Bodegas Loli Casado

Alzate Crianza Rioja – 2015

Price: $12.99*
(*I was upsold from a $9.99 wine, so it better be good.)

I had a bad time with this wine before I poured my first glass. The cork broke terribly. It Winnie-the-Pooh’d hard, unable to get in or out of the bottle. I stabbed a modest hole into the cork and proceeded to strain the wine into my glass. It only kind-of worked. The floaty, corky bits were a bit distracting, as I have a 25-year-old strainer that allowed debris to slip through its holes. Grumble, grumble.

Because it took a while to get to the drinking, I decided to purposely smell the wine. A husky wine fog filled my nostrils and vision, escalating to my brain. A blurry blend of red potion, burberry and scotch. Oh boy, I thought. This will be a ride.

The first sip chomps on your tongue like a toothy, fuzzy monster (or a rabid Pooh bear, having just escaped his glass prison.) It’s a difficult wine. Distinct. Formidable. Puts up a proper fight and goes down like a waterfall of gravel.

CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP

Vanilla hints round out the rockslide, giving the wine a remarkably silky end to its adventure. I love a challenging wine. It tastes of the before-times. A genuine tongue devourer.