October 2012.

Being in Rioja feels like touring Napa in about 1961.

This little restaurant in the main town was fabulous.  It opened at 830, and we stood around with a dozen other customers at the tapas bar waiting for that hour, and managed to get the guy behind the bar to understand we wanted to start a bottle of wine.  I signed to him we wanted to see the list, but he pulled out a bottle and started opening a 2003 Rioja.  I was getting a little nervous, having in mind being able to choose one of the producers that I knew, but I could also see Robin setting her jaw in anticipation of a repeat performance of walking out of an expensive Barcelona restaurant when thy wouldn’t split the 2-person special the previous evening.  I shut up and drank the wine: boy was I not disappointed.

What a beautiful balanced little red, and when the bill came: €12!  Lovely evolving empyromatics and old fruits, and an unassuming balance that said to me, accustomed to bitter awkward B.C. reds for over $40, “What’s the problem?  Can’t any halfass capable producer make a near-perfect wine for under 20 bucks?”  Food jammed with flavor: black pudding with preserved soft red pepper, and a falling-off-the-bone roast baby lamb.  And the wine!  We must organize a return trip and smuggle-importation of a couple of cases.

8.6 overall.