Spain can make some really incredible wine there is no doubt about it. In the past I think producers were accused of leaving their wines far too long in oak and to have outdated wine making practices. Luckily for us wine consumers Spanish wine has been having a renaissance and now produce some of the world's greatest wines, yet the prices have hardly caught up. Most wine from Spain is really undervalued and although you still run into an oaky mess of a wine here and there when Spanish wines are on they are really on.
This wine made by Elvi is one of those really delicious Spanish examples with really interesting and tasty notes. I find the more you drink wine the more difficult it is to be impressed by a bottle, but this wine is great and I really was impressed. It comes from the youngest D.O in Spain (officially recognized in 2003) the Ribera del Jucar which is part of the Castile-La Mancha region of central Spain. It has 9,100 Ha of vineyards that sit 650-750 metres above sea level the soils of which are composed of argillaceous chalk which is covered by small stones and pebbles from the Jucar river. It has a Meditteranan continental climate of hot and dry summers and cool winters. The main grape varieties of the region are Tempranillo and Bobal, both of which feature in this wine.
Elvi wines is a family owned winery quite new on the scene and was only began in 2002. They focus on making high quality Kosher wines using international and indigenous varietals. They are an ultra modern winery using their own innovative technology known as RavNet which can be read about on their website. They represent a modern quality oriented producer who use modern wine making technology to its fullest.
Elvi Wines- Ness - 2007 - Ribera del Jucar - Spain
This wine is composed of 39% Merlot, 32% Bobal, 25% Tempranillo and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel where the juice is slowly removed from skin contact using a gentle pump where the juice is drained into an oak barrel. Once in oak the wine is still pumped a few minutes each day until 3 weeks before bottling when this ends. The wines are not filtered nor clarified and like all wines made by Elvi are Kosher.
Ruby red in colour with a purple tinge. The nose is just great and really interesting. Lovely notes of ripe raspberry, cedar, juicy blackberry, and subtle spice mingle together in an interesting and beautiful way. In the mouth the wine is medium bodied and begins with ripe juicy sweet red fruits that are really tasty, by the mid palate the well integrated tannins come to the fore with some earthiness that balance out the sweet red fruit. The finish is a nice and subtle mingling of sweet fruit and earth. This is a really delicious hedonistic style of wine that tastes and smells great and is quite interesting. The nose especially is unique and beautiful. It went extremely well with the lamb stew Becky made tonight, a recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. All in all I would definitely buy this again and I think this has some aging potential. Very Good +
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