Driving > Disco

A recent trip to Nashville included an unplanned outing to Spain.

The 2003 Tempranillo was the outcome of this visit. The oldest Tempranillo I've had, and though I can't confirm this due to shoddy record keeping, possibly the first 100% Tempranillo. This was not quite as good as the Well Oiled Wine Company's offering from a couple of posts ago, but I found it to be quite tasty. I'll definitely be trying other vintages from the fine people at Marques de Arienzo.

While I was unable to find their "official" website, I did find this quasi-helpful description from wine.com:

Marques de Arienzo Crianza is made in a fresh and lively fruit-forward style showcasing deep cherry color with currant and vanilla spice flavors. An elegant layering of fruit, leather and American oak keeps the acidity in perfect balance. Enjoy with red meats, fish or cheese tapas.

Set the controls of the time machine for "medieval" and bring your thirst...

Martin Codax, was a medieval jogral who lived in what is today known as the city of Vigo, Spain. Historical studies (ie - Wikipedia), show that he could have lived in the mid-thirteenth century, and that he was one heck of a poet. But, for today's purposes, we are much more interested in his skills as a vintner.

Fast forward 750 years, give or take a year or ten, and you arrive in 2005, in Vilariño, Cambados, a municipality in Galicia, Spain in the province of Pontevedra. The Martin Codax Winery has just finished bottling up their fine Ergo, a 99.7% Tempranillo, .03% Graciano mix that exhibits "body, structure and layers of vibrant fruit flavor." This particular wine is not quite as "bold," as the Rioja Gran Familia I mentioned last week, but I found it much more approachable (yeah, I just said "approachable"...how pretentious am I?) and therefore a good choice for wine novices, especially if they are interested in reds, or, you are trying to get them interested in reds.

I don't know if the Martin Codax actually ever made, saw or tasted a single drop of wine, but I do know this: if you like tempranillo, then you'll probably like this wine. It is not quite my favorite, but it is definitely in my top five. I'm not quite to the whole "drink this wine with the following foods" stage, but, regardless of what you are eating with it, you can buy some here. Enjoy!

In an effort to increase the amount of "regularly scheduling" posting that you, the reader, come here to read, I am unveiling the next great publishing tradition for D > D.

Since all of my other weekly posting gimmicks have been huge successes (not including #TwitterTuesday), I figure a new weekly posting gimmick can only help. It is with great fanfare that I present #WineWednesday. Now, I'm nowhere near pretentious enough to claim that I am able to teach others about wine. However, I figure I'm just pretentious enough, that I can tell you about wine that I think is good and have you believe it. Wine is so subjective, that 99% of the world can agree on something being good or bad, and even if you disagree, they'll still respect your opinion. Well, at least they should respect your opinion...those jerks!

Enough with the banter, on to the wine!

The inaugural entry for #WineWednesday is the 2006 vintage of Well Oiled Wine Company's Rioja Gran Familia. As any novice wine enthusiast can tell you, the tempranillo is on the bold end of the red spectrum, and this particular vintage (at 90% tempranillo) is no exception. At the moment, this is far and away my favorite wine and I do encourage you to give it a try, assuming you like reds and, especially bold reds.

I've included a link to the distributor's website, so you'll know what to ask for.