WTN: '04 Alaia

2004 Dehesa de Rubiales, Alaia ($12). We paid $28 in a restaurant. Alcohol level: 14.5%. It is a blend of Prieto Picudo (50%), Tempranillo and a touch of Merlot.

The wine is almost jet black to the eye. It gives a blast of black fruit to the nose and tongue tip. With a body you could almost cut with knife, the middle is incredibly complex with chewy tannin. The finish lingers and lingers.

We matched it with a lamb dish that had the meat in a spicy tomato sauce with roasted summer squash all on a bed of cous cous. The wine went perfectly with it. A dinner companion who ate turkey meatballs in a pink vodka sauce on pasta also enjoyed the wine with it.

We were celebrating our 45th anniversary, and our friend was celebrating her (???) birthday.

A very interesting wine, and a very rare grape. I hadn't had a bottle on the shelves in the last couple of years had a couple of bottles from 2000 in my cellar. Thanks to your reminder, I dusted off a bottle and popped the cork last night. Nice brick color with slight amber effect at the edges. Dark but still transparent. The nose was very modest, or maybe I am coming down with a cold. The 2000 had lost all the edges I thought I remembered, but retained the sweet mixed red and black fruit I remember, but this time was accompanied by something like those hard butterscotch candies. A little too sweet for my taste, but definitely interesting. Lacking in any of the earthiness I usually want in a wine, but still interesting.
The bottle in my cellar had three price tags on it, and I think I picked it up from the closeout bin. The closeout tag had it at 5.99. If that's what I paid, it was one H of a bargain.
Thanks for your notes reminding me of this interesting wine, and interesting (and almost unknown) grape. (Try looking up prieto picudo in a grape glossary or on the net. Unless there has been a lot written in the 4 years, when I last tried, you won't find much.)

Picked up another bottle locally for $9.99. We enjoyed it last night with Sweet and Sour Eggplant Soba. This is definitely a wine worth looking for.