Had a nice afternoon at work on Saturday just gone, we had some wines to sample as part of our few Spanish range we are getting in-store.

So we had a little in-store tasting, for us and for customers. Being Easter Saturday and considering the area in which the shop is located, it wasn't a very busy day but we put 2 bottles on tasting none the less.

Before that me and my colleague tried an Australian red i had opened the night before, The Stump Jump (2009). The Stump Jump is a grenache, syrah and mouverdre blend from South Australia. To be honest i was hoping for a little more from this wine as judging by the blend i was expecting it to be more of a Rhone valley style, a style i have become very fond of recently. However this wine was far too fruity and fleshy/juicy and not enough of the syrah coming through. While not a bad wine, it was just too juicy and sweet for my taste, so after tasting it on the Friday night with a friend i decided to leave it ad try again the next day to see if it would open up a bit and become less like syrup. Anyway on the Saturday tried it again, and it had improved a little but that intense juiciness and sweet after taste were still there and that's just not my preferred style. I'm hoping that we get a few better Australian reds in soon!

However i did have two Spanish reds to try that i was more looking forward to, i have already tried these in a group tasting session last week with the suppliers.

So around 4 we opened a bottle of Valcanto Monastrell 2010. This wine comes form Bodegas Piqueras in the lesser known Almansa region in the south east of Spain.

The wine itself is 100% monastrell, and is aged for 4 months in oak barrels. It is medium bodied and a little smooth but not too strong on the flavour side and lacks a little punch that would make it memorable, its got good ripe berry fruit flavours but is just quickly forgotten. Would be a fine choice with barbecue meat or tomato based pasta or dishes but on its own its a very average wine.

For our second wine we had a rioja, Medieo Rioja Crianza 2008. From Bodegas Del Medievo in the Rioja region, probably Spain's most famous region. This wine is a blend of tempranillo (80%), garnacha (10%), mazuelo (5%) and graciano (5%), it is aged 14 months in oak and spent 12 months i bottle. This was more like the Spanish wine i was expecting, great berry nose, it a hint of oak. Nice full structure and big berry flavours with hints of oak and wood in the background, rich but smooth tannins and great lenght and finish. Perfect wine for roasted red meats but can be enjoyed on its own also.

The wine tasting in store was ok, not too many customers but those who tried seem to enjoy the wines, and gave good feedback, i particular the rioja, which was the resounding favourite.

The rioja was the more enjoyed on the day and was the superior wine.