The Desert Wine Guy 2016 Poco a Poco! Tempranillo

   Hello everyone and welcome once again to my wine blog. Before I get into our review wine I would like to say that I hope you enjoy all the articles that I write as much as I enjoy writing them. It takes a lot of work to stay on top of Family, working a full time job as well as all the wine and Social Media outlets that I have chosen to participate in but it truly is worth it, as I really do enjoy sharing my thoughts and knowledge about the wine world with you guys.
  Today's wine that I am reviewing is the 2016 Tempranillo from Poco a Poco!. This wine is 100% Tempranillo, sells for around $10 and is from the Castilla y León region of Spain, (the Bodegas Luis Alegre Winery) but does happily does not carry the price tag of a wine from that region or that winery. I received this wine from Wine Insiders (https://wineinsiders.com/) through a great deal of getting 15 bottles of wine for $65 with free shipping. 
   Let's first start off discussing the label which I think is rather interesting. Written like a Dictionary definition the label explains that the name of the wine which is Poco a Poco and means Bit By Bit/Little By Little. Very unique and I just thought it was worth commenting on. With that being said let me move now to the Bouquet.

   On the nose there are all kinds of things going on here, this is an intense wine. The dark berry fruit is screaming here folks. Blackberry is the first note that I picked up on the nose. Following up the Blackberry is a note of very dark Cocoa and not some simply some light, cheap or sweet artificial note of deep Cocoa. No Sir, I am talking about not just any Cocoa but a quality baking Cocoa that reminds me of a Chocolate factory, very nice and enjoyable. Combining the two notes together provides for a depth in this wine that is truly super remarkable. A really nice note of Prune follows these two up yet remains softer than the previous two notes which is good as it manages to compliment both. The wine has absolutely incredible energy on the nose. If you have ever heard of a "promise" that a wine makes, this wine is making me that "promise" I just hope it can keep it and I am dying to find out so let's get to the Palette so, with that said lets get to it. The wine has impressed me on the nose so far and I am anticipating (or hopeing) that the Palette will do nothing less.

   The first thing you will notice is that a note of Prune comes through on the Palette and immediately is enveloped by the same incredible and amazing Cocoa that I picked up on the nose. How does that sound? As is normal for a Spanish Tempranillo, the Black Pepper spice comes out to show itself off......incredibly. This is the note that sold me on the varietal and elevated it to be my favorite just over the Cabernet Sauvignon varietal. An awesomely deep and dark Black Cherry is combined with that level of Cocoa and actually darkens, or intesifies it's flavor to the point of the Cherry losing any potential tartness that it may have thought to carry with it. At this point I am tasting a wine that is elevating itself above some average wine to a wine that far exceeds it's price tag. My goodness folks, that Black pepper is why Spain is the king of this particular varietal. If you are looking for some Tannins to go along with all of this and add some potential aging characteristics, you are in luck because they are indeed present and contribute greatly to add to and compliment the finish of the wine. The Tannins are not harsh nor do they take away from the other notes as in some wines.

Fans of some Acidity in a Red will be happy and expect it because it comes with the Black Pepper which really shines on the mid palette. The Tempranillo varietal isn't known for overwhelming acidity and this wine continues with that pattern. The typical note of  leather that you get from a great Cab or in this case Tempranillo is present as well and yes, I am loving it and I know you will as well. There is a rather nice level of tobacco that is in here as well and if you stop for a minute and think about what I am presenting in this review as far as the notes so far I hope you can imagine the awesomeness of the wine. As I stated earlier, all the notes present here mesh together as if they knew each other since the Flowering stage on the vine. All the notes are at equal appreciation levels other than the Cocoa which stands out slightly more and none clash or take away from one another, who would have ever thought that were possible in a wine? Another great aspect about this wine is that you wont have to worry about waiting to enjoy it since it is enjoyable from the beginning and does not require any time to allow it to "open up" or "breath" although it is indeed possible that would improve this wine even further. I kind of also like and am partial to the slight but noticeable Cocoa dominance.

   Let's go ahead and wrap up this review as I have a wine magazine to relax with and of course finish the rest of this wine as well. So, what are my final thoughts on the wine. I think by now you probably already know that I loved this wine. The wine held up to all my expectations of a great Spanish Tempranillo. The one drawback that I ran into is that I have not however found a place to buy this wine including the place (Wine Insiders) I just bought it from. They seem to not carry it anymore and I think that is in keeping with their business model of dealing with small Vineyards. I really hope you have better luck and if you do please let me know where you found it available because I want more. Well, it's time folks. Time for my rating of this wine. On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I give this wine 93 (Excellent Highly recommended, holds to varietal standards) points. I really enjoyed this wine folks and I hope if you do find it that you enjoy it as much as I did.
                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy

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The Desert Wine Guy - 2016 Spencer Family Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc Reserve

  I would like to start this review with a question. Here is the question. How many of you guys ever feel that you have to like a wine? I mean after all how would you look if you said that a wine from a prestigious winery or vineyard does not taste good? After all, how would you feel if you didn't like a wine that the wine industry "experts" said was fantastic and "at the top of it's class"? Don't all wines from Peju or Stags Leap taste great? I want to just paint a picture for you for a minute. You walk into a party where "fine" wines are being tasted and here comes a wine from a prestigious winery and immediately everyone begins to talk about how they have heard such great things about this particular wine. You hear things like "oh, the 2015 vintage" or "I have heard so much about the wine maker". The pressure is now on for you to nit simply like the wine but love it. Pretty soon you are convinced that you REALLY do love this wine. Well folks if you are like that you might not like this article and this entire wine blog, you might also wonder why I most of the time review small label wines. All of this brings me to the wine I am reviewing today. The  2016 Spencer Family Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc Reserve that I received from "Wine Insiders" (https://wineinsiders.com/). Here is a wine that in actuality is made from the region of who knows where, with grapes grown from the region of who knows where. Yes, they will try and fool you by placing on the bottle "Vinted & Bottled" by but that really says nothing about where the grapes were grown or for that matter what winery actually made the wine. What I did find in relation to "Spencer Family Vineyards" is that they are supposedly located in San Martin, CA with an address that comes back to Arroyo Seco Vineyards. So with that knowledge in place, let's get into the review.

   Today I want to begin at the label. No, this is not one of those wines that promises you the world from looking at the label. To me however, the label came across as simple yet perfect for the varietal. The wine was able to be seen nicely because there was a lot of uncovered glass in order to allow it to be seen while the label itself communicated a nice reasonably priced white wine.
   On the nose the wine was on display from a short distance away and I was able to pick up a Peach / Nectarine notes that were indeed calling my name. Nothing overpowering mind you but nice enough for me too sit up and take notice.
   Looking at the wine in my glass displayed nothing special. The wine was pretty clear with a tinge of slight Gold along the edges. While not necessarily a bad thing as I have had many wines of the same varietal with the same display that turned out to be very nice indeed.

   On the Palette now I will tell you here in the beginning that I liked this wine. The first thing that I noted was that there was a slight acidity on the finish that I really enjoyed. Nothing crazy here and nothing that threw me back in the chair or made me take special note of it other than the fact that it was present in just just enough strength to actually make me gently sit back and take note of it. Peach and nectarine were upfront as well on the Bouquet. These notes were "cut" by a note of grass that was present in a fairly decent amount and was very effective at tweaking notes that could otherwise be over done. The wine displayed a good amount of crispness to it as well as a moderate but not overpowering amount of sugar that is to be expected from this varietal depending on the weather the grapes are grown in. By the way I want to comment a little more on that note of grass. A lot of times that particular note can be really overdone but not here. In here the note compliments all the other notes and yet allows the wine to express all it's note nicely. There was also the ever so slightest note (or feel) of Lemon that was only sensed on the sides of the Tongue and was not harsh. Notes of melon such as Honeydew combine with the grass note, the acidity and to a small extent (but clearly enough) the Nectarine to power but not over power this wine forward across the Palette. If you would like more to the wine, I am happy to inform you that there is a light yet (again) perfectly balanced note of Grapefruit that is just prominent enough to remind you what Grapefruit tastes like and make you want one. This note is detected just enough to be effective and causes no overpowering sour note to be exhibited. This is more along the lines of a New Zealand style Sauvignon Blanc although there is a good amount of typical hot weather climate notes spread throughout the wine. Well guys, time to wrap thing up here. It's time to give my final thought on this wine. So with that being said, let me get too it.

   There is actually a sense of refinement here that I was surprised to find for a wine selling for $15 and boasting an Alcohol percentage of 13%. After drinking a few glasses of this wine I am starting to begin to think of some serious Sushi and I think when you taste this wine you might begin thinking that as well. I wish I could tell you more about the pedigree of this wine but I cannot. I have put in a request to Wine Insiders for more information and if I hear back before I publish this article I will add whatever relevant information that I get on to you. That is about it readers. Oh, I guess there is one more item to add. On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale, I give this nice wine 92 (Excellent Highly recommended, holds to varietal standards) points. A very well done wine.

                                                                                                                  The Desert Wine Guy

UPDATE - It has been a couple of months since my request for more information on this wine has been submitted to Wine Insiders and I have not received any response to that inquiry.

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