Tag Archives: La Mancha

Casa La Teja D.O. La Mancha Airén – Sauvignon Blanc 2009

Here we have a white wine by Bodegas Yuntero, Jesús del Perdón from the la Mancha district in Spain. A district that gets lots of sun. The wine is blended from Airén 85% and Sauvignon Blanc 15%. The owners focus on 100% sustainable viticulture. The wine is also made from certified organically grown grapes with an SHC certificate.

Casa La Teja D.O. La Mancha Airén – Sauvignon Blanc 2009Color: Pale straw yellow

Nose: Very fruity and fresh. Hints of banana and peach. Excellent aromatic fruitiness in the nose. Through the nose it promises a nice balance between the sweet and the sour. Although no of the used grapes are common to Alsace, you could have been mistaken trying this blind. Great balance, and a very appealing nose (to me).

Taste: Very soft, velvety and simple and straightforward. Slightest hint of bitterness (grapefruit). Lower in its acidity than I initially expected. A round overall taste without much acidity and also little sweetness without it becoming bone-dry. I expected a little bit more in the taste department. Even the alcohol seems lower than stated. Very light indeed.

Probably meant to be drunk young, but I have to say that a little ageing didn’t do the wine any harm whatsoever. Definitely an aperitif wine with a lovely nose, in the taste too light in my opinion, and if the wine makers would have been able to match the taste to the nose this would be a winner. As said, an aperitif wine which can be combined with light foods as salads and light seafood. Mussels come to mind. I liked the red better.

Points: 76

Casa La Teja D.O. La Mancha Tempranillo – Merlot 2009

Next up is this rather cheap Spanish Wine. My mother made us a very good Moussaka with the recipe she used came the advice to combine it with a Tempranillo from the La Mancha region. So looking around on the many shelves in my “cellar” I spotted this Wine. This is a blend of Tempranillo (85%) and Merlot (15%). How unusual. Casa La Teja is a brand owned by Coop. Jesús del Perdón, and when Jesus loves it, who am I to think otherwise.

Casa La Teja 2009When looking for information about this cooperation, I can find that it is located in Manzanares, and I am led to the www.yuntero.com website. On this site I cannot find this Casa La Teja wine, so I don’t have a lot of hope this will turn out to be something good. Let’s have a go then.

Color: Deep ruby red.

Nose: Very fresh and fruity, the Obvious vanilla-like black currants and cherries, but also the smell of fresh apples. Very likeable and light. Easy, young and very pleasing. It gives off a feeling of warm, dusty soil and silence. Fleshy, buttery and bold. After this a little more on the black or rather red fruits and some more acidic freshness start to play a role. When it gets more air from swirling in the glass a more typical and fleshy Tempranillo smell oozes out of my glass. It’s not very complex but very enjoyable nevertheless.

Taste: Again easy, yet very refined. As the smell predicted, this is not very complex, but it has great body and harmony to it. Not very heavy on the acidity and certainly not a lot of tannins (at first). Given some time to breathe and develop a little, same more tannins emerge, but still not a lot. The apples return as well. Dark cherries, sweet cherries, and come to think of it, it is actually sweeter than I expected. Fruit Sugar and syrup with a hint of licorice. Great easy drinker this is. Lots of blackberries in the finish (the sweet and the sour).

Very easy drinkable and will do good with everything. Good birthday wine, because it will do well on its own. As I said before, the first time I had this was with a very tasty Moussaka and it accompanied that well, so this turns out to be a rather unknown wine, of pretty good quality that is very versatile to boot. Buy by the box.

Points: 84