2001

Marques de Caceres

Rioja Riserva

Rioja - Spain

Price: $16.99

Rating: 5 – A Great Buy At This Price

Spain makes some of the easiest drinking red wines.  The king of Spanish grapes, Tempranillo, serves up wines with mild tannins.  Tannin is the element that makes dry red wines dry and biting in the throat, but also gives it the long lasting luscious taste associated with fine wines.  In this case the winemakers at Marques de Caceres blended it with Mazuelo and Graciano grapes to make a wine that is earthy with concentrated flavors of blackberry and boysenberry.  Though the fruits are there, this is primarily a wine for hearty steak and grilled meats.  The end result, this is a very good wine!

We had it with a simple sirloin, potatoes, asparagus and carrots.  It was an excellent match.  The color was also distinctive.  Held up to light on a plain white background, the wine had an orange tint to it, especially around the edges of the glass.  That suggests that the 2001 vintage drunk in 2007/2008 had been aged properly.  You could tell immediately upon tasting that this is an easy wine to drink for beginners with the quality that old-timers will also enjoy.

This wine gets a 5 - A great buy at this price.