Sunday, May 27, 2007

Lagunilla, Vina Artal Crianza Rioja

Lagunilla, Vina Artal Crianza , 2003
Rioja, Spain
EMart, W16,000


I talked about Riojas age classifications here..
I am a big fan of Riojas, they offer some really good juicy wines and come in a great variety of styles. With the 18 months in oak for a Crianza you get that extra level of complexity and interest for your money. At W16,000 in Emart not bad value.

It is a light ruby, not an intense coloured wine and it has a slight pink rim. There is just a touch of brown to indicate its age.

On the nose we are getting many secondary aromas. This isn't the big fruity wine that was the story of the Campo Viejo. There is a real dried fruit thing going on here, raisins, prunes and spice. Cloves are really coming through. This is still fairly young though and so there is still plenty of fruit there. As is the case with most wines that are predominantly tempranillo this is a juicy red fruit affair. Red cherries and cranberries with a touch of strawberry.

This is a really soft wine tannin wise but is really quite acidic. Surprisingly so. It is not a power house by any means, it feels really quite light bodied but does linger on the palate. The dried fruit isn't really following through at all, instead we are getting the cherries and cranberries in a far less ripe style than the nose suggests. It feels a little thin and acidic for my tastes. There is at least a pleasant vanilla finish, characteristic of the time in oak, but it isn't enough to save this wine for me.

It is by no means a bad wine and if it had a little more in the way of tannins I would suggest it just needs a little more time to round out. However I don't think it will benefit all that much from age and so cannot really recommend it. My SO thinks it is pretty good though so maybe you will like it. It is not a bad price after all..

3 comments:

Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

It's great that you've got a wine blog for Korea. I've added you to my blogroll. You might be interested in a couple of entries of mine that pertain to wine, May 23 and 24.

Jeffery Hodges

* * *

squirrelandgman said...

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of that news article. Is exactly the sort of thing I should be commenting on here. Hopefuly I will be able to point you in the direction of some good whites.....as you say it is exactly that sort of weather right now.

Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

I'm glad that you found the link useful. Perhaps you'll also comment upon that article here in your own blog?

And I'm sure that I'll find some good whites through your blog if I check in often enough...

Jeffery Hodges

* * *