*tasting note at the bottom
**Part of the ‘Spanish Value Experiment
When I’m leading tastings about Spanish wines, I try to explain the geography across what I consider to be 7 major climatic and stylistic regions, containing a variety of sub-regions within. These ‘sub-regions’ come in all different shapes and sizes, the majority of which are classified as a ‘Denominación de Origen’ with a clear geographical border, a governing body and rules and regulations that ultimately define the style of the DO. The reason I approach it like this is that, like most European wine-producing countries, there’s simply too many wine regions to summarise easily and there’s a huge gap in terms of quality and importance between them.
Take this wine, Finca La Estacada, from DO Ucles. Ever heard of the region before? Don’t worry if you haven’t; there’s only 6 bodegas there in total. It sits in the northern part of the enormous Castilla-La Mancha, close to Madrid, producing a mixture of red and white wine from the usual suspects; Tempranillo et all. I’d never heard of Finca La Estacada prior to this experiment, but it comes as no surprise to find it’s a 100% Tempranillo wine, aged in American oak for 12 months. The moderate alcohol level is some surprise, although whether that’s thanks to the vines shutting down to extreme heat (July 2015 was outrageously hot and a lot of Spanish vines across the country couldn’t function during the heatwave), early harvesting, certain microclimates and so on is unknown.
Tasting Note
100% Tempranillo from DO Ucles, fermented in stainless steel and aged in American oak for 12 months. 13.5% ABV
Deep and brooding in the glass, with a relatively shy nose. After a bit of digging, there’s an element of ripe, slightly confected red fruits, licorice, vanilla and boiled sweets. Not exactly what I’m looking for in my Tempranillo. It’s much of the same on the palate with one-dimensional, simple flavours, soft tannins and just… nothing of interest, really. It’s not a faulty wine but it’s certainly the most boring I’ve tasted for a while. There’s really no need to sacrifice any liver space for this. 80Pts.
Purchased from Vinissimus for €6.90