A Quaffable Hit (Palacio de Monsalud)

Member Name: pjs21

Product:	Palacio de Monsalud
Date:	11/09/01 (487 review reads)
Rating:

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I'm so glad that I only have to write the title of this wine down as my laughable language skills would only do in an injustice to this wine and probably put you off buying it.

This is a medium-bodied red wine from the Vina Extremena cellars on the border of Portugal, western Spain. A small vineyard started up by Alfonso Iglesias Infante at the end of the 19th century. Now, four generations later the family owns 1000 hectares of vineyards and three wineries.

The main grape used in this wine is Tempranillo (80% of the mix). The second grape is Garnacha.

Working behind a bar that sells Tempranillo, you'd be amazed at the snobbery people have towards red wine (or maybe you wouldn't!). The amount of times I've offered this to someone and had in reply "Don't you have anything Spanish" or "What, you don't do Rioja?" Tempranillo is the King of Spanish grapes. It is to Spain what the Cabernet Sauvignon is to France. It is used in the famous Rioja wines, and the more Tempranillo they have, the better wine is considered to be. That's one up on those snobs who like to think they know more about wine than the young man behind the bar serving it! (Not that I get bitter and twisted in my job, you understand.)

Tempranillo is low in Tannins, so is often mixed with Cabernet to balance this out. Other than Argentina, Spain has kept Tempranillo completely to itself.

Garnacha is also known as Grenache, and is Spains widest grown grape, along with many others contries. Hardies make a Grenache/Shiraz Rose, and Ernst and Gallo I think make a nice White Grenache Rose (which is another op all together.) As a Rose it is a much lighter alternative to red, and makes a nice Summer Drink when chilled.

Anyway, back to Palacio de Monsalud.

The bottle carries a very fancy looking label, a yellow background with lots of ruby writing and cherub like characters in each corner. The bottles I have are 1996 and will be good
to store for another four years before passing there best. I opened one bottle recently as I couldn't wait any longer - and really was beautiful.

As with most red wines, it's good to let it breath, but it's not necessary with this one as it can be drunk straight from the bottle (not literally. Well...) and ensure that it is served at around room temperature. It's a nice ruby colour, not to dark, and smells quite fruity. There's a hint of vanilla in the taste, and it's very very easy to drink. You can pretty much eat this with anything you like. It's very good with meaty fish like Tuna, Salmon, Swordfish, or with dishes like Paella, Stuffed Peppers etc.

It's price reflects it's quality, it's in the mid range at £6.99, and is worth the money. Not as heavy as Hardys Cabernet/Shiraz/Merlot (see review!! Blatant plug!) and matches and just about pips it to the post as far as quality.

If you hadn'd guessed, I'm currently going through my favourite wines - I'll also write about those I don't and why - this comes in at joint first place with the Hardys.

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