November 08. Snow-wine and the seven quaffs...

So here is the monthly post...

- Tierras de Albares 2006. DO Bierzo (5,08 EUR)
Again a mencia with no make-up. Rippen blackberries hidden behind herbaceous notes and an astringency that gives body to this wine. Interestingly rustic. I'm realizing that this kind of unoaked mencia are nicely paired with that sort of winter spanish stews. This time it's been a lentils stew. As I've said really nice mencia with very good QPR. I go on with the unoaked mencia's tasting.

- Cuatro Pasos 2006. Martín Codax. DO Bierzo (6,04 EUR)
Round shaped mencia like a shaved bull. It's all you expect of a wine made with mencía. Blackberries, green hints and a slight touch of astringency. All embedded into a sphere. I don't know whether its character comes from the way it's been made or it's due to the couple of months it's been into oak. Relating to the oak the only clue is a touch of coffee grains when it's uncorked. Summing, it's a nice wine that I'd drink some more bottles. As I've said in preceding TNs the mencía seems to be a nice pairing for stews, this time it's been ok with a chickpea stew.

- Gaba do Xil 2007. Compañía de Vinos de Telmo Rodriguez. DO Valdeorras (6,83 EUR)
Round shaped. Wine for import/export paying no attention whether cases go or come. Impossible not to like it. Unlikely to fall in love with.

- Colet Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Traditionnelle. Josep Colet. DO Penedes. (aprox 8 EUR)
No time for cooking, stress. No time for resting. I need a wine that makes me feel good, cozy. That makes me feel at home at first sip. Hmmm... despite the first glass shows really vivid bubbles from then on it's shown as creamy as preceding bottles. During the cooking time and lunch it made me feel good. I used to say Gemütlich.

- Heymann-Löweinstein Schieferterrassen 2006. Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (15 EUR)
A sandwich was my lunch today. Hard and exhausting working week. Please, let me have a friday naïf moment for dinner. I won't cook anything but an easy omelette with canned tuna. Yep, that kind of tuna that's in an offer in your nearest supermarket. Fashion? No, but I dare that it's the best I can do tonight. One will feed my body, the other wine will feed my soul.
Cheese, matchstick when it's lighted on and anchovies can. Just for seconds, then the mouth is filled and the riesling explodes inside your senses. Honey, lemon and sweet orange peeling. Fat riesling with two extra size... but then comes a touch of dryness that cuts and limits the sweet turn. Nice wine.

- Château Bouscassé 2004. AOC Madiran (10,6 EUR)
Bearing in mind the amount of tannat in this wine I've thought that decanting would be a good idea. During the decanting process I can smell rippen strawberries, black olives and bacon. I thought that the sip would be as kind as the smells so...zas! Terrific tannins that knocks me. Tremendous. I throw the towel for this first round.
Let's see what we found at second day. The tannicity is know gently beside the other wine components and gives a nice rough nudge, with a pretty firmness. This wine is really power biased, but with a good sense of the meaning. It's its real nature. All you know that I dislike that kind of wines where the power comes from ultraextraction, highly-alcohol-powered and all sorts of ultraeverything, nonetheless the sense of power of this wine is different. In addition to this there's a backbone of acidity that gives the last move for the sip.
What pairing? well... I decided to use a train crash pairing. It's been paired with pork hands stew (a sort of traditional spanish dish, quite similar to 'callos'/tripe stew) and for the dinner it's been paired with mushrooms cooked in sauce of the same dish than for lunch. I've to admit that food and wine found their common points and now they're friends ;)
It's a nice wine out of any kind of subtle hint. I think about how this wine will age 'cos I find many components with enough presence to allow a good aging process, anyway I can be wrong, you know.

- Borsao Selección 2007 Blanco. DO Campo de Borja. (4.3 EUR)
Apple, apple and more apple. Oily sip with a hint of acidity and a bitterness at last. Quite easy quaff but enoughly good. Good QPR.

Cheers,

Jose