Spanish Wine Darts

…a new game I just invented. Put a map of Spanish wine regions over the dart board of your choice. Apply blindfold and throw your dart. Wherever it lands, find a bottle from the nearest region and enjoy. Last official count I got on the number of Spanish DO’s was 70, and according to our friends of the Wine Academy of Spain, a new DO could appear at any time (a new one was announced during our Spanish wine course this past summer).…so I played a little game of Spanish darts last week and swung by K&L Hollywood to grab three bottles.

The first bottle I picked up is from the Montsant region, which is known for their fantastic Grenache and Cariñena based red wines. However, this one is a white wine made from white Grenache (Garnatxa Blanca to you and me), and is from the good folks at Celler el Masroig.

This is an interesting wine. It has a sharp minerality on the nose with notes of honeydew and fennel. On the palate, there are subdued flavors of honeydew and peaches, but with the mineral backbone. It has a nice acidity and good balance. Robert Parker gave it a 91 and I got it for under twenty bucks.

Bottle #2 is the 2007 Bodegas Volver Tempranillo from the La Mancha region. This bottle is a perfect example of why ‘Tempranillo’ has become the buzz word in American wine bars and why Spanish wine in general is getting such a good rap. Solid performance at a good price.

The floral nose is big and full of fruit- blackberries and cherries, along with smoky coffee. Full-bodied and complex on the palate with lots of ripe berries with finish-o-plenty. 90 points from Robert Parker and I paid a whopping 13 greenbacks. SOLID.

Last but not least, we’ve got the 2005 Mas Estela “Quindals” from the region known as: Empordà Costa Brava. This DO which you may or may not have heard of, is in the northeastern corner of the province of Girona, on the coast of the Mediterranean and on the Southern border of France. The area is known for its Rosé wines, but this little gem of a wine made from 90% Grenache, 5% Syrah, and 5% Carinena is a bad-ass red.

The nose is dark berries and blueberries all day long with an oakey/minerally thing floating around. On the palate, it’s complex with layers of those same dark berries with a dusting of spice and oak and healthy tannins. A nice long finish and at $17 it was a steal. Robert Parker gave it a 90.

What’s the point you ask? Get out there and explore! Try a wine from a region you’ve never heard of. If you’re not sure where to start, pick Spain. There are A TON of different regions and LOTS of tasty wines at prices that won’t break the bank.

If you have a dart board and a color printer, you know what to do…