1993 Vina Albali Gran Reserva de Familia

[hotwine]

Stumbled across this at Sam's Club a few days ago and was intrigued enough to try a couple of bottles. Back label shows 80% Tempranillo and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged in American oak for two years.

Nose of aged Cab... black currants, cigar ash and dark chocolate. Burst of Cab on the palate, red fruits chiming in, dark cherries and more dark chocolate on a nice long finish. Alkie is 13%, price was $16 and change, worth twice that. With "cowboy pot-roast"..... beef pot-roast cooked in a crock pot for six hours with Ro-Tel tomatoes, onions, dunno what-all... but mouth-watering tender. Perfecto pairing. Will run, not walk, to mortgage whatever ain't nailed down to buy more.

[Drew]

Sounds great and will look for some in these here parts...btw, what are Ro-Tel tomatoes?

Drew

[TheEngineer]

Sounds great too...Too bad out local Sam's clubs, Costco, etc do not have much in the wine selection.

BTW, I thought that all Gran Reserva had to be aged 5 years...perhaps this one is aged 2 years in American oak before it is transferred to something different?...or is that why the term Gran Reserva de Familia (which I've not seen yet).

Regardless...sounds like a great buy..

[Innkeeper]

Don't think it was transferred to "something else." American oak is the wood of choice in Spain.

[Thomas]

Engineer,

the 5-year in oak rule does not apply to all Spanish wine regions.

Hotwine, from which region comes the wine?

[hotwine]

Ro-Tel Tomatoes is a canned product from ConAgra consisting of diced tomatoes and green chilies. Great for mixing with melted cheese to make chili con queso as a chip dip.

Vina Albali carries the Valdepenas DOC designation; see vinaalbali.com. A Web search hasn't turned up much more in the way of details regarding production techniques. But the Web does show many notes on much later vintages (and at lower prices in the UK and Europe), so I hardly think the '93 has been held for 11 years and just now released; much more likely, Sam's Club has bought a bunch on close-out from a distributor. Normally, that kind of "bargain" would be a loser, which is why I was suspicious when I first spotted it, but it's a very pleasant surprise. And doubly so, given that it has nearly 10 years of bottle age and yet hasn't cooked or faded.

[wondersofwine]

Sounds like a bargain for a Gran Reserva.