RADIO BOCA TEMPRANILLO 2017

“The connoisseur does not drink wine but tastes of its secrets.”  – Salvador Dalí

Let’s concede that Castilla y Leon does not enjoy the prestige of the Rioja region in the production of Tempranillo.  But along with that, let’s also agree that not everyone is a connoisseur or that even amongst that group, not everyone wants to exhume the secrets from every glass they bring to their lips. Sometimes, someone just wants to relax.  Even Dali had to take a day off occasionally.

Radio Boca is easy to enjoy.  It’s Tempranillo (100%) from Spain and the vines average thirty plus years of age.  But it’s from Castilla not Rioja.  That is its blessing and its blessing because while the wine is not complex, its quality-to-price ratio excels.  If you’re looking for a “daily red” to relax with and enjoy without getting out your wine notebook, Radio Boca will fill the need without emptying your wallet. 

Medium to deep ruby in the glass, it offers aromas of cracked pepper over black and red berries. After pouring this wine for an event recently, where it outsold the other six combined at my table, I went home with two bottles myself (research).  I braised chicken breasts along with onion, celery and carrot.  When cooled, I saved the broth and shredded the chicken, adding my barbecue sauce.  A few “Bread & Butter” pickles on a brioche bun and a sandwich was ready to enjoy.  Steamed broccoli (finished with a butter-olive oil spray) and some easily made sweet potato crisps completed a healthy and easy to prepare meal.   

The wine was being sold by that retail store for $8.99, which is the average retail price for this wine. If you’re of the belief that only the best Cabernet Sauvignon can come from Napa (and disregard Sonoma), or that the only Nebbiolo worth drinking can be obtained from Barolo or Barbaresco (and that the wine of  Gattinara, Langhe and Ghemme is just not up to your standard) stay with the Tempranillo of your choice.  You won’t be disappointed.  This wine, with a relatively high residual sugar content, is definitely bent toward new world palates.  And while “reading” the palates of people I’ve never met is impossible, it’s no secret that the most popular wines in the U.S. are those with that same bent, so it becomes a safe bet to recommend this easy drinking wine.

Normally, I’m in with Zinfandel on anything with barbecue, but I wanted to re-taste the Radio Boca in a more relaxed setting and this Tempranillo worked perfectly.  Medium bodied, the wine is silky and very smooth and rich with ripe berries.  The fruit strikes you first (black currant, blackberry jam, red cherry and unripe black plum) and carries on into a long finish.  But this is also a very tactile wine. The finish is extended by a mouthwatering acidity keeping the fruit alive on your cheeks.  But this is then met with just enough grip to make things both interesting and pleasing.

Salud!

................ Jim

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TECH SPECS, ETCETERA:

Radio Boca:                 www.radiobocawines.com

Variety:                       Tempranillo, 100%

Age of Vines:               30+ Years

Harvest:                       By Hand

Vinification:                 48 Hours, 5 degrees C (41F)

Fermentation:             Stainless, 24-28 C (75.2-82F)

Maceration:                12 Days

Remember to collect & save your stocks for soups
and gravies. 

A percentage of the wine (amount unknown) is aged in French oak before being blended back.

ALC:                             13%

TA:                               5.5g/L

pH:                               3.51

Volatile Acidity:           0.49 g/L

RS:                               11.6 g/L

Imported By:     Hammeken Cellars (Manhasset NY)

  

CABRIZ COLHEITA SELECCIONADA 2014

“Of oil, wine, and friends, the oldest.” ….. Portuguese Proverb

Let’s move on to unfairly neglected Portugal.  Wine from Portugal is generally inexpensive and offers numerous bargains to be enjoyed. As a rule, the wine is delicious, different and, for me, a necessary transition into each fall season. Funny how those grapes grown in the Dao, south of Oporto, surrounded by mountains more in Portugal’s interior and with a more continental climate, make for wine that is so incredibly appropriate for fall in my cool-continental climate area. Each year, I mark this change of the seasons with wine from Portugal.

This 2014 Cabriz's Colheita Seleccionada Red (they also make a white) exemplifies why: Full bodied, textured, the mouthfeel of Portuguese wine is itself a marker in any blind tasting. Consider the grapes: 20% Touriga Nacional – the grape of port wine, 20% Tinta Roriz (grown extensively in Portugal but you may know it better as Spain’s Tempranillo) and 40% Alfrocheiro (a grape suspected to be native to Portugal, mostly grown in the Dao and noted for its velvety texture and spice). Branded by Cabriz, this wine is deep purple, from extracted fruit, in the glass and offers aromas of earthy blackberry compote with a note of kirsch.

As with all Portuguese wines, it coats the palate. Plum becomes prune-like with raisin and includes notes of blackberry jam. Flavors are concentrated with dark cherry, dry but juicy, along with dried raspberry. Seamlessly mixed with the plum/prune, these flavors are more roasted than fresh and are perfect for fall. Some violet completes the complexity, though other tasters got white chocolate and licorice. We all agreed on notes of pepper and herbs, though for me – more herbs and less pepper. Most impressive:  the wine holds up in the bottle easily for 2, even 3 days without losing any of its appeal. In fact, the taste actually took on more of a fresh fruit character on the second day.

The ARP for this wine is ridiculous at $9 and it can be found for even less. It was ranked #46 as one of the top 100 wines of 2016 by Wine Spectator, awarded 90 points and also rated as a “Best Value.” Wine Enthusiast assigned it 87 points, referring to it being “ripe, full of black fruit” and “rich and fruity, soft tannins with full bodied structure”. I mention this because I too found the tannins VERY soft as opposed to a very few other tasters. Of course, all palates are personal: some tasters referred to “forest fruits” (I agree) but also “fresh red fruit” (I found it more roasted and black initially). All that aside, the wine itself is delicious and, for me, perfect as fall announces itself. And, at less than $10, it is not to be missed. I’d even call it “case worthy”. Imported (locally) by Tri Vin Imports. ALC: 13%. Bottled by Global Wines, Inc. 

Viva!  Saude!  Tchim-tchim!

……………………………… Jim

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