Albero Spanish Red Wine  Tempranillo Barrica 2006

Made with Organically Grown Grapes

Trader Joe’s $5.99

RANKING: OK Wine To Cook With (or maybe make Sangria)

What Other Say:  This wine is quite mouth-filling on the entry with good concentrated red and black fruit, layers of soft black cherries with black fruits of the forest, definite spice and pepper components, and again that unmistakable hint of creamy vanilla from the American oak. It is very clean and rounded throughout. The midpalate is ripe with firm tannins, and yet there is supple fruit and quite a polished backbone in the wine through the nice finish. It is a solidly made wine from this normally rustic varietal. (quoted from Las Vegas Review Journal online, Jan, 2009)

What I Thought: Black and Gold labeling made this a perfect (looking) wine to blend in with the Super Bowl Sunday snack lineup.  That being said, there is little other reason to commend this wine.  A medium red like this should have been great with chili.  It should have been lush enough to surround the tongue and remove the spicy burn of the over-the-top salsa.  I should also have bet the Cardinals to cover the spread too.  None of that happened.  I had read on other blogs about this little find from Trader Joe’s but just didn’t feel the same love.  Harsh to the tongue, over the top tannin..not a great experience.  Maybe, like one of the blogs glowingly boasted, this wine would be a great foundation for a summer sangria.  Yeah, I could see that.  Mix it with fruit and throw in some booze, chill it to a near freeze and you might have something.  Other than that, drink something else, almost anything else.  This one is a sure disappointment.

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