Chronic Negress

Thanks to the man who mans Wine Post, our Wine Blogging Wednesday assignment for this month was to revisit a favorite and then write the post in twice the amount of time it took you to enjoy the wine. My pick was the 2007 Can Blau from the Montsant region of Spain. I love this wine for it elegance, richness and price (around $14 everywhere except where the Negress lives in Maryland). I opened the bottle at about 5 p.m. on Monday, retrieved one of my better Spiegelau glasses from the hutch and poured Glass No. 1 at 5:05. After preparing  Trader Joe’s vegetable samosas, I sat down with the wine and the food and started to enjoy. The samosas vanished quickly and I poured another glass, noting how nicely the blend of Carinena, Syrah and Garnacha played off the spiciness of the samosas. With the second glass, I started to notice the deep notes of blackberry and black cherry on the palate. The wine is made by Australian Liz Reed and Catalan winemaker Ricard Rofes. The Montsant region wraps around Priorat  like a horseshoe, and offer wines of similar body to its pricey neighbor but at a much more agreeable price. I first heard about this wine from the Cervantes Institute master of Spanish wines Helio San Miguel. Miguel offered a tasting  at the New York cultural center where all of the wines were made by female winemakers. I’ve been in love with it ever since. However, the third glass was not the charm during this time tasting. I got slightly woozy but finished the glass by 7 p.m. I really did finish the glass since when I went to the sink to wash it out I managed to break it but contained the fragments to the sink. Thank Heaven Spiegelau replacements are fairly easy to find. I have about a half bottle of the Can Blau left. It was my last bottle so I would like to get another case to be on the safe side.