Blasphemy

Last night opened a cracker of a wine. The Condesa de Leganza, reserva, 1995 is from La Mancha in Spain. La Mancha is not known for quality wine - it is one of the "wine lakes" in Spain that makes, well, literally, lakes of wine, most of it very undistinguished. These guys, in contrast, spend a lot of attention (translation: money) to make a wine a couple of cuts above normal for this region. As you can see from the back label, they use a "good" grape, tempranillo, age the wine for 12 months in new american oak ("ohio") barrels (which are $$$) and then for 2 years in the bottle before releasing it (someone has to pay the storage costs). Popping the cork releases gorgeous aromas of vanilla oak, and the palate doesn't disappoint - oaky, chewy, almost too much so. If there is a criticism, it is that the fruit is really hidden by the wood. Nevertheless, the verdict is a solid good. Value: simply a "wow" - how can they sell this for $13??? especially 11 years after its vintage date.

Blasphemy is your blog title today, you say? Well, yes, I did something I'm not supposed to do - eonophiles will piss all over me, but I couldn't resist. Tonight opened the Errazuriz Estate Carmenere, Aconcagua, 2003. This is well known wine to me, a rich, full bodied fruit driven wine. It's only fault is...it lacks oak tannins (although it spends 7 months in french and american oak - I suspect old). Sooo, what did I do...I had a 1/3 bottle of Leganza left over, so I self-blended the two wines together, at first 50-50 then 70-30 (Errazuruz/Leganza). The two wines complemented each other in an amazing fashion. All of a sudden we get a blend never meant to be - tempranillo/carmenere, but what an oaky full bodied fruity plush combination! We move into "wow" territory.

Hey - you snobs out there, remember the supertuscans - blends of cabernet/merlot/sangiovese never meant to be.....so shush.

cheers!