This past week saw us taking it a bit easier and that led us to thinking about our usual Rosemary & Lemon Roasted Chicken. We paired it with brown Basmati rice and fresh green salad. I looked for a lovely wine to pair with our meal, and thought I came up with a nice option – the 2009 Seniorio de Aldaz Tempranillo. The nose was killer! It was rich and powerful, but the mouth was out of whack, very unbalanced, and missing the point. I had to stop drinking the wine and went to find another bottle, and came up with the Trader Joe N.V. Banero Prosecco.

For lunch we had a nice cholent, but it is far from perfected to write it down yet – keep glued to this blog for the final version.

The Seniorio de Aldaz Tempranillo was the real shame. It opens to a powerful nose but that fades with time. The mouth starts very tannic, which does not bother me, and then goes scary. I have now tasted the Banero a few more times since our last tasting, and I think that the original notes are a bit off – as there is less or no muscat flavors than I remember from the original tasting.

The notes are listed below in the order they were tasted:

2009 Senorio De Aldaz Tempranillo (Spain, Navarra) – Score: B- to B
The nose on this bright garnet to purple colored wine is hopping with raspberry, crushed herbs, kirsch cherry, ripe plum, mineral/rock/gravel, bramble, blueberry, and tons of floral notes. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is unfortunately its downfall; it is far too out of balance with strong floral, blueberry, and cherry notes up front, without enough characteristics balancing it out. The mouth follows with plum, raspberry, and not yet integrated tannins. The mid palate is acidic with unbalanced tannin, mineral, and more floral notes. The finish is long and rocky (pun intended) with gripping tannin, more unbalanced fruit, and floral notes. The floral notes, cherry, and blueberry linger on the palate.

N.V. Banero Prosecco – Score B+
The nose on this straw colored Prosecco is screaming with a lovely bubble fest, along with a nice muscat nose, perfume, orange rind, yeast, toast, and honey. The mouth on this rich medium bodied wine starts off with a hit of bitterness, apple, honey, prolonged small mousse bubbles, and toast. The mid palate is core with acidity, toast, and drop of yeast, and orange peel. The finish is long and mousse-y with honey, slight bitterness, and toast. This is a wine that has a bit of beer bitterness at the start, which fades a bit, but lingers with a nice balance of perceived sweetness from the honey notes. The mouth is rich with small mousse bubbles that lie on your palate for a very long time, long after the wine is gone.