Boycotting France? Some Spanish Wines to Die For (plus link to others)

Classical Wines web site ^ | August 13, 03 | PoisedWoman

[PoisedWoman]

My daughter dragged me to Pike Place Market last weekend where we found some terrific wines at DeLaurenti's Italian food and wine shop. We sampled lovely Spanish wines and bought a mixed case.

Our favorite was a dessert wine to literally die for. It is so good I'd become an instant alcholic if I brought a bottle home without a crowd to share it with:

Casta Diva Cosecha Miel, "Honey Harvest" 2001, Bodegas Gutierrez de la Vega (Diva indeed!)About $20

100% Moscatel Romano (Muscat of Alexandnria) grown on Greco-Roman terraces overlooking the Mediterranean in the maritmie microclimate of Alicante's Marina Alta. Fermentation is begun in new oak, arrested in the barrel, bottling in April of the following Spring. An elegant, ginger-spiced, honey-rich and tropically intense nectr that ranks among the greatest examples of its genre."

My other favorite was a "big red" I like better than anything France has to offer:

2000 El Vínculo $27

"Bright, full red. Cassis, cranberry, black cherry, meat, peat and earth on the nose, along with smoky oak. Dense and suave, with a highly concentrated, deep core of sappy blackberry and currant fruit complicated by coconutty oak. Pliant and captivating wine with a lot of personality. Finishes very long, with smooth tannins that reach the front teeth. 91." ---Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, July/August 2003

For additional wines from Spain sold by this distributor, click the link above. A rep from the distributorship poured samples at DeLaurenti's and really knew his stuff. I'd happily experiment with anything he recommends.

We found the two wines listed above at my local Town & Country supermarket the next day. You can contact distributor at link above for your local source. He does not sell retail.

[PoisedWoman]

Enjoy!

[Caipirabob]

Try any Red "Marques De Grinon" (Valdepusa Region), particularly any of their reserves. Absolute nectar...

[PoisedWoman]

ping to Dave

I do not have the list for those interested in finding good Spanish wines...perhaps you kept it. Hope so!

[PoisedWoman]

Caipirabob, thanks for your advice. I hope we can make this a long and useful list. Frahnse can feed their wine to the fish!

[Atlas Sneezed]

Tip for Spanish red wines (which tend to be excellent values compared to domestic and other European):

Chill the red more than you normally would. They tend to be served at a cool cellar temperature. A 75F spanish red will generally be unpleasant.

[PoisedWoman]

Thanks for the tip about Spanish reds. The ones I sampled were room temp..probably about 72, come to think of it. Delish!

[Eala]

My daughter dragged me to Pike Place Market last weekend

My daughter couldn't do that. Traffic is so bad in Seattle, here in The Peoples' Soviet of Washington, aka The Evergreed State, that months pass between my visits to Seattle, a few miles to the west. Just a small side-effect of the libs' refusal to build roadways -- if your business is in Seattle, you don't get my business (unless you're really, really exceptional).

(We now return you to the main topic...)

[montomike]

Trader Joe's has Charles Shaw for Two Dolla a bottle.

[Mark Turbo]

The August issue of Smart Money has an article entitled A Rosé of a Different Color about Spanish rosé. The authors consider them to be superior to the American brands and cheaper than the French ones. Four wines listed were Enate Rosado ($12.99), Gran Feudo ($6.63), Marqué s de Caceres ($6.99), and Vega Sindoa ($7.99).

[shiva]

A rep from the distributorship poured samples at DeLaurenti's and really knew his stuff.

If I went there My daughter would end up 'dragging' me back home.

[PoisedWoman]

I rarely go into Seattle tho it's a short ferry ride away. But my kid from Idaho came for the weekend and wanted to stock up on goodies unavailable in her area. Traffic, both foot and motor, was truly dreadful...especailly around those drecky guys who toss fish around .

But the Spanish wines were so sublime, we forgave all and had a great afternoon.

[PoisedWoman]

Thanks. Truly terrific prices for those rose's...maybe my local market carries them. I'll check. (no clue how to get the accent mark over the e)

[Eala]

I'll have to try the Spanish wines.

Accents: In Windows I believe there's a way to do it straight from the keyboard but I don't recall it. However, I had to do it often for Gaelic class, so I enter the word in Word, then copy & paste it to the browser. To get the accent in Word press CTRL-' (or CTRL-`) then the letter. ÁàÁÀ rosé