#345 A load of bull

I've never got Spain.  In my decade of retailing, I've never had to hand sell a wine from Spain.  I've never been asked for my advice on a Spanish wine.  I've also never paid the country that much attention.  In fact, such is my indifference to the country, that when I was doing my WSET exam, I knew that if I had questions on Spain I would be up the creek without a paddle.  And lo and behold there were a bundle of questions on Spain and so I didn't do as well as I could have done!

But the one thing that I have learned is that even the big producers in Spain produce drinkable wines.  Maybe this is the reason that I don't have to sell wines from this nation, people can blindly buy wines from Spain without the need for advice and get something, at very least, drinkable.

So I decided to try two wines from the major wine maker Torres, their Sangre de Toro and their Gran Sangre de Toro. 

2008 Torres Sangre de Toro
This blend of Garnacha & Carinena has a little bit of sweet strawberry aroma, some meat fat element coming through too.  There is just a bit of dried herb as well, but the nose is pretty simple.  The palate has a lot of sweetness, no structure whatsoever.  It has sweet fruit, overly confected licquorice and not a slightest element of interest.  There is a bitter darker note on the back end, with something that reminds me of cheap Cabernet.  If you get it for £5 or £6 it is worth it, if boring, any more than that and you are wasting your money.  5/10

2005 Torres Gran Sangre de Toro Reserva
Again a sweet nose, but this shows some depth and quality.  The aroma is of dried fruit,  richer, sweeter dates and prunes with some chocolate and sweet cherry on the nose.  Also some dates as well.  The palate is rich, with some good cherry stone and leather coming off.  There is also a hint of teriyaki beef jerky.  A chewy, chunkier wine, some interersting cocoa flavours, firm tannin but it is the finish that lets this down, tasting almost like a dried out Australian Syrah.  This Garnacha, Mazuelo & Syrah blend retails around the £10 mark, and there is just so many better wines available for this price, and that scores massively against it.  3.5/10