Ergo Rioja [Blend]
Another entry from Spain and again predominantly with that
very tasty grape the region at least holds some degree of notoriety for, we
have another strong entry into the field. Coming from Martin Codax, this thing
does a very nice job of balance…as long as you give it some air time. Not doing
so will bring the folly of that particular play into very sharp and somewhat
quick relief. This is one is, shall we say, a bit on the drier side of things.
We have a decent job of hitting some of the berry notes and
once it settles down, there is a nice degree of astringency as an undercurrent.
This is not a straight Tempranillo and it is probably the Garnacha which lends
that degree of bite to it, though there is not any great amount of it there.
Basically, enough to make its presence felt but precious little more. Having
the Tempranillo as the star of the show is the smart move there and definitely
the way to go.
I find this one to be particularly pleasant in the mouth.
It’s not like some others, which will easily pass the Marissa Ross test, but this
is a good one to settle in and relax with and that’s more what I want, a nice
easy sipping wine…naturally. This one fits the bill here particularly well and
gives a greater degree of understanding to why Spanish wine was all the rage
there for a hot minute. Tempranillo is also one of those grapes I find highly
favorable and this one was a good representation of how tasty they can be.
I picked this one up on a random change, I think mostly
because it had a shiny “NEW” tag tied on the shelf to it at the LIQ, but in
this case, it paid off spectacularly. This is a highly enjoyable wine, though
because it’s new, I’ve not yet seen it on SPA (getting Spanish wines on SPA in
Utah is a pretty mixed bag) and I can’t think offhand of any Spanish wines
[just double-checked, as of this writing, April of 2016, none] that are
Standards and this won’t change that, so we wind up with another Mixed.
