Priorat wine that rocks

Vintage Wine Tasters‘ selections for bargain wines under the $20 mark for the week of January 28, 2012. These are two terrific Spanish wines we suggest you try soon.

Black Slate 2010 Porrea Vi de la Vila – $18.99 KL Wines, $19.99 Spanish Table

This Priorat wine is a wonderful value. Talk about the term “Terroir” and you will get what it means when you drink this wine. This is truly a unique-tasting wine of black cherry flavor and other subtle characteristics. The finish on this wine lingers in the mouth long after a minute goes by. It is the wine that keeps on giving.

This Priorat wine produced by Mas d’en Compte is a blend of 60% Garnacha and 40% Carignan. The vines are located in the village of Porrera where the climate is a bit cooler than the rest of the Priorat region. The Garnacha vines are 60 years old and the Carignan vines are 80 plus years old. The story behind this wine is that importer Eric Solomon, who is married to a Priorat winemaker, wanted the small towns of the Priorat wine region of Spain to produce a wine of the village, Vi de La Vila. He requested a Priorat wine that reflected the terroir of the village and would be affordable. This wine is affordable for sure and very delicious. This wine for me easily drinks like a wine that costs $40 or more. Not everyone is going to fall in love with this wine. If you are a new-world style wine drinker, you might not like the deep black fruit favor that lingers throughout. There is also a touch of minerality and earthiness to the wine that you don’t find in big California reds. This wine is a natural with any big and hearty red meat dish. Robert Parker rates the wine at a whopping 93 points. I go with 91 points.

Paco & Lola Albariño 2011 – Costco $13.99
I have reviewed previous vintages of this very delicious and tasty Albariño wine from the Rias Baixas region of Spain. This is a cool climate area that borders the Atlantic Ocean. It is a wonderful seafood dining area and the Albariño wine goes very nicely with seafood tapas. The Paco & Lola is a crisp, clean, and refreshing white wine that delights the palate. This one has a little more mouth feel than previous vintages. It is quite lemony throughout but in a quiet way. You will like this wine as an aperitif or with a seafood dinner of Petrale Sole and the like. 90 Points in my wine book.

In case you missed our last post, be sure to see the results of our Vintage Wine Tasters where we tasted eight upscale Pinot Noirs from four different wine appellations. Pinot Noir results.

Anyone attending the Zap Festival? Vintage wine taster Mike and I, along with our wives, will be attending the media session of the Zap Grand Tasting. We will be sure to report back on any wonderful bargain wines we discover at this Zinfandel only tasting.