A few years back there was a lot of talk about the differences between
the 'British Palate' and the American one.
I recall it was brought to a head when Jancis Robinson and Robert Parker
scored the 2003 Pavie very differently.
Then there was a lot of discussion about each country having different preferences.
Now aside from the very silly notion you can stereotype a nation like that, is there also a "Spanish palate"? So what follows is a generalisation and more importantly a request for opinions not a statement of fact.
It seems to me that Spanish wine making has changed a lot over the past 20 years.
Wines are more purple, more fruity, more extracted, and while (new) oak is a big factor they are not oaked for the same periods as before. In short they taste very different - at least on release. I'm not suggesting the newer style wines won't evolve into very interesting wines.
I don't know to be honest.
I recently drank a Pago de Carraovejas 2006. I have tried other vintages of this and liked them. This wine was smothered in oak. It was like licking a plank of wood.
I was amazed to see it receive very high scores on the Verema tasting note section.
I'm not for a moment saying those tasters were 'wrong' but there was no mention of (too much)oak. Also there were not reviews critical of the wine style. So do people not post ctitical tasting notes or is there nothing to criticise?
There seems to be a very high tolerance of oak and exhuberant fruit. This seems so different from wines in the 70's for example.
What has brought about the change in tastes?
When you taste in tasting groups is there generally a preference for the fruitier style?
Is there a 'Spanish palate'? and does it favour this style of wine?
