Monday, December 10, 2007

Panarroz Jumilla 2005 (and a cool coincidence)


Panarroz Jumilla 2005 (Spain)
ABC: 14 %
$8.99

This wine has a very nice color: dark red in general, and ruby red at the base.

The nose, to me, smelled really strange at first, though I couldn't put my finger on what was putting me off. I later figured out that it smelled kind of like what my hair dryer smells like when I switch it from the "Hot" setting to "Cool". The nose also smelled like sour red fruits (raspberries and cherries).

Karl also smelled the raspberries and a nuttiness on the nose, like walnuts: I assume that was the tannins.

The wine isn't overly tannic on the taste, but there were definitely some sharp tannins playing along the sides of the tongue and the front of my top lip. The finish was very long, and really tart or sour, almost like a sour orange. I found it rather pleasant, surprisingly! Karl tasted black currants, and his predominant reaction was to exclaim at how dry the wine was.

As a super-cool bonus, the night we bought this wine, we cracked it open and tasted it. Then we thought, while we were sipping on it and eating dinner, we'd watch that day's video podcast of WineLibrary TV with Gary Vaynerchuk. And lo and behold, the man himself was reviewing the Panarroz Jumilla 2004!. It was really fun to actually taste along for once, and despite the different vintage (he was tasting the 2004), there were a ton of similarities (like the nose smelling like a failing electrical appliance, for instance).

Another good wine: Karl has started collecting the bottles of the better wines we've tasted on one of his bookshelves. Presumably, besides just looking cool, this will help us remember which ones we liked.