Old style Spanish Reds?

(Note that the name is Montecillo, not Monticello.)

Many thanks, Víctor, for correcting our young Joey on the Montecillo score (he reminds me of a girl at the nearby Gourmet Garage who insists on calling marcona almonds "maricona" almonds). I believe what he is trying to do, as a fledgling Rioja Guru, is to score his own, personal, trademarked, endelessly-repeated error. I think this could very well be his very own "Dominico de Pingus".

Oh, and Joe, it's a good thing I hadn't seen this before we saw each other on Thursday. The vinous harm I could have inflicted... No wonder the words "Rioja Santiago" were rolling off your tongue so merrily.

When I run everything through spell check, as I try to before posting, it changes Montecillo to Monticello (the home of Thomas Jefferson). I try to catch it, but sometimes I am so excited to reply to Victor that it slips through.

Vinous harm? I seem to recall something from Luxembourg...

And what the hell's all this about Paternina and Franco-Españolas? Are you now a shill for them?:-)

Oh, and having sampled the 1994 Conde de los Andes too recently for comfort, I can say that it isn't good. Never was. Never will be. Curiously enough, a '76 was poured at the same table that was equally as crappy.

There's a sad reality about the whole struggle between "traditional" and "modern" Rioja: Under both rubrics there have been some terrible wines made. Regardless of how potable one may find the "modern" style, one can assess, if only academically, those producers who achieve balance, even a certain grace within the overstuffed, over-made-up clunkiness. Hell, there are even some "harlot-with-a-heart-of-gold" cases. On the opposite end, one should not embrace "traditional" as equal to "good". The gods know I've had to spit out some very evil dreck at tastings, more often than I've smiled about, say, an 890, 904, Ardanza, Bosconia, Tondonia, Imperial, Prado Enea, etc.

Old Conde de los Andes (pre-scandal) I find quite good. Currently, I haven't been forced to spit recent releases from either Paternina or Franco-Espanolas, though they are near the bottom of what I normally enjoy from Rioja. As Richard struggles with, you can't get La Rioja Alta and RLdH everywhere. If you pay $10 for a bottle of Rioja Santiago and cook up some tapas, there are worse things you could drink.

Sadly, none of us were smiling over that Prado Enea on Thursday.

Best,
Joe

Joey, this bit about you being "the new LL" has to stop. These fights with Víctor are becoming tiresome, even to me (the originator of the genre)

Fight? With Victor? Moi?

Dear, sir, you will notice that Victor came after me.

I'm making plans to visit Spain in early 2008. Victor and I can finally meet in person, hug and make up.

Best,
Joe

I'm making plans to visit Spain in early 2008. Victor and I can finally meet in person, hug and make up.

Best,
Joe

Visit Spain? I thought that, like real gurus do, you'd just send a flunkie...

What's this "cooking up of some tapas" that Americans keep referring to? I'm at a loss, given the breadth and scope of what I tend to call "tapas", many of which dishes I wouldn't even put near red Rioja.

And blame it on the spell-check. Suuuuuuuure. You forget I was once a TA at a certain prestigious institution up here in the brutal North, where the students were most imaginative.

You call the Luxembourg Riesling "vinous harm"? At worst it was a harmless little thing, sort of comforting and disappointing at the same time on account of a mediocrity that lacked any real potential for offense.

I guess you enjoyed the Sogno Uno, then...

Oh sorry Ian. Yup Rays notes,my mistake. Mind you, you might have felt the same at that tasting!!!!!
Any Rose wines coming up your end Ian?

Rose? Umm a (broad) wine style I tend to struggle with. I can only recall particularly enjoying one (Charles Melton Rose of Virginia - from Barossa Grenache, which makes it all the more unlikely I've liked it!). Even then, it treads a fine line of residual sugar levels and not always on the right side of the line.

Historically I've enjoyed pink fizz, but probably not tasted one for a decade

Looks like I might be quiet on wine focus this month

I'll still read with interest though

Visit Spain? I thought that, like real gurus do, you'd just send a flunkie...

Well, I sent Thor, but he came back ranting about dozens of 100 point wines. You know the old saying, if you want something done right...

You call the Luxembourg Riesling "vinous harm"? At worst it was a harmless little thing, sort of comforting and disappointing at the same time on account of a mediocrity that lacked any real potential for offense.

I guess you enjoyed the Sogno Uno, then...

*ACK* I had blocked out the porn wine! *shudder* *twitch*

Poor Jay never recovered from that one.

Visit Spain? I thought that, like real gurus do, you'd just send a flunkie...

Well, I sent Thor, but he came back ranting about dozens of 100 point wines. You know the old saying, if you want something done right...

You call the Luxembourg Riesling "vinous harm"? At worst it was a harmless little thing, sort of comforting and disappointing at the same time on account of a mediocrity that lacked any real potential for offense.

I guess you enjoyed the Sogno Uno, then...

*ACK* I had blocked out the porn wine! *shudder* *twitch*

Poor Jay never recovered from that one.

Thor??? I guess you wanted as dubious a flunkie as the fake Jay Miller. Good one.

Regarding the porn wine, well, perhaps just the stuff, considering:

http://blog.askjolene.com/savanna.