Red red wine

After a spate of average and poor wines, to have three come along which were all excellent made for a pleasant surprise, and the minimal hangovers even more so...

D'Arenberg McLaren Vale The Custodian Grenache 2008
Coming in at £10, the same price as the Highwire Summit Pinot Noir and cheaper than the Tilia Estate Rubido I didn't review because it was as bad but cost just shy of £20 (don't buy it), this wasn't going to have to work too hard to impress me. Rich, deep and with good fruity notes none of which I could specifically distinguish. Classic grenache. The man in Majestic wine said this wasn't worth cellaring, but it says on the bottle it will 'benefit from extended bottle ageing' which goes to show the guy was a fucking idiot, which came across in the amount of time he spent answering my question about which wines to buy i.e. pointing at a couple and saying 'they're decent'. Prick.

Burgo Viejo Rioja Reserva 2004
Coming in at £12, the same price as... oh wait that was the other one. Actually I had this first and it's a fine example of a nicely aged Rioja, and having had the entire bottle across an evening I felt little to no ill effects except the desire to drink more. However, against the Vina Del Perdon Gran Reserva 2000 reviewed some time ago, this came out just behind, yet costs a little more. Good but must try harder? Or perhaps by the same age it would have been better? I'll never know, but it made a good point of comparison for the...

Vina Muriel Rioja Gran Reserva 1989
The problem with trying to describe how good this was to drink, after the event, is that even in my brain I can't replicate it. I can only remember knowing that it was one of the best wines I've drunk yet. It beat the Burgo Viego hands down, although it didn't come cheap by any means (£25 reduced to £17 for buying two). On this blog so far only two reds can compete, the Chateau Musar and the Beneficio. To compare them: their vintages are 1989, 2003 and 2008; each comes from a different continent; each is made from different grapes. However, of all the wines I have drunk the Chateau Musar and this Rioja seemed to be two of the most alike. The Beneficio, also absolutely epic, was quite a different style - full, deep, richer but far more intense and with less complexity and less intrigue.