Monday, November 13, 2017

Issue LVI: Ergo Rioja Edition



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.

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