All Roads Lead to Rioja

Being lucky enough to give a wine tasting in a delicious tapas bar in Naas recently (@lasrada) I decided to go with Spanish wines. Seems kind of a no brainer or dare I say it predictable. The day that the writing and/or logic as to how and what we write on this blog becomes predictable I will personally send the Empty Glass to the proverbial farm. 

Chile's Serious Side: Torres Cordillera 2005

I had made note of the Carinena or 'Carignan' varietal at the Wines of Chile tasting organised by Jean Smullen, in which the two stand out reds for me were this very grape. I described them to Rob as Chile's answer to Zinfandel, because of their bright fruits and crisp acidity. Of the two that were tasted the Cordillera from Miquel Torres was the more perplexing. My conclusion was that it needed more time in the bottle.

Pulp Fiction

The man above for those of you unfamiliar is one Alvaro Palacios, and if you're hip and stuff with the wine geeks you'll be all to familiar with his antics in sprucing up the Spanish wine scene. Having been privy to a dinner hosted by the man and having first hand seen the charm with which he presents his wines, I have to say were Quentin Tarantino to script a winemaker, it'd be right along the lines of this chap. Better still the Quentin Tarantino metaphor sticks for the wines he's behind too, they are a bunch of dynamic and individual wines that open in full throttle.