Borsao Red Wine

Wine: Borsao Red Wine.

Grapes: Garnacha (75 percent), tempranillo (25 percent)

Region: Zaragoza, Northern Spain

Vintage: 2008

Price: $6.99

In the glass: Borsao wine is a deep, dark blackish-red color with a dense opaque blood-red core going out into a dark purplish-red rim definition with high viscosity.

On the nose: There are upfront pungent, spicy crushed black and red plums with a very juicy character, blackberry liqueur, pomegranate juice, sandalwood, exotic spices, herb references, cherry sorbet and earthy minerals.

On the palate: There are concentrated and extracted freshly crushed cherries, currants, brambleberries, mulberry sauce and huckleberry coulis, followed by a hugely rounded midpalate with excellent tannin structure and a good long finish with hints of pomegranate juice and spicy figs. It lingers for a while, demonstrating it is a well-made wine from a good vintage that has aging potential, in addition to being a good value.

Odds and ends: Borsao has vineyards that climb up limestone and iron-rich slopes to altitudes of about 2,000 feet. The plantings here can be more than 100 years old, and because of the age of the vines, the yields are small (about 2 tons per acre) and tremendously concentrated. Because the company has access to plenty of fantastic fruit that other wineries can only dream about, it has the prerogative to create a great bargain wine. It also is a great food wine, and now that the weather is warming up, you will want to bring this out by the grill and enjoy it with steak. Just remember to stick it in the fridge for a couple of hours prior to opening it outside, because it will get warm fast and will not be as good then. It should easily drink well now through 2012.

Gil Lempert-Schwarz’s wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.