Red Wines of Spain: Four Spanish Wine Regions with French Wine Connections (Tasting)

In the last segment, I gave you a quick rundown of Spain and the wine regions that were featured in here. Now, it's a good primer for this tasting, so if you haven't seen that yet, that's a good place to start. And for those of you who are ready to taste, Samji. Novara is best known for its rosé wines, but more recently, soft-bodied reds like this one here. Garnacha typically makes for easy-drinking reds that can be made more complex with just a touch of oak aging. This one has three months of French oak. Man, I love Garnacha. It's just such a fun wine. This one has gobs and gobs of red fruit in it. It tastes and smells like a baked pastry that's been filled with every berry imaginable. There's this really unique sort of Washington apple sweetness here, and the finish goes on for miles and miles, which is the sign of a really high-quality wine. This Garnacha is quite electric. It manages to stay fresh and not overbearing thanks to its sharp acidity and lighter body. Carignana can be pretty intense, so they typically blend it with other grapes. Carignana only constitutes half of this wine with almost equal parts Garnacha and a dash of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. Give that a swirl, a sniff, and a sip. It's a really juicy wine, and the tannins are quite remarkable. I have to imagine that that's coming from the Carignana grape. We have loads and loads of black cherry and blueberry, and there's a slight burn that sort of reminds me of cherry's flambe. And the finish is hot and spicy. It's almost peppery. This is a fiery wine that precariously balances the tannins, vibrant fresh red fruit, and a sweet softness. So we now know that Garnacha Tintorero is actually a French grape called Aulicante Boucher, which is known for its deep red pulp, which makes the wine super dark and flavorful. The DOP Pago is a designation that's roughly equivalent to that of the French Grand Cru. There's nothing higher. So the first thing that impresses me here is this pungent musk aroma, which could be the byproduct of organic winemaking, which employs wild yeast fermentation. And at a whopping 15 percent, you can actually feel the alcohol kind of tickles your nose hairs a little bit. So wow, this one is so woody and tannic. And coincidentally, it was aged in Hungarian oak, and I almost feel like that Hungarian oak is giving it more of like a black pepper spice. It's so mouth-wateringly tart too, like fresh blackberries in the springtime. This is a dense and spicy wine, and it possesses a really strong structure that's made even more complex by some mature tertiary notes. Tempranillo is affectionately known as the Cabernet of Spain because it makes dark, bold, complex, and sometimes oaky wines. And as you can see, this baby spends 12 months in French oak, so yeah, I expect it to be pretty oaky. Also, it's going on seven years old, so I expect to get some more mature aged tones to the wine. Okay, the nose is pretty smoky. It's laden with these hickory and bacon fat smells, and there's even some butterscotch in there too. Flavor-wise, it's dry, spicy, and savory. Now, there's very little fresh fruit flavor left in this wine. It's all tertiary, or aged flavors. Flavors like fig, leather, and even sweet pipe tobacco. This is a pretty funky wine that's not shy about its age. It's quite an intense and serious experience. Thanks for tasting these amazing Spanish reds with me, and of course, the next logical step is to talk about food pairings. So, let's go there with the next video.