1. 2006 Anares Reserva Rioja: $25 or so, and 90 points scores here and there. What a huge disappointment! This wine should be elegant, big, with fine oaky tannins and with its fruit still lively. In reality, it is thin, acidic, with no fruit. Just a disaster. A good Rioja should easily last this long.
2. 2016 Altovinum evodia Garnacha: An Eric Solomon import. Old-vine Spanish Garnacha should show forward purple fruits and great balance while still impressing with its heft. This wine (a gift to me) was also thin, with no fruit character and nothing positive enough to make us want to drink it. Another stunning disappointment. Yet it got 91 points by Jeb Dunnuck (Wine Advocate). Not an expensive bottle, but there are good $10 Garnachas. This just isn't one of them. Shame on the well-respected Solomon house for importing such a poor wine.
So this was a good Spanish dinner that saw no even halfway-decent wine served.
It goes to show: Don't assume a gift wine is a good one. Don't assume a high-scoring wine is a good one. The safest approach is to buy more than one of a wine, and the week before your event, open one to see how it's showing, and then (hopefully) you can open its twin for the big show, and all will be well.
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