Home Tasting Session #4

February 2009
Rioja

Welcome to Home Tasting Session #3. These periodic sessions are intended to bring us back to the roots of the Prentiss Street Wine Club - group tastings - by highlighting widely available wines we can enjoy on our own. If you wish to participate - simply purchase the featured wine (usually under $20) for this session and taste (and drink). You are encouraged to leave a comment with your tasting notes, comments, or drunken rants.



Bodegas Palacio
Cosme Palacio
Rioja
2005




This home session, we switch it up and move over to Spain. There seems to be a Spanish food and wine micro-craze, as a result of the PBS special Spain on the Road. So let's ride it with one of my favorite Riojas. The 2001 vintage of this was a staple for me for 6 months - a great vintage of this modestly priced wine. How is it now I wonder?

Bodegas Palacio is over 100 years old, but was one of the leaders in "the new Riojas" (winery website), a movement started in the 1980s (movement being my term). Clearly trying to save the market for Rioja - changes included emphasis on grape selection, slower maceration and, of course, New. French. Oak. The Bodegas now claims to have the most valuable collection of barrels in Rioja (with over 10,000 Frenchies and 2000 Yanks hanging about). In my previous experience with this wine it was labeled Cosme Palacio-Hermanos and it was a Crianza. How will this wine (labeled simply Cosecha) stack up against its former self? Is this even the same wine?

Not having met this wine, here's what we should expect (i.e. face-value expectation):
Color: Dark, Garnet with very little brown at the rim (not that old, alas).
Nose (aroma): Oak, for certain. Then some tobacco, vanilla, leather, plums and raisins.
Palate (mouthfeel): Round, rich, soft. Hopefully long. Might have a sting from the wood.

I have a feeling this wine isn't up my old stand-by, but I hope I'm wrong. Also, it doesn't seem to be as widely distributed in the US, but seems to be on sale in every off-license in Britain. The folks over at Odd Bins (UK) tease by saying "[This wine's] tradition is married to modern production techniques [and] creates a glorious whole." A fancy way of saying New School. But they are describing, again, the Crianza model, so I'm sorts of confused. Not too worry - let's just try it. How about a standard-issue image of the bodegas' cellar to kick things off? Fine.

Possible food pairings: manchego, lamb, pork, stew, veggies.