So what do we know of tonight’s wine, Bodegas Lan Rioja Crianza 2006? It’s number 44 on The Wine Spectator’s Top 100 wines of 2010. (You can see the list here: The Wine Spectator Top 100 2010.) They also gave it 90 points, but after the last wine, d’Arenberg The Stump Jump Red 2008, who knows.
Also, it’s 100% Tempranillo, which is one of my favorites, and it’s from Spain. Bodegas Lan is the winery. Rioja is a wine region in Spain.
And Crianza means the wine has aged for two years and at least six months of that ageing was done in oak. Spain has some regulations, don’t you know. If you see a Reserva, that means the wine was aged three years with at least one year in oak. And if you see Gran Reserva, then it has aged for five years with at least 18 months in oak and three years in a bottle.
Ok. Are we all learnéd up. Good. To the wine.
The color is a dark Harvard crimson. (No not black and white like the newspaper.) Like this:
but darker.
The body is light, and it’s about 60% opaque. (That means I can see through it.)
I smell Spain. I also smell red currants, bacon or prosciutto, and some spices (spicy spices). (My girlfriend gets uncooked sausage on the nose.)
As soon as it touched my tongue, I felt delight. I felt delight as it glided across my tongue and down into my belly. The finish, however, was a little chalky. It’s drier than expected. I definitely taste the red currants, and they are chewy. (My girlfriend gets cooked sausage.)
This would go good with meat or Chinese food. Mmm. Chinese food. Hmm. I may order Chinese food. One small bad thing about where I live is that the Chinese food place is half-a-block away. It’s like six degrees Fahrenheit, but I could walk there and back with out a jacket. Oh, and they are fast. A meal is ready 10 minutes after I call them. I think I’m trying to talk myself into Chinese food.
The wine!
I like this wine, but for a Tempranillo, it’s not juicy enough. But as I said I like this. As a Tempranillo, it’s an 88. As a wine it’s an 89.
Time passes. Tick tick tick. Tick tick tick. Tick tick tick.
I adjust that rating. It’s loosening up. It juicy-ing up. It’s Tempranillo-ing up. This is getting better. Let’s say 89 as a Tempranillo, and 90 as a wine, if that makes sense. I mean, what I’m trying to say is, “You gotta drink this wine sideways, at an angle, but straight into the mouth. Kinda like you do with a cigarette when you don’t want the drag or smoke to interfere with your view of the person you are talking with or have the smoke get in the way.”
Did I say “sideways”. Yikes.
“I will not drink fucking Merlot.”
Actually, I will, but not tonight. Enjoy the Crianza!//
