Mercedes Eguren - Shiraz/Tempranillo

Price: $12.99
Region: Spain
Year: 2006

I purchased a couple of wine this past weekend, and being that it was Father's Day, I treated myself to a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon to go along with the fillet mignon we had for dinner on Sunday, but maybe I'll get to that review next week. Right now, I wanted to write about the wine I picked up on Friday on my way home from work. I went into the store looking for a bottle of Shiraz, preferably Australian, because I was just in that kind of mood. It just goes to show you that sometimes the best laid plans never turn out quite like you thought. As I was walking up the Shiraz aisle, this bottle just kind of jumped out at me. I'm not really quite sure why, because as you can see, it definitely isn't the flashy packaging. I think it was just the fact that I saw the word Tempranillo along with the word Shiraz. I have had a few very god wines made from Tempranillo for a very reasonable price, so I just thought the mix sounded interesting. At a 50/50 mix between Shiraz & Tempranillo, I was quite sure what to expect.

Dinner was a normal Friday evening stop by the pizza store. I know that is starting (if it hasn't already) to sound a bit repetitive, but it works for us. Anyway, when I first sat down with a glass, I thought it had a very distinct coloring. More a fruity looking purple than anything else in my opinion. At this point I tried to continue with an open mind, not trying to favor either of the two grapes, but when I swirled the wine around, and gave a sniff, I would have to say the Shiraz came through loud and clear. It had a very nice earthy Shiraz smell, with a nice trail of spice. At this point I was thinking that might be a common theme with this wine, but the taste threw me a bit of a curve. When I firs took a sip, I was kind of surprised that all of the flavor tended to hit the back of the mouth, but it truly was a great blend of the two grapes. It It had a slow start, with a distinguishable fruitiness in the middle, with a nice spicy finish. I would say overall a ripe fruit kind of taste, but definitely unique. I know this might seem like strange thing for me to say, especially this week because I started out looking for my tried and true, but I love finding something off the beaten path every now and again, and this one definitely fits the bill. A really nice change of pace & a good wine to boot.

Rating: 3.5 corks (A nice blend)