El Circo Acrobata pairs well with grilled burgers

Occasion: For a little extra wine drinking action during Memorial Day weekend, why not go for something cool like this El Circo Acrobata made from 100 percent old-vine Garnacha in the Carinena region, near Zaragoza, Spain. Packaged in a very distinct, cool and modern bottle with a harlequin motif on the handy screwcap, this is without a question a champion value to go along with the burgers you might be grilling.

Wine: El Circo Acrobata Garnacha

Grape: 100 percent Garnacha

Region: Carinena, northeastern Spain

Vintage: 2014

In the glass: This El Circo wine is a bright purplish-red color with a semi-translucent core, going out into a fuchsia-purple rim definition with high viscosity.

On the nose: This wine has very bright red fruit coming right at you with red cherries, red plums, raspberries, boysenberry sorbet, crushed marionberries and hints of red vines licorice, sweet tobacco and Chinese hibiscus tea.

On the palate: It is again a bright load of red fruits coating the inside of the mouth with dominance by the equivalent of cherries jubilee, followed by bright acidity to go along with that bright forward red fruit melee complimented by soft underlying tannins. The midpalate is equally fruity, but in the dry sense of the word, being endowed with red plum skins and cranberry juice going into the nicely balanced finish, flicking a soft touch of licorice at the very end. This is not a wine that has any brettanomyces or volatile acidity, nor does it have any astringent acidity or tannins. Extremely nicely done for this price category.

Price: $ 7.99 per bottle.

Availability: Lee’s Discount Liquor

Gil Lempert-Schwarz’s wine column appears on Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89106-0749, or email him at gil@winevegas.com.