Every Saturday afternoon, the Sherlock’s down the street (literally, within walking distance of our house – not a bad deal, huh?) hosts a wine tasting of about 3-4 wines, normally from a specific region or style. This past weekend they focused on wines from Spain. They offered the 2006 Martin Codax Albarino, 2005 Bodega Maurodos Prima Toro, 2006 Martin Codax Rioja, and 2003 los 800 Priorat.
Our favorite was the Prima Toro and is made mostly from the Tempranillo varietal, yet is named for the town in northern Spain from where it was made. The wine lady was telling us that the tannins would get bigger and more prounounced as we went down the list, which was also in order from West to East across northern Spain. However, I believed the Prima Toro was more tannic than the Rioja. Of course, my wife disagreed, though we liked both wines. Unfortunately, the Toro was the most expensive on the list at $18.99, which was most likely due to the recent 90 point rating it received from Wine Spectator. However, on the web I have seen it discounted as low as $15.
Color: Dark and inky
Nose: Immediately attacked by cedar, but in a good way. There was a graphite rock note from my perspective, though Sherlock’s tasting notes called this “pencil lead”. Either way, the aromatics were very appealing and not overbearing at all. It really set my expectations and drew me in for the taste
Taste: Definitely got some plummyness in there, which was refreshing to get and some blackberries/currant as well. The tannins completely filled the mouth and finished strong and long with black pepper at the end
I’d recommend any of these wines, but the Prima Toro (~ “Premium Bull”) just edged the others on this day.
Salud!
