Wine of the Week: Paso a Paso Tempranillo
Wine: Paso a Paso Tempranillo
Grape: Tempranillo
Region: La Mancha, Spain
Vintage: 2009
Price: $6.99
Availability: Lee’s Discount Liquor, Vons
In the glass: Paso a Paso wine is an opaque deep garnet-red color with a deep core going out into a dark garnet-red rim definition showing some tinge with medium-high viscosity.
On the nose: This wine is full of freshly pressed black cherries, juicy boysenberries and blackberry liqueur. There are spice elements present with hints of spearmint, dill weed and vanilla from American oak, commonly used in the production of Spanish wines and known to produce these particular scents. It is clearly a fruit-driven wine with just a touch of underlying phenolics.
On the palate: The full-bodied wine is supple and chewy with rich jammy black fruits. Early notes of black cherry vodka “blow off” and render a spice-laden fruit bomb with soft core huckleberries, marionberries and black plums. The midpalate shows finely balanced tannins interlaced with oak references that make a comeback on the finish, which is rich, lingering and laden with spicy black fruits.
Odds and ends: I know it’s April Fools’ Day today, but this Paso a Paso Tempranillo is no joke.
This wine, which was made entirely from organically grown grapes really stands out compared with other Spanish wines I have tasted in the past months, because it has reached optimal maturity.
Paso a Paso comes from a giant winegrowing region known as La Mancha, best known for producing incredibly delicious wine available in the market for very little money. This is normally an affordable $10, but now at less than $7 it is a no-brainer.
I think 2009 will be known for having been a blockbuster vintage, not just in Spain but in such diverse regions as Rhone in France, California and Chile. This is a wonderful wine to accompany the spring grilling of hearty sausages with a side of potato salad.
Drink it now through 2016 and open it about a half-hour before consumption to just get settled, since it could use the “breathing.”
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.
