A modern-styled Spanish red with 94 Miller points

The wine in question is an ambitiously packaged, ambitiously priced modern Spanish red from the Mentrida appellation near Toledo. I find it exciting that producers in regions such as this, which a few years back were making almost exclusively cheap plonk (if they were making wine at all), are now aiming much higher. It has to be good for wine as a whole that this sort of push for high quality from lesser-known regions is taking place around the world.
Jimenez-Landi 'Pielago' 2006 Mentrida, Toledo, Spain
Beautifully packaged in a deeply punted Burgundy-shaped bottle, this is an ambitious new-wave Spanish red. The nose shows a bit of alcoholic heat, as well as a slightly baked, caramelly edge, along with lush, pure, sweet raspberry and blackberry fruit. The palate is warm and a little jammy, but with a nice spicy definition to the lush fruit. There's a lot going for this wine - the concentrated sweet, ripe fruit, and the attractive spiciness, as well as the fact that any oak is well in the background. But it has just a little too much 'warmth' to it to justify a higher score. New world in style, which I guess is understandable given the fact that it's very much a warm climate wine, made in a modern way. I'd like to see them aim for more freshness, without losing the concentration. 90/100 (£20 Handford Wines)
Beautifully packaged in a deeply punted Burgundy-shaped bottle, this is an ambitious new-wave Spanish red. The nose shows a bit of alcoholic heat, as well as a slightly baked, caramelly edge, along with lush, pure, sweet raspberry and blackberry fruit. The palate is warm and a little jammy, but with a nice spicy definition to the lush fruit. There's a lot going for this wine - the concentrated sweet, ripe fruit, and the attractive spiciness, as well as the fact that any oak is well in the background. But it has just a little too much 'warmth' to it to justify a higher score. New world in style, which I guess is understandable given the fact that it's very much a warm climate wine, made in a modern way. I'd like to see them aim for more freshness, without losing the concentration. 90/100 (£20 Handford Wines)
Labels: spain
2 Comments:
Update: on the second day, the Jimenez-Landi is showing quite well. It has a slightly Port-like character, but the fruit has kept its purity, and there's some structural underpinning that makes me wonder whether this might age quite well over three or four years. I couldn't stretch much beyond my original score, though.
Hi Jamie,
Jay Miller does appear to love the overextracted over the top wines even more so then Robert Parker did.
I had a Niepoort Vertente last night - enjoyed it and your previous tasting notes on it !
Frank
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