A Unique Spanish Wine

Here is a very unique Spanish wine that was wine two of the September delivery of my new Amanti Vino Wine of the Month Club.

Primativo Quiles Raspay 2002 from the Alicante region.

Its festive label conjured images of rollicking nights of dining from 10 to 1.

Spanish music, tapas, beautiful people, a bright full moon.

The wine lived up to all that.

This is an intense wine that tasted to me a lot like a sherry, not the awful stuff you cook with, but a delicious fine sherry, wrapped up in abundant grape flavor.

Have you ever noticed that descriptions of wine rarely include the word grapes.

The writer at Amanti described the wine in this way:

"The Raspay shows notes of raspberries, dried rose petals and earth. The palate is characterized by bright red fruit flavors, fantastic mouthwatering acidity and a long finish of savory spice and mushrooms. This red would probably develop a bit over the next couple years, but we are so excited about how it is tasting right now that we think you should pop the cork today!" Amanti Vino

What no grape flavor? I really did get a flavor of grapes.

In any case I don't see this as a great food wine. It is way too complex to be crowded by other complex flavors. I would drink it as an aperitif with Marcona almonds, Manchego cheese, green Spanish olives and chorizo.

It would probably work well with a simple garlic chicken and chips and green beans or asparagus.

Read more:

"90 points from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: 'The 2002 Raspay was sourced from estate vineyards averaging 50 years of age and aged for 12 months in seasoned American oak before bottling without fining or filtration. Medium ruby-colored, it offers an old-style perfume of cedar, saddle leather, earth, smoked nuts, plum, and blueberry. This leads to a smooth, velvety-textured wine with mineral, earth, and spice notes followed by a long, pure finish. Drink this unique expression over the next 4-6 years.' (Feb. 2008) 90 points from Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar: '(100% monastrell) Light red. Open-knit, smoky red berry and cherry aromas are complicated by vanilla, tobacco and minerals. Sweet strawberry and kirsch flavors display an intriguing delicacy and focus, with a seductively creamy texture. The lush, sweet finish features impressive energy and length. This is drinking very well now. (Jul/Aug '07) Wow this is great stuff. However this will not be friendly to everyone. This is a true 'wine nerd' wine. Eighty year-old-plus vines of Monastrell make the base of this wine. Aged in large neutral oak this is a slightly oxidative wine but it is far from being over the hill. Savage in it flavor profile with tons of spice and bloody qualities this would be perfect for a cheese plate or for a leg of lamb. Give this a try, if nothing else it will challenge your idea of what wine can be, and you never know you might actually like it." (Bryan Brick, K&L)