You're heading into "plonk" territory when you get to the $10-a-bottle and below price range with wines, for the most part at least. "Plonk," as we call it, is cheap wine that has not much good about it other than to make not remember much after a few too many, and the next day you're not in too good a shape.
There are a few exclusions of course, but those are very hard to find. Did we find that exclusion with our latest purchase of a $10 wine?
Mrs MJ picked up a bottle of Baron Amarillo - Rioja Reserva 2011.... from Aldi. Aldi is well-known for their cheap, and sometimes obscure liquors. We've had our share of duds, that's for sure, so I openned this bottle the other night, not expecting much enjoyment.
What is Rioja?
Rioja is a wine region in the north of Spain, which produces mainly Tempranillo, Garnacha Tinta, Graciano, and Mazuelo grapes. A rioja red is usually blended with a minimum of 60% Temranillo, and some are 100% Tempranillo. It was not clear whether this is a 100% Tempranillo, or a blend.
Harvesting of wine Rioja has its origins dating back to the Phoenicians and Celtiberians, wihearliest recordings of grapes in Rioja dating back to 863.
Back to the Wine
Now that we've established that this is a Tempranillo (blend) wine, which I quite enjoy, how does it fair? I found it to be medium-to-light in body, and while it has good structure of fresh cherry and plum, with a silky tannin, it didn't really have much of a wow factor to it. It was fresh, had good balance between fruitiness and hint of vanilla and oak, and went down surprisingly well.
It went down well enough for me to not notice my glass was empty, and pick it up for another sip, only to be disappointed. Mrs MJ said "Well, you must have liked it to be looking for more!"
Now that we've established that this is a Tempranillo (blend) wine, which I quite enjoy, how does it fair? I found it to be medium-to-light in body, and while it has good structure of fresh cherry and plum, with a silky tannin, it didn't really have much of a wow factor to it. It was fresh, had good balance between fruitiness and hint of vanilla and oak, and went down surprisingly well.
It went down well enough for me to not notice my glass was empty, and pick it up for another sip, only to be disappointed. Mrs MJ said "Well, you must have liked it to be looking for more!"
So, overall for 10 bucks this didn't disappoint. It was a warmer evening, so the lightness of this wine made it quite refreshing and enjoyable. It is worth every cent of the $10 pricetag. Disregarding price, it is just an average Tempranillo blend, with nothing to make it stand out from the crowd.
A score of 3 out of 5 is probably a fair assessment for this wine. Not bad, but not exceptional either. It's definitely not plonk!
Having learned a little about Rioja, it's definitely another wine region I'd like to pay a visit to, and learn some more. It does look like a beautiful wine region.
source
Cheers!!
