Weekly Wine Review - Spanish Red - 2009 Bai Gorri Rioja B70

Need an easy dinner for a Friday night? Cheese, charcuterie, some good bread, and of course some wine. For us, it's typically Spanish themed - some aged Manchego cheese, Iberico ham, and one of my favorites - drunken goat cheese.  Wine pairing in this case is easy and no big surprise - Spanish!  In this case I cracked open a bottle I'd been saving from our last Spain trip from the Basque part of Rioja - Rioja Alavesa.

Wine: 2009 Bai Gorri Rioja B70

Region: Rioja, Spain
Grape Varieties: Tempranillo

Obtained from: Purchased at Winery

Price: $100

Wino4Life Category: Splurge Wine

Aeration before tasting: Just a swirl or two, no special aeration.

Cork Condition: Natural cork - no defects or issues.

Appearance: Clear, dark purple in color.

Aroma: Surprisingly restrained based on the deep, dark color, some red and black fruit with a hint of vanilla.
Taste: Also quite restrained, well balanced, but not very complex. 

The Grade: I give this one a B-.  Sadly, this wine was quite disappointing at this price point. It worked fine with our ham and cheese, and we had a great night, but I expected so much more from this wine. Bai Gorri makes a great Crianza level wine, for closer to $15 a bottle. I would pick the Crianza every time.  The vintage of 2009 was a very good one in Rioja, so perhaps this wine would have benefited from more aging, and maybe a day of decanting would have opened it up more. Since I had only one bottle, I may never know...such is the way with the wonderful world of wine!  Cheers!!!