A wine from Borja, Spain!!!

Wine time!  This week I am trying a Garnacha Campo de Borjo Monte Oton 2008.  A wonderful wine from Borja, Spain.  I purchased this bottle for ten dollars at my local wine store.  This Spanish wine is grown on the Bodegas Borsao Vineyards.  There were 5,000 cases made.


This wine uses Garnacha grape.  Which is Bodegas Borsao Vineyards specialty grape which represents seventy percent of their grapes produced.  They are called "The Empire of the Ganacha."  The grape tends to have a spicy berry flavored taste.


The Bodegas Borsao Vineyards are located high on the hillside of the Moncaya.  The Monycay is an extinct volcano.  The hillside and undulation of the Moncayo helps protects the vineyard regulate the cold and the heat.  The Cierzo coming from the North gives the grape a wild aroma characteristic.  The vineyard stretches over 2,430 acres with 9.5 minllion kgs of grapes are picked.  The Bodegas Borsao Vineyards were established in 1980.  Find out more about the vineyard at their website, The Bodegas Borsao Vineyards.

This wine has a unique label so you will find most of the information on the back.
Front picture

Back picture

• Frist you see the name of the wine Monte Oton in big letters.
• Next the little story tells you were the wine was produced from and what grapes are used.
• Next you see that this wine was produced with a hundred percent garnacha grapes.
• Then you see that it is a product of spain
• The vineyard and city of Spain is next.
• Next is the government warning.
• How much wine is in the bottle along with the alcohol by volume.  It also tells us it contains sulfites here.

The Garnacha Campo de Borjo Monte Oton 2008 the aroma is overloaded with spice.  The spice overcomes any other flavors.  The taste is soft on the pallet.  The are wonderful flavors of cherries, figs and plums.  I am a fan of this affordable wine.



This wine is great paired with any meat.  I enjoyed it with veal parmigiana.  I think this wine would go great with spaghetti or even a hamburger. 



Here Thomas Mattews from the Wine Spectator gives us his review from November 30, 2009 on the Garnacha Campo de Borjo Monte Oton 2008  

Round and juicy, showing rich, ripe cherry and raspberry fruit, with sweet vanilla accents, light tannins and just enough acidity to keep it all lively. Drink now through 2014.

Score: 87.

I disagree with Thomas Mattews view on the sweet vanilla accent.  I taste more of a cherrie and plum flavor with a hint of fig.
 
Here Jay Mill from the Wine Advocate gives us his review from June 2009 on the Garnacha Campo de Borjo Monte Oton 2008

The 2008 Monte Oton is more expressive aromatically. Spicy and vibrant on the palate and with a bit more depth and structure, this crowd-pleaser should also drink well for at least another 3-4 years.

Score: 87.

I disagree with Jay Mills on the spicy on the palate.  I feel most of the spice is in the smell not the taste.

Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay

This week I will discuss one of my favorite wines, Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay 2007.  Which can be purchased for fourteen dollars.  This is a California wine grown on the Jackson Estate from the Sonoma region.  This wine is made of chardonnay grapes only.


The Kendall-Jackson vineyards were created by a man named Jess Jackson.  He first bought a pear and wal-nut orchard in Lakeport, California.  He turned the orchard into a vineyard.  He first sold his grapes to local wineries.  Then he decide to create his first bottle of wine in 1982 under the label Kendall-Jackson.  This was the start of creating some of the most complex and extraordinary wines in California.  The winery is still owned and ran by Jess and his wife.  Today they own 14,000 acres through out the California coastal wine regions.  Only Five percent of the vineyards in California are found growing their grapes in high elevated vineyards, which includes Kendall-Jackson wines.  These vineyards sit along ridges, atop mountains, hillsides and bench lands.  These conditions clearly produce some of the finest richest grapes to produce wine.  The setting gives the wines the complexity of aromas and flavors for the finest pallets.  Read more about Kendall-Jackson vineyards at http://www.kj.com/.

Lets take a look at the wine label!

• At the very top we see Kendall-Jackson's label.
• Then we see that this wine is a Vintner's Reserve.
• Next it shows us the wine type.  This of course is Chardonnay.
• State the wine was produced in.
• Year the wine was produced.  
• Last we see that the wine was grown at Jackson Estate Vineyards.

This Chardonnay has a crisp appeal of pears, citrus and mango flavors.  The smell has a distinct pear ans citrus smell.

I paired this with several different varieties of seafood.  The Mahi Mahi wood-grilled and topped with sharp creamy spinach and lump crab complemented the crisp pear and mango flavors.  I am sure any fish with a mango salsa would be excellent with this Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay.  I also tried this chardonnay with a spicy shrimp that did not complement it.  I would not pair this wine with any spicy foods.  Next I had mussels in marinara sauce which was a perfect match.  The mussels also complemented the crisp pear and mango flavors.

Here TerriF gives us here view on the Kendall Jackson Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay 2008:

Love this Chardonnay...lightly buttery...crisp and refreshing citrus fruits...pleasing sweet fruit notes on the nose....I buy this again and again. Popular enough that Safeway has it available already chilled...nice for a spontaneous wine purchase to take home with their roasted chicken :)

I agree that this Chardonnay is crisp with the citrus fruits yet I did not taste a buttery taste.  I agree with the sweet fruit flavor smells.  I love the smell of mongo in this wine.  I prefer seafood with this citrus flavor of the chardonney over roasted chicken.  She should give the flavor of the wine more than just a plan roasted chicken.

When I fell in love with wine!

Before I turned 21 I would go to my Uncles parties in Texas.  I would meet people from Turkey, Paris, Japan and many more places around the world.  They would drink their wine and talk about the regions they brought it back from and what they found interesting about each wine.  They would also do this with the sake my Aunt would have her parents send from Japan.  When I finally turned 21 it was my turn to join in the conversations.  At this time my husband and I were dating and we would sit with them talking about the wine.  They would tell us about the vineyards they brought it back from, this really caught our attention.  We hope to someday travel to different vineyards around the world.  I think being young and watching these interesting people from all over the world got me intreged with the passion and love that they had for the wine.  I love trying wine from new regions from all over the world.  Even if they use the same grape you can still tell the difference in the taste, the earth has alot to do with the diffence in the taste from different regions.  The taste of a new wine is an exciting and fun adventure for me everytime.  To experience the sensation of differernt grapes from all around the world keeps the experience exciting.  The earth creates different tastes for every different region the wine comes from and I can't wait to experince these sensational wines in their region personally.