Taberner

ricard

Tags: pepper leather sweat velvety earthy silky blackberry cherry blueberry

Food pairing: Grilled meat or some barbecue food.

It's tempting to dismiss, or regard as excessive, the appearance on the scene of yet another powerful new-wave red from Spain with high alcohol content. But this is too good and too original to ignore. It's a 100% Syrah, which is in itself relatively rare for Spain, and it's from Cádiz, which is a non-D.O. region so far south and so hot that one would expect it to be exclusively sherry country. But interestingly it's one of Spain's wettest regions, due to its exposure to the Atlantic ocean. The combination of poor soil, very high temperatures for many months of the year, and high rainfall, contribute to a wine of exceptional interest.

Taberner is a wine exuding a big, funky nose of black pepper, old leather, scary farmhouse scents and the sweat of some big hairy mammal. You can also detect the alchohol coming at you like a medicine. But the palate removes any doubts about the wine's excesses and reveals a rich, velvety cascade of intense fruit sensations: blackberry, mostly, cherry and blueberry. On top of that, spices such as cinnamon and clove. The finish is tremendous - both silky and earthy at the same time. This is a superb wine with a long future. How it will age is a mystery, but in the right conditions there's no reason why it won't be sensational in a decade.

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