WINO 101

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

It is time, again, for the Carpe Vinum Newsletter and Tasting Heads-Up Announcement thing! And it’s our favorite once-every-three-months-or-so tasting of Spanish Reds! (applause). Let’s call it the Spanish Quarterly, since that’s about how often I like to do it. And why so often? Well, because they’re so divine, and there are so many new developments that a quarterly tasting is needed just to keep up!

So I would say that the wines we have in store for this week are shaping up to be a stellar lineup, but I’m really tired of the word “stellar”. By the true definition, stellar actually means “of or relating to the stars”, but has been popularized by the mainstream surfer culture, and invaded our subconscious vocabulary, like “like” and “Dude, totally!” To expand our vocabulary a tad, and to unabashedly plagiarize straight from the Merriam-Webster Online Thesaurus, we can say this Spanish tasting lineup will be an “A1, bang-up, banner, boss [slang], capital, classic, crackerjack, dandy, divine, fabulous, fine, first-class, first-rate, grand, great, groovy, heavenly, jim-dandy, keen, marvelous (or marvellous), mean, neat, nifty, noble, par excellence, prime, sensational, splendid, sterling, superb, superior, superlative, supernal, swell, terrific, tip-top, top, top-notch, unsurpassed, and wonderful” selection. Also acceptable by today’s standards would be “dope, fly, or The Shizznit”. Just no longer stellar. (Dude.)

Points of additional interest in this tasting include 2 different wines from the same family of winegrowers, each with different ideas. The Palacios family has been making wines for 5 generations under the Bodegas Palacios label in Rioja. It appears one of the sons has gone out in a different direction with the Decendientes de Palacios in Bierzo. They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. But in this instance, I guess it’s about 200 miles from the tree. . .or grapes from the vine, as it were.

Also, there are a few regions we haven’t explored in the Spanish tastings that we’re touching on this time. Including a wine from the Emporada-Costa Brava, and a wine from within the island of Mallorca from Bodegas Ribas. They’ve been making wine there since 1711, and is sure to be a crowd pleaser. Also pleasing the crowd is another fine wine from Alejandro Fernandez. We’re already familiar with his Condado de Haza, which is one of my favorites, and we’ve poured the El Vinculo and Dehesa la Granja, but I have yet to pour his original Pesquera Ribera del Duero. And since we all love the Ribera del Duero, I figure it’s about time!

It won’t be “stellar” this time, it’ll be “_______”! (Choose one. Your favorite.)

So Friday, December 9th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Spain!
Zeta 2004 Garnacha, Navarra
Raimat 2001 Tempranillo, Costers del Segre
Palacios Remondo 2003 La Vendimia, Rioja
Descendientes de J. Palacios 2003 Petalos del Bierzo, Bierzo
Marti Fabra 2002 Vinyes Velles, Emporada-Costa Brava

More Spain!!
Alejandro Fernandez 2002 Pesquera, Ribera del Duero
Bodegas Ribas 2002 Sio, VdlT Illes Balears

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, and $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours
Hope to see you here!
Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Portugal and Porto!
(And possibly synonyms for the word “tasty” per my family’s request. . .)

M