WTN: "01 & '02 Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha

[geo t.]

The bottles were fresh off the boat, and should have had a week or two to settle down, but the Psychopomp wanted an opinion, so there was no time to dally in the alley, or in the cellar, as the case may be. There was nothing to do but stick out my trusty stem and accept a generous pour, as did the little lady. The wines came on like busty babes, sporting big Bobbie numbers that made the boys’ eyes bug right out of their heads, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little intrigued by the pre – tasting hype.

2002 Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha Calatayud, $13, 13.5% alc.: Produced from 75 – year old Grenache vines planted on pure slate, 60% of this dark garnet was aged in tank, and 40% in neutral wood foudres, so the sweet notes of the wine are all about fruit, not oak. The Psychopomp said, “13.5% is a lie, smell it,” and there IS a certain hot quality on the nose, but it never dominates the beautifully effusive bouquet. Psycho went on to say, “There’s a lot more white pepper and raspberry than when I first opened it (5 hours earlier); before, there was more kirsch and dark berry action goin’ on. This is some pretty racy, sexy juice for the money,” and I couldn’t agree with him more. The next day, we opened a fresh bottle, and while Kim wasn’t wowed by these (not enough mud and poop, maybe), I was mighty impressed. The wine is medium full bodied, and more than medium intensity, with a creamy mouthfeel and lovely texture, coming off like a reduced dark berry and black cherry sauce with just a little chocolate, sweet, but just shy of being over the top. It’s not too tannic at all, so there’s no reason whatsoever to wait on this one.

2001 Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha Vinas Viejas Calatayud, $19, 14% alc.: Produced from 100-year old vines planted at 900 meters in 100% slate, this ruby dark garnet is aged 10% in new French oak and 90% in old barrels and demi-muids, and it’s even better than the ’02. The nose isn’t as pronounced as the younger wine, but it’s no less pretty, showing richer kirsch, blackberry, black raspberry and black cherry, with just a hint of menthol. These impressions follow through on the palate with a little earth underneath it all, being ultra – smooth, medium to full bodied, just shy of over the top, and not too tannic at all. Again, the same sweet quality of the wine is due mostly to the fruit itself, considering the percentage of new oak used, and while it will probably improve over the short term, I’ll have a hard time keeping my hands off of this right now.

Both of these are almost too good to be true for such relatively modest tariffs (even by Michigan standards). Run, don’t walk to the nearest place that has some of these marvelous wines; they were made in fairly sizable batches (20,000 and 10,000 cases respectively), so there should be enough to go around for a while, anyway.

Imported by Eric Solomon, European Cellars, Charlotte, NC

(A tip of the top hat to Mr. Parker for the background stats on these two beauties.)

Reporting from Day-twah,

geo t.

Edited June 25, 2004 by geo t. (log)