PEREZ PASCUAS VINA PEDROSA - 2004

This red wine from Spain has 14% alcohol and spent 12 months in oak barrels before release. It is a Ribera Del Duero table wine and made from Tempranillo.

TASTING NOTES:

Dark purple grape juice color with an extraordinary nose of oak, coffee, vanilla and black fruit. Very dry, fairly smooth, lots of tannin and flavors of leather, tea, ripe blackberry, herbs, a hint of chocolate and black cherry on the finish.

SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:

87 - 88 PTS

This is a really difficult wine to score. The wine actually smells better than it tastes. I would give the nose 90 points. Phenomenal Bordeaux-like aromas but simply not pleasant enough on the tongue. I wanted to love this wine especially because it smelled so amazing. Unfortunately it falls a little short of expectations. Definitely a much better food wine than a sipping wine. Lots of leathery tannin and complexity. There's plenty of flavor bouncing around, but it just doesn't all come together harmoniously. Perhaps it needs more time in the cellar. At $16 a bottle, there are a lot of cheaper and better Spanish alternatives.