by Patrick Ogle
Envinate's 2013 T. Amarela Parcela Valdemedel is a Spanish wine from a Portuguese Grape (Tricadeira Preta). The Extremadura region is, in fact, quite close to Portugal.
The Nose on the wine brings to mind sour bing cherries. But fruit isn't this wine's primary characteristic. Fruit is something you have to reach for and isn't readily apparent. The most pronounced nose on this is of earth, soil which does come through in the taste. It is an earthy, mineral rich wine.
First taste it is sharp but it calms down fast with some air. The wine has a nice acidity and tannins that are well beneath the surface from start to finish. You may have to concentrate to find them.
If you leave the wine open (with cork replaced of course) you will find the wine mellows considerably but still retains its acidic backbone. As to the fruit you will still get cherries but the "sourness" is less apparent. I also did an experiment where I chilled this wine a bit. It doesn't need it but it you can still detect most of this wine's better qualities at lower than room temperature.
An odd observation is that when drinking this, even though it is a red wine, my mind was drawn to the white wines of Chablis. The reason? I kept thinking of how sparse the wine was and how, while having no other analog to a white wine the restrained nature calls to mind the upper echelon of wines from Chablis. It is an unorthodox observation perhaps and no one else may agree! But that is how wine is--sometimes we get something unique to us out of it.
Envinate's vinyeard in Extremadura is fairly new, not yet 20 years old. On this wine they use indigenous yeast, fermented in stainless steel with lees contact and aged in used French oak (you won't taste much wood in this wine) for 11 months. Uncrushed grapes are fermented with some full clusters. There is no racking.
Find out more HERE.
Envinate's 2013 T. Amarela Parcela Valdemedel is a Spanish wine from a Portuguese Grape (Tricadeira Preta). The Extremadura region is, in fact, quite close to Portugal.
The Nose on the wine brings to mind sour bing cherries. But fruit isn't this wine's primary characteristic. Fruit is something you have to reach for and isn't readily apparent. The most pronounced nose on this is of earth, soil which does come through in the taste. It is an earthy, mineral rich wine.
First taste it is sharp but it calms down fast with some air. The wine has a nice acidity and tannins that are well beneath the surface from start to finish. You may have to concentrate to find them.
If you leave the wine open (with cork replaced of course) you will find the wine mellows considerably but still retains its acidic backbone. As to the fruit you will still get cherries but the "sourness" is less apparent. I also did an experiment where I chilled this wine a bit. It doesn't need it but it you can still detect most of this wine's better qualities at lower than room temperature.
An odd observation is that when drinking this, even though it is a red wine, my mind was drawn to the white wines of Chablis. The reason? I kept thinking of how sparse the wine was and how, while having no other analog to a white wine the restrained nature calls to mind the upper echelon of wines from Chablis. It is an unorthodox observation perhaps and no one else may agree! But that is how wine is--sometimes we get something unique to us out of it.
Envinate's vinyeard in Extremadura is fairly new, not yet 20 years old. On this wine they use indigenous yeast, fermented in stainless steel with lees contact and aged in used French oak (you won't taste much wood in this wine) for 11 months. Uncrushed grapes are fermented with some full clusters. There is no racking.
Find out more HERE.
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