Criminal

While in Spain last year I went wine tasting and picked up some stuff to bring back (now that we can't bring liquids in hand luggage, this may be difficult to do in the future). I was in the Alicante region on the east coast, so drove inland to Yecla (I have had good wines from this region before). This is HOT country, it was a blistering day. In a little town called Villena I stopped at the local co-operative (which was basically an ugly warehouse with a little shop for the locals to buy stuff in) and picked up this wine and a bottle of the local olive oil.

The Vinalopo, Reserva, Alicante, 2000 is a very good wine. It has a full oaky nose with oodles of plush vanilla on a full bodied palate. And how much did it cost? about 5 bucks. NO KIDDING. This is wine I dream of. More to the point, this is criminal!! Wine of this quality in Canada will cost at least $25 and I would buy a case even at that price. It is better than the MUGA reserva 2002 we tried recently, which cost $22. Why do we let the governments in this country get away with highway robbery like this? Europe is so much more civilized. Oh well, maybe I've gotta go back more often. Hey, Jimmy, I can't wait to try your Spanish wines (he went wine tasting on the same trip with a vineyard owner, who treated him for dinner with some of his reservas).

CHEERS!! By the way, it's one of the Van de Veldes (Willem) in the background , in case you were interested.