Wednesday, February 23, 2005
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WINE OF THE WEEK: Heat benefits tasty Spanish wine

One of the most surprising facts about Mad Dogs & Englishmen is not its quirky name, but that it is from the scorching hot 2003 vintage. Nobody can remember a vintage, since 1893, that had anywhere near the consecutive days above 100 degrees as was the case in 2003.

In most of Europe, this resulted in the extremely "stressed" vines, naturally producing miniscule yields with incredible concentration and depth, if the wineries were able to pick the grapes at the right moment. Those that didn't quickly found themselves in the raisin business.

While Jumilla in central Spain is an arid climate naturally, 2003 was extreme by all accounts and the result is easily seen in this wine, showcasing all the great things that are going on with Spanish winemaking. It is a delicious wine that is attractively packaged and sells for a steal.

In the glass, this Mad Dogs & Englishmen wine is a dark semi-opaque purplish-red color with a deep core going out into a reddish-fuchsia rim definition and medium-high viscosity.

On the nose, there are concentrated notes of crushed red berry and blackberry fruit with brambleberries, raspberries, cherries, plums, blueberry pie, cr¸me de cassis from the cabernet sauvignon, and hints of tobacco, earth, spices and faint mineral character.

In the mouth, the wine is juicy with lots of chewy berry fruit, especially blackberries, spicy black cherries, spicy red plums from the Monastrell, and delicious extracted boysenberries with underlying cherry sorbet. The midpalate is well-balanced with rounded and juicy black fruit, not obtrusive tannins and yet more spice components, going into a lingering and tasty finish that shows just hints of licorice from the shiraz (syrah) and chewing tobacco at the end.

It is an interesting wine that is obviously well-made and at a great price. Try it with salt and cracked pepper-rubbed lamb loin, and drink it through 2006.

Wine: Mad Dogs & Englishmen Shiraz Cabernet Monastrell

Grape: Shiraz (30 percent), cabernet sauvignon (20 percent), monastrell (50 percent)

Region: Jumilla, Spain

Vintage: 2003

Price: $9.99

Gil Lempert-Schwarz writes his wine column each Wednesday. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749 or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.