The Desert Wine Guy - 2016 Fuerza DeLa Tierra Tempranillo

   Well guys, welcome back to The Desert Wine Guys wine blog. Today I am doing a wine review that is actually the second part of a review I recently did  (https://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-desert-wine-guy-wine-insiders-wine.html) with the first part being of an online wine club (?) called "Wine Insiders" (https://wineinsiders.com/). By the time you are reading this that previously mentioned first part will have already been posted with this second part to follow. I won't get into anymore about the club or it's specifics because this second part is strictly about the wine. For those of you who are interested and want to know more about "Wine Insiders" check the link above for the review on them. So, let's move along now and get into the wine itself and see what it is all about.
   Today's review is on the 2016 Fuerza DeLa Tierra Tempranillo which for those who follow me know is my favorite varietal. Let's begin with the wines presentation of itself in my glass. Upon initial pouring of this wine into my glass I thought it looked really nice and presented itself as a serious dark, medium Garnet. As the wine sat in my glass while I could still see the bottom of my glass it was not as clearly seen as some of the other wines that I have tasted and enjoyed in the past. So far, so good here.

Tempranillo

   Moving to the Bouquet of this Red now this is where I ran into the wines first problem although not something that there wasn't anything that it presented that impressed me. The Bouquet displayed perhaps a note of Vanilla and an ever so slight (and I do mean ever so slight) note of Caramel and slight Oak that was present on the back-end of the Bouquet otherwise as I said, the Bouquet was less than impressive and I was slightly disappointed. I have to say (as I have previously) before I go on here that this lack of Bouquet I am finding rather common in a lot of wines and I have come across it plenty of times before. in my opinion this issue with a lack of Bouquet,(although a negative thing) does not necessarily by itself ruin a wine for me although I will deduct a point from the overall score of a wine because of it.
   Let's move to how the wine comes across on the Palette now and see what we have here in the way of a flavor profile. Before I start here I will give you a spoiler. There are some good aspects to this wine. Did you catch that? In my mouth the wine had a little candy Blackberry type note that I feel works out well here and ended up on the finish as well. The wine created a very smooth mouth

feel,coated my tongue and was not harsh. The coating I mentioned was actually pretty nice and I enjoyed the smoothness that it provided on my Palette. There was a usual Black Pepper note here as the (Spanish) varietal is known for. I've said it before and I feel forced to repeat it, to me that Black Peppery spice that the Tempranillo varietal exhibits is what the varietal is known for and is part of what sells me on the Spanish version of the Tempranillo varietal, the American version is sadly lacking it and I strongly avoid it. The wine happily continues on with it's good aspects as there is also that note of Clove that all Spanish Tempranillos seem to wonderfully present. This Clove note and the spice seem to mesh fairly well together and so far the wine is tasting good. A nice note of Tobacco definitely makes it's presence known and while it is not exactly what I would call "in your face", it is not exactly shy either. One more positive note that I wish to discuss is that of Leather. A typical Spanish Tempranillo and this one is no exception, always exhibits that note of Leather and it is in here however also at a level that while not jumping out of the wine, is not exactly shy either. Quickly reviewing all the notes listed for a second I want to say that while the notes were certainly not shy and they presented themselves pretty nicely and at a depth that you will indeed notice them, they also were not able to overcome the final note the wine presented to me and this is where the wine went off track in my humble opinion. So with that warning I will disclose the final note which is an over the top jamminess. The wine really looses me as well as points on The Desert Wine Guy rating scale for it's over the top level of sweetness which is definitely not an aspect of the Tempranillo varietal, especially not the Spanish version. If you are looking for some Tannings in your wine you will be disappointed here as well. While there are a very small amounts of Tannings that perhaps will be felt on the Palette it is, for the most part over run by the wines strong jamminess.

   Okay, so lets wrap this up now. As I said in the opening of this review, this wine was gotten from what in reality is a wine marketing company. This is the first wine that they have sent me and that I am reviewing. Whatever the case, the question remains would I buy this wine if I wanted a Tempranillo? Here the answer is a definitive no. Now, having said that I know that there are a lot of red wine drinkers or lovers of the American version of the Tempranillo version who would love this wine. There are also a lot of lovers of jammy red wines with a bit of spice to it but the next big question still remains, does this wine hold strong enough to its varietal standards to please lovers of a Spanish Tempranillo? The answer in my book has to be, no. My overall opinion of the wine is there this must be a fairly high blend of Petit Verdot blended with this wine in order to bring about that jamminess that the wine presented. The wine was way too much on the sweet side for me and it was too medium bodied as well. I am not saying that this is a really bad wine, just one that could have been blended less and had a lot more time spent tweaking it.
   On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I give this wine 86 (Good Suitable for everyday consumption, often good value, Can be enjoyed for casual relaxing.) points.

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