Sembro Tempranillo 2004

Ribera del Duoro
Spain
100% Tempranillo
2004
13.5% Alcohol

Night One

The smell of this wine is absolutely delicious, brown sugar and tea, bing cherries and plums. If I weren't so anxious to drink it, I would eat it immediately. On the palate, this is a very interesting wine. It is medium bodied, balanced nicely between acid and tannins. The taste is almost pinot-like, but without the pinot arc, opening with black tea, cherries and brown sugar, moving to herbs and leather, before finishing with smooth leather and dry fruit.

I am betting this is going to be darned good on Night Two.

Night Two

The nose changed a lot overnight. Now it is a beefy mulberry with black olives and eucalyptus. The palate, too, matured tremendously. It blends black fruit, blackberries and plum skins, with red fruit, cranberries and tart cherries. The mid-palate has smoked meat, brown sugar and softer fruits, leading into a finish with very fine-grained mouth-drying tannins.

This is a very nice bottle of wine, worthy of another five year in the cellar.