Meeting No 34,March 22nd 2011

John and Sheila had chosen a contrast between the old world and the new for this months’ tasting. The first wine was a Chilean Viajero Pinot Noir Grand Reserve 2007. At £8.99 from Lidl’s, not a particularly cheap wine but not the first time in the group, the overall score did not reflect the price paid. The overall score of 6.6 was a fairly consistent view across the group. The appearance of wine was hazy with an unattractive brown tinge. The nose was pleasant though nothing distinctive and there were differing views around the sweetness, tannin and length of taste. There was nothing particularly distinctive either about the taste and the overall score was no surprise.

The second wine, also from Lidl’s was a Soligamar 2006 Rioja Reserva at £4.99. Rioja wine has an interesting history with the Rioja region of Spain producing one of the world's finest, and most long lived wines: Rioja. Rioja's renaissance, in the latter half of the 19th century, was a direct result of the phyloxera bug that decimated vineyards around the globe. While English merchants came to Rioja to replace their French imports, the wines here actually have much more in common with Chianti. Both wines are blends relying heavily on one grape, in this case Tempranillo. Like Chianti's Sangiovese, Tempranillo usually produces a relatively high acid wine of medium to medium-full body. However with additions of Graciano, Mazuela and Grancha, the wines of Rioja can take on additional layers of flavor and aroma, but the tradition of extended oak aging for Rioja's great wines, contributes to an even more obvious imprint. While the Spaniards have traditionally been fans of the strong vanilla and coconut components that American oak barrels have contributed to Rioja, more and more producers have turned to French oak favoring its more subtle spice tones. Rioja continues to undergo extended aging in barrel with Reserva and Gran Reserva bottlings, representing a producer's highest achievement, spending a minimum of 3 of 5 years respectively in the producer's cellar.
The Soligamar winery is a relatively new operation and was started in 1999 by Carmelo Ortega. The vineyard is situated above the village of Tudilila in Rioja Baja on clay soil, covered with stones, rocks and gravel. Carmelo believed there was an opportunity to grow wine where quality was more important than quantity and is regarded as one of the Rioja's area’s most outstanding oenologists. The results on this tasting seem to underline his goal. The wine had a good appearance, clear, bright and a deep dark red that was almost crimson. The nose was very pleasant with notes of dark fruit. Medium to heavy and a long lasting flavour of spicy dark fruits. The overall score was 7.8 –well above our average of 7.1 and on this occasion it was the old world that was much preferred to the new.
Our next meeting is at Dave and Mollies on April 12th 2:00 pm