Finca Antigua

An earthy Tempranillo, this was the second highest rated wine of Spain Night. With a balanced, dry finish, it had notes of fennel, thyme, dark stone fruits, and dates.

This was really the kind of rich, ruby colored red I expect from a Spanish wine. It falls in that $10.99 sweet spot ( although I actually read in the LA Times Food section that 25 bucks was the new sweet spot because of the recession - 25 bucks???? are you f****in' kidding me???? I like the LA Time Food Section but that's like saying domestic Wagyu beef is hot because Kobe beef from Japan is too much of a luxury in these "uncertain economic times.")

Okay, enough of a rant. Seriously, I think you can get good value from Finca Antigua. Although, I do have to say that I was let down a bit by the BBS Spanish Night. I expected more from Spain in this price range. It could be perhaps that the Spanish wines I was loving over the past few years have been bumped up into a higher tax bracket. Or we're just getting jacked by the Euro.

Or we didn't yet find those jewels of the under 12.99 set.

I have one more to review from the Brown Bag East - my Mom and Dad had a bottle and emailed in their report.

This bottle was $10.99 and available at Vendome Liquors.

NEXT UP: Paso Robles

RATING: 2.5 Screwcaps
LABEL: Finca Antigua
GRAPE: Tempranillo
PRICE: $10.99

Marques de la Concordia

This dusty, tannic Tempranillo had flavors of coffee, agave, black cherry with a little bit of tart blueberry on the back end.

It was the last wine we tried on BBS Spanish Night, and it scored in the respectable mid-range. It wasn't an outstanding wine especially not for the 13.99 price tag (it's hard to enforce the Brown Bag Sommelier price point rule of 12.99 or less).

But what was outstanding was what we paired it with. Newcomer Brown Baggers Dominique and Cindi brought these incredible chocolate chip cookies. What made them so good was that they had a hint of chili as well as salt. It was an incredible execution of a sweet and savory snack that paired very well with wine.

And it really brought some more flavors out of this Tempranillo which was having trouble performing.

I am trying to get the recipe from Dominique, and will post it in this space. I highly recommend you try this recipe. He told me that it might take some time getting the proportion of sweet to spicy to salty right. But when you do, you have this chocolate chip cookie that goes so well with red wine and is a really great food pairing to bring to casual wine tastings.

Watch in this spot for the recipe. I'll be updating it shortly.

RATING: 2 Screwcaps
LABEL: Marques de la Concordia
GRAPE: Tempranillo
PRICE: $13.99