Sensory Overload

Well, well, it's that time of year - all the good wines tend to creep out of the dank dark cellars and end up in our glasses. Hee hee. Thanks to my friend JC (...no, not that one, silly) I supped on a vertical tasting (of sorts) from Bodega Martinez Bujanda of Rioja. The wines in question were the following: the Gran Reserva, 1981, which as you can see from the cork below was almost spoiled. This wine really shows it age with a lovely bricky colour. It is a very elegant, smooth, almost perfumed wine that unfortunatley is on the slippery downslope of it's lifespan. Definitely a senior citizen but still medium bodied. A little short on the finish. Much in the same style but with more oomph was the Conde Valdemar Grande Reserva 1997. We've already tried this one and written about it before. Was very interesting to compare with it's grandfather from 1981, though...there was a definite family resemblance! Last up was the Conde Valdemar Reserva 2000. This was the young whipper snipper, much redder in the glass, not as complex, more fruit evident but said fruit is pretty austere. Not a very enjoyable sipper (needed some hard cheese to take off the edge) but nevertheless a well made wine.
The verdict: The wines bounced around from "OK" to "Good" during the evening. One thing for sure, no blockbusting "wows" here. These wines are pushing it for value with the older one just not worth the money at $60 plus. However, I am willing to drop my value criticism only because it was interesting to try such an "old" wine especially in the context of being tasted with it's younger siblings.
Now look at what I get to try next:












CHEERS!!