All Things Spanish

I love Spanish stuff....wine, olive oil, art, etc.... and why not - it's good stuff. We recently received this bottle of vino as a gift, as well as the olive oil, from good friends, couldn't wait to try the wine so we popped the cork tonight. This wine is from the Valdepenas region, a not so well regarded appelation but this one is designated as a "gran reserva", meaning it should be of high quality (In Spain, "reserve" actually means something - there are strict rules for such nomenclature. Joven, meaning young, is the 1st rung, then crianza, meaning aged, then reserva and finally gran reserva, the latter two being aged in barrel and then bottle for mininmum periods of time). The Laguna de la Nava, Gran Reserva, 1999 from Bodega Navarro Lopez is certainly a mature wine. It is dark in the glass, beautiful oaky nose, rich and tannic on the palate with tons of wood - you can tell this baby was aged for a while in barrels. The only complaint I have about this wine is that it is short on the fruit, but I much prefer this style over a one-dimensional fruit bomb. This is a GOOD wine. The quibble about the fruit disappears when you factor in the price (sorry, I know it was a gift, but I found out it costs a VERY reasonable $15). I'll be buying more of this......

CHEERS!!!