Tonight I was at a meeting at which a winemaker showed up with some wines from his winery in Spain - now in truth Jean Francois Hebrard does not own Quinta de la Quietud, but he works there and has since 2001. These wines are just coming into the Ontario market and they wanted us to try them. The first was the 2008 Corral de Campanas, which the label calls a "Sexy" Toro wine - Toro is just another name for Tempranillo in that part of the world. The Corral is made from 12 year old vines (and younger) is a very fruity wine that deals up spice and pepper with a touch of oak for flavouring. It is aged 6 months in lots of new American oak, JF says that's because he wants to extract maximum flavour in the shortest period of time (at least that's what I got out of the conversation in his thick French accent). The mid-palate is juicy with chalky tannins on the finish - this one could easily age 3-5 years.
The second wine was the 2005 Quinta Quietud, using the same Toro grape, but this time the vines are between 20-80 years old and the wine spends 20 months in 70% French oak, of which a third is new. This wine has more power (15% alcohol) and yet more finesse and delicacy than the Corral. The nose is sweet with red fruit and vanilla, and it is very appealing. Delicious black current, blackberry, vanilla, spice and a good finish. Sweet mid-palate with good tannins and mineral complexity. Turns out it wasn't just the nose that was appealing, so was the taste.
