2007 Can Blau Cellers Can Blau

I have to admit, I'm only now becoming aware of Spanish wines. Spain is a country that has a long and rich tradition of winemaking, but they always seem to play second fiddle to their neighbors to the north and east. For the geographically challenged of you, that would be France and Italy respectively.

Like it's neighbors, Spain also has specific wine regions within its broders. The region we're looking at today is DO Montsant (the DO stands for Denominación de Origen) which is located slightly west of the well known Spanish city of Barcelona. Even though it has only recently acieved DO recognition it was part of and adjacent to DOCa Priorat. DOCa stands for Denominación de Origen Calificada a designation with more stringent requirements than DO. Priorat is only the second DOCa in Spain besides Rioja. This mountainous area of Spain is principally covered with terraced vineyard on steep hillsides. The climate produces low yields which leads to intense, full flavored, and full bodied wines.

The 2007 Can Blau Cellars Can Blau (hey, I don't make up the names) is typical of a wine from this region. It is a blend of 40% Mazuelo, 40% Syrah and 20% Garnacha (Grenache). It is a full bodied wine with a luxiorious dark ruby color that gives you a strong nose of plum and blackberry. There is a great depth to the flavor with the plum and blackberry up front and a hint of spice and a nice mineral finish. When it's all said and done, there is just a touch of blackberry that lingers teasingly. This wine is ready to drink now but a little time out of the bottle won't hurt it. A really nice value at around $20 per bottle.