The 200-acre Finca Valpiedra vineyard is located in the heart of the Rioja Alta, and has been owned by the Martínez Bujanda Family for more that two decades. This is my first encounter with the wine. Lots of stuff happening on the nose, and in no particular order, showed cream, milk chocolate, cherries, coffee beans, minerals and rust. The palate is beautifully textured with loads of finesse, creamy oak and red currants through the mid-palate, tangy pureed tomatoes and minerals. The tannins are excellent, and still a little grippy, which I quite liked. Tasty plus plus.
Rated : 93 Points
Tasted : Jun09
Alcohol : 13.5%
Price : $60
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2009-2013+
Source : Cellar
Website : Martínez Bujanda
Geez, where did you find this? This sounds great. The thing that makes this vineyard (finca is a term for vineyard) different from many others is that it is an old river bed full of stones, so it maintains warmth overnight. A bit counter intuitive, as most say the cooler nights are what makes the wines from Rioja great.
I had a look at the 03, 04, and 05 eariler in the year, very lush and rich at this stage.
I had a local wine store called Festival Cellars run by a French dude who loved getting lots of different wines in. Unfortunately, he left and all it sells now is beer and Bacardi breezers….
Excellent. I’ve been emptying my cellar to make way for the Bacardi Breezer trend about to hit town. That’s intuition for you.
Notes on the Breezers?
14th July isn’t that far off, so it’s worth noting a rumour that the whole Bastille thing was triggered by a local wine merchant emptying his place of Bordeaux to make way for beer and breezers. The citizens were outraged.
Don’t take it lying down, Lincoln. Don a tricolour rosette and march down to Festival Cellars, demanding shelf space equality.
Or you could do some notes on the breezers … revolutionary zeal ain’t what it used to be.
There will be no notes on breezers.
I will consider a march down Charlotte Street.