This wine was the best of a few Spanish Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines we tried recently.  I liked it so much I bought a case for home use.  Many Spanish Cabernets have green fruit and/or over-ripe fruit…sometimes it has both at the same time!  It’s a challenge in some of the hotter areas to achieve tannic ripeness before the fruit aromas become over-ripe. 

Catalan wines are generally pricier compared to other Spanish regions, but this is quite good value at 16-18€.  This is also an organic wine, something that is still not super common here in Spain. In fact organic wines are rather looked down upon amongst Spanish consumers and some wineries don’t even mention anywhere on the bottle that they are organic.  If they make a separate label for the export market, the word organic will appear prominently.  Albet i Noya is one of the biggest organic wineries in Spain and makes over 20 types of cavas and wines.

Wine:  Finca La Milana 2005
Winery:  Bodega Albet i Noya
Denominacion de Origen (DO): Penedés
Alc: 14%
Grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Caladoc, Tempranillo
Oak regime:  aged 13 months in new French
Price:  around 16-18€ retail in Madrid (19€ in Lavinia)
Note:  Caladoc is a grape that is a cross between Malbec and Grenache that is most popular in southern France, especially Languedoc

Tasting notes
Visual:  Medium intense ruby
Nose:  Very ripe, sweet black cherry, plum, vanilla, cloves, a bit smoky…very appealing.  Medium intensity…with some air…really opens up.  
Mouth:  Smoky red cherry and a touch a cranberry, black pepper, a tiny whiff of green pepper.  Smoky, vanilla oak is very present but doesn’t dominate the fruit.  More expressive fruit with some aeration.  Long, quite tannic finish, but some nice fruit lasts with the smooth tannins. 
Food:  Really terrible today with my falafel and tahini sauce!  It was much better with our Christmas lamb!   

Conclusion:  Leaner mouth than you would expect from the nose, but this is quite typical of Penedés reds.  I often find them quite French in style, French in a very ripe year of course!  They have leaner fruit than many Spanish regions and a more firm structure…also the acidity can verge on tart to many Spanish palates.  I love them as they are invigorating and interesting to drink.  This is a wine that is great to drink now but will still improve a bit in bottle…it really opens up and smoothes out with some air.