Tandem Ars in Vitro 2008, Navarra, Spain‏

Being a practical, pragmatic, long-suffering sort of person, Mrs CWB has a knack for summing up a wine's qualities far more tersely and succinctly than I - many a respectable but middling white has been dismissed with a sniff and the words "It's not as good as those Austrian wines we used to have", for example.

In this case, Mrs CWB summed up the Ars In Vitro 2008 from Tandem as "autumnal" and much to her amusement, I then tweeted this to Tandem's General Manager Jose Fraile who responded that he liked this description better than his own of "mountain wine", finishing with "Cheers to Mrs CWB".

My own assessment is, inevitably, rather less succinct.

Made from a blend of Tempranillo and Merlot grown in the Yerri Valley in the north of Navarra at an altitude of 600m, the wine is aged for 24 months in concrete vats before bottling.

On the nose there is ground coffee, red fruit, spice and a hint of woodsy-muskiness.

The palate is long and shows red-plum fruit, juicy, fresh acidity and firm tannins; with greater aeration (ie re-sampled the next day), it shows perfumey aromas of blueberries, violets, even lavender soap. At the same time, the texture becomes softer and fuller.

The finish is persistent, cut through with acidity, leaving grippy, mellow tannins.

Match with autumnal dishes, such as beef stew spiced with cloves and paprika.

Provided for review.

See here for more on a tasting of Wines from Navarra.

Links

Tandem - website, twitter, Facebook