Montecillo - Rioja

Price: $8.99
Region: Spain
Year: 2004

Had a little extra time to walk around this week, so decided to wander into a different aisle. While most of the aisles in my local wine store are set up by variety, there are a couple that focus on wines from a particular region. Int his case, I went to take a look at the Spanish wines. I have to admit, this is a region that I haven't tried too many wines from, but ones that always seem to have good things written about them. The wine I chose was a Rioja, that was primarily made from the Tempranillo grape.

The first thing I noticed about this wine was its deep ruby color. I usually don't pay a whole lot of attention to color, but this one was definitely noticeable. After giving it a little swirl, and giving it a good smell, I also think it had a wonderful aroma. The first thing that came to mind was "floral". Although I try to stay away from being overly descriptive about smell, it just seemed more along those lines the say, fruity. While the first impression based on sight and smell were positive, now came the important part, and it didn't disappoint. This wine was very smooth, with a very long finish. I just liked teh overall taste very much, and the best thing was, it was just a little different then what I usually drink every week. I think overall if it had been another Shiraz or Merlot, I wouldn't be as impressed, but the uniqueness was just a good change of pace. I will defintiely seek out some other Tempranillo based wines to see if this turns into a new staple for me.

Rating: 3.75 corks (A great change of pace)