Alejandro Fernandez with a side of Lamb

Today is my day off. Like most of my days off I try to really live it up. Most people my age might disagree, but living it up to me is putting a big piece of meat in the oven on a low heat, reading a couple hundred pages in a book and drinking half a bottle of good wine while I wait for the meat to cook. Then, once dinner is ready, polishing off the second half of that bottle. So today I did just that. I bought some lamb and a bottle of Alejandro Fernandez's 2004 Dehesa La Granja, 100% Temparnillo. I put the lamb on a low temp and opened up the bottle to get a little taste. The aromas exploded out of the glass… cider spice notes and blackberry aromas. The first taste was exactly what I wanted from this wine, sweet spices covered with dark berry notes followed by smooth silky tannins. Excellent!

Alejandro Fernandez is a living icon of modern Spanish wine, Alejandro Fernández was one of the first in his country to return to biodynamic, low yield viticulture in order to produce concentrated oak-aged red wines capable of extended bottle aging. Alejandro was the person to rein in his fellow wine makers in the Ribera del Duero and say "Hey we can make world class wine here, that shows the grape and the land." That is exactly what he did.

The wine has developed gracefully over the last 3 hours revealing softer tannins and a beautiful acidity. Though the wine has rested in a American oak for 2 years it never seems overwhelming, just apparent enough to understand why it was aged in American oak. This wine was excellent with dinner and really suited the lamb. The wine brought out flavors of the lamb, as well as the lamb with the wine, an overall great pair. Lamb the four letter word of food.