Abadia Retuerta Seleccion Especial
90pts Robert Parker Jr.

I was first introduced to this wine with the ’01 vintage, which took home multiple titles the year it was release. Then I discovered the ’03 sitting in a massive wine store in Las Vegas. So I was curious to see how the ’05 stacked up. I know I should have let this one age for a little while longer but curiosity got the best of me. Plus I had a great friend who enjoyed wine over that night, so the excuse to open it trumped keeping it in the wine cellar.

The makeup of this red blend is 75% tempranillo, 20% cabernet savignon and 5% merlot. In my opinion, I’d almost consider this a Spanish Bordeaux blend. The reason for that is because it is awfully close to a California Bordeaux that generally consists of Cab, Merlot and Cab franc (in that order). I was very curious how the merlot played into the mix of tempranillo and cab. I consider the tempranillo grape Cabernet Sauvignon’s younger cousin. It is full bodied, ripens fairly quickly and matures a bit quicker then the cab. So if you are looking to age a tempranillo, I’d say 4-6 years is optimal.

This wine did not dissapoint in the slightest way. My only regret is that I should have opened this earlier in the day as it probably could have blossomed even further had it some more time to breathe. I did decant it, but still could have used a few more hours.

The first thing I noticed about this wine was the color. Deep, deep purple. Judging my the color alone, I was in for a big wine. I could barely see two fingers underneath the glass (the official way to judge clarity).

Immediately on the nose was the feeling of a bit of blueberries mixed with dirt. The earthiness of the wine was already apparent on the first whiff. A little leather was trying to peak out, but the berries smacked it down a notch.

But wow! An overall beautiful mouth feel. Minor tannins on the mid-palate, but you had to really strain your taste buds to feel them. Is was more the tannins were lightly tip-toeing across my tongue than hitting it with a sledgehammer.

The taste of dirt was more evident once I tasted it. The berries soon took a back seat to a bit of leather. That was probably due to the merlot coming out on the nose and the tempranillo filling the senses on the sip.

Abadia Retuerta did a wonderful job marrying two close-in-taste grapes with the Merlot to make a harmonious red blend. I’d recommend this for a departure from the ordinary variatal. This company is the only one I’ve tried with those three grapes put together.

If you live in Marin County, I’d recommend picking up the wine bottle at Sabor of Spain, or if you are outside of the county lines, you can find it at napacabs.com. I’d lay it down for a few more years before opening this jewel.