the edges. smells great, rich, dark cherry, moss, dirt, a teensy bit of gamey-funk in the background, but not overwhelming at all.

on the tongue, the entry is a little bit thin, but the mid-palate is silky smooth (tannins are on their way out, but this wine is still held together with good acidity) with wild berries, forest floor, and what I perceive to be marshmallow cream? a nice long finish wraps it up.

got it at half price, making it 10 bucks!

This was very interesting. The 2001 Haza Riserva is big and brawny, this is more refined, but still kind of wild.

[brappy]

Nice notes. Do you happen to know the importer?

[VouvrayHead]

Sole Agents be Classical Wines out of Seattle.
Another bottle calls it "Classical Wines of Spain" out of Seattle, so don't know which is more accurate.

Classicalwines.com is their website.

They also import Can Feixes, which is just about my favorite dry white bargain ($12 gets you a baby Chablis)


Those notes were a bit of a proud moment for me! I've been at this a lot shorter that most everyone here, so when I get weird things (like Marshmallow Cream) in my notes I often kinda doubt myself. Later last night I looked the wine up and 4 years ago Tanzer wrote about strong confectionary sugar notes in this wine, just the thing that could give me that marshmallow flavor. I know that what I taste is subjective and a response to my unique tastebuds, but it's still gratifying to see that I am not way off base!