Viña Fuerte Old Vine Garnacha 2006

If you're looking for a cheeky little mid week glugger to warm your cockles against an encroaching autumn chill then I may have tasted a wine you'll like. This winter warmer of a red is Vina Fuerte Old Vines Garnacha available at Waitrose for a reasonable £4.99 a bottle. Its name literally means 'Strong wine' and yes this is no lie as it presents itself with a suitable 14.5% alcoholic strength. The wine originates from the Calatayud region of Northeastern ...
...grape is known as Grenache in French and in France it often forms the backbone of warm, spicy, red fruited, low tannin Cotes du Rhone. In Spain Garnacha performs a similar trick giving red wines with lots of red berry flavours but with a stronger spicy kick consisting of a white pepper character. This Vina Fuerte wine is made from old Garnacha vines which give low yields of grapes which consequently give more intense fruit flavours to this wine. ... more

If you're looking for a cheeky little mid week glugger to warm your cockles against an encroaching autumn chill then I may have tasted a wine you'll like. This winter warmer of a red is Vina Fuerte Old Vines Garnacha available at Waitrose for a reasonable £4.99 a bottle. Its name literally means 'Strong wine' and yes this is no lie as it presents itself with a suitable 14.5% alcoholic strength. The wine originates from the Calatayud region of Northeastern Spain which is heavily populated with Garnacha vines. The Garnacha grape is known as Grenache in French and in France it often forms the backbone of warm, spicy, red fruited, low tannin Cotes du Rhone. In Spain Garnacha performs a similar trick giving red wines with lots of red berry flavours but with a stronger spicy kick consisting of a white pepper character. This Vina Fuerte wine is made from old Garnacha vines which give low yields of grapes which consequently give more intense fruit flavours to this wine. It does not state the age of these distinguished vines on the back of the bottle but at a guess I would say at least 30 years old. I must emphasise if you think this is old for a vine then you might be interested to learn that wines are produced from vines of 100 years and more in age in certain areas of the world. A great example is the Barossa Valley in Australia where elder statesmen of the Shiraz grape vine world are prized for producing very concentrated wines.

I first tipped a sample from the bottle in anticipation of relaxing in a long, hot bath enhanced by a soothing glass of wine and a favourite Cafe del Mar CD. It had a crystal clear medium red-purple colour. Wines made from Garnacha are not often that deep in colour when young due to the fact that Garnacha grapes have thin skins(ah, bless !) and this also subsequently means the wine will have a low level of astringent tannin. The nose had bags of white pepper spice leaping out at my nose accompanied by meaty, smoky notes underlying aromas of red fruit such as raspberry and red cherry. The fruit aromas were easy going without being confected or jammy in nature which is often the case with cheap New World red wines.

Taking some in my mouth I found the wine to have a medium weight in mouth with moderately intense flavours of spiced red fruits which were slightly sweet and cloying along with a low level of tannin on the finish. This latter feature probably came to the fore as I found the wine to be low in acidity which is often a feature typical of Grenache wines. Acidity in a wine helps give it verve and life in the mouth and helps balance out intense fruit flavours and alcohol. So it was no surprise when I felt some alcohol burn at the back of my throat as I swallowed the wine. The 14.5% alcohol speaks with force here and this indicates some flavour imbalance in terms of the booze levels ! However with a bit of aeration the wine tasted a little more lively on the palate which made it more pleasant and refreshing to drink. I would also recommend finishing a bottle of this on the night as I tried some the following day after preserving it in the fridge and the fruit in the wine had virtually died along with the acidity resulting in a corpse of a wine which will find its final resting place in the cooking pot.

In conclusion I would say a moderately pleasant glugger that will please fans of spicy, gentle red fruited wines that is not aw sweet in flavour as some big branded cheap Californian reds (think Gallo, Blossom Hill et al). No bad thing but I would want a touch more acidity in order give the wine more punch on the palate and to help balance out that surging 14.5% alcohol level. A reasonable everyday drinker at a reasonable price. Nothing more, nothing less.

Good health everyone !

Zallin 

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