Thursday, December 21, 2006

EL NIDO CLIO - 2003

This red blend from Jumilla, Spain is 30% Cabernet Sauvignon from 26-year-old vines and 70% Monastrell (Mourvedre) from 61-year-old vines. Matured in French and American oak and a Jorge Ordonez selection.

TASTING NOTES:

Beautiful dark ruby-purple color with scents and flavors of licorice and chocolate. There's some cherry, char-grilled oak, and a hint of canned whipped cream on the mid-palate. Smooth, round, luxurious with enormous concentration. The whopping 15.5% alcohol is so beautifully integrated it's unnoticeable once the wine opens up.

SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:

95 PTS
A stunning and amazing wine. For about $30 a bottle, I'm not sure what's out there in any part of the world that can deliver complexity like this. Tremendous value. I can't wait to try the 2004 Clio which is now available.

posted by Winecentric at 11:31 PM

3 Comments:

  • Great choice, muy friend. Jumilla is one of the most outstanding but less known DOs in Spain. In the "ancient times" they only produced table wines, but following the example of Priorat, they have stated that the poorer vineyard can produce the best wine! And that's great for us!
    Bodegas El Nido (in fact, the owner is Bodegas Juan Gil) is a paradoxal example of a fact not yet well undestood to me (I have, in Spain, two or three other examples): the second label, that commented today by you, CLIO, at an incredible and amazind and astonishing prize (yes!), is in my oppinion pretty much better than the first, EL NIDO. I really had a great deception the only time I tasted EL NIDO: 15% declared, but I'm sure the wine is more alcoholic than this %, that absolutely obscures all the wine "qualities", plus an excess of toasted oak (medium plus at least), produces a wine in 2004 to be tasted (this was perhaps my mistake!) in ten years, at least.
    All the best,
    Joan

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Friday, December 22, 2006 1:42:00 AM  

  • I had the pleasure or surprise of tasting the El Nido too at a wine tasting in NYC and I agree it is actually very tight and not as flavorful or interesting as the Clio. I often find the same thing with California pinot noirs. Sometimes the mid-labels are significantly better than the high end reserves.

    By Blogger Winecentric, at Friday, December 22, 2006 10:50:00 AM  

  • It is a think to be meditated, isn't it? I guess that some of these extremely modern wine makers use and abuse of long-cold prefermentations and fermentations and new oak barrels, medium plus toasted, at least.
    Cheers,
    Joan

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Friday, December 22, 2006 11:10:00 AM  

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