A tasting buddy of mine has just started importing Victor de la Serna's wines to Finland. It was interesting to taste through them.
The Finca Sandoval Manchuela Salia 2004 (14,5% abv, 55% Syrah, 35 Garnacha, 10% Bobal) was very primary still. (I've got some left over for tomorrow to try again.) The nose has lots of sweet red berries. It has toffee-like oak, but also gladly some garrigue-like savoury scents. The alcohol is too noticable IMO. The palate is also more sweet than savoury with huge ripe fruit, extremely full body, but gladly very nice structure. The tannins are ripe and soft but youthfully noticable and there is fine acidity (not high, but also noticable). Unfortunately the alcohol is too obvious. It was an interesting wine. It isn't in a style to my taste, but it is obviously a well made wine; and if you like this style this is a great value wine - even at Finnish pricing (25€ or so).
Finca Sandoval TNS 2004 (? abv - VS - help me out here, please?; 2/3 Touriga Nacional, 1/3 Syrah) is not for sale here AFAIK, but one person had brought a Magnum (I understand it is only bottled in Magnums) back with him from Spain. It was roasted and hugely oaky. It had some nice floral lifted notes to it, but unfortunately for my nose they were rather swamped by the oak. In a way it reminded me of Aalto PS 2001 which we recently tasted: great quality oak, great quality fruit, but in a style that I simply am unable to appreciate. The palate was big and roasted and sweet but again had some nice savoury elements to it. I did notice alcohol, but it wasn't so strong as in the Salia. Once again, a great wine if this is the style that you like, but - once again - I am too limited in my tastes to get hedonistic pleasure out of this.
We finished with Finca Sandoval Manchuela 2003 (14% abv, 80% Syrah, 9% Monastrell, 7% Bobal, 4% Tempranillo). This is a very interesting wine! The nose starts out a little funky (this wasn't decanted for some reason!) - it smells a very little bit like shite, but it blows off (unlike Brett in my experience) - what could this be? It is roasted and sweetly fruity and oaky, but it has, like the TNS, a nice savoury, hedge-like note to the honeyed sweetness. The alcohol seems rather too strong. It is softer than the previous wines yet still has some noticable acidity. So I wonder if soft is the right word to use? What I mean is that it isn't as light on its feet, it is a touch cumbersome - I guess it's just the challenging year of 2003? Considering that most 2003s from Europe that I have tried have been rather unpleasant, this is a surprise that it stays together very well: this didn't have the harsh tannins on the finish, nor was it flabby. It still isn't to my tastes, but I would have no hesitation in recommending this to someone with more flexible tastes.
VS, just a couple more questions in addition to all I've imbedded in the text. None of us tasters were familiar with the grape Bobal except as a name. What does it bring to the blend? Why did you include it? As I'm always interested in trying new grape varieties, does anyone bottle a pure Bobal or a Bobal-based blend? Also, The FS 2003's back label says: 91% Syrah, 9% Mourvedre. Which is the correct percentage: the one quoted to me or the one on the bottle?
-Otto-