Wine Review: Alonso del Yerro 2010 Ribera del Duero

It's been well documented that perhaps my most favorite wine region in the world is Spain's Ribera del Duero (if it's not tied with France's Loire Valley). It's also been well documented that I love Tempranillo, and in Ribero del Duero they call their Tempranillo by the name Tinto Fino. So when RiberaRuedaWine.com contacted me about reviewing a Ribera and a Rueda I sprung at it like Dennis Wideman taking down a linesman.

Vinedos Alonso del Yerro was established in 2002, in the Ribera del Duero town of Finca Santa Marta, by Javier Alonso and María del Yerro. Their consultant is from Bordeaux: the famous vigneron Stéphane Derenoncourt. Their winemaker is the young Lionel Gourgue, also from France.

This is the firstof two wines that were sent to me by RiberaRuedaWines.com, the second being Bodegas Veganzones 912 de Altitud 2014 "Tierra Arenosa" Rueda.

Any time I have a 2010 vintage it's special to me because that was the best year of my life. On September 9th, 2010 my daughter Lillian Rose was born. So every time I drink a wine from that year I smile and enjoy it a whole lot more. Recently I even got a tattoo on my arm of a Lily flower that says "Lillian" above it and "9/8/10" underneath. 

During that tattoo session the artist got up and put on Acid's self-titled debut album, something you wouldn't expect from a girl in her 20's even if she's clearly into metal. But I was three years old when that album came out in 1983 and I couldn't tell you how many times I listened to it years later in my musically formative years. So right on the first note of the album I was brought right back to being a kid again, and that's what I'm listening to tonight while I write this review. Old-school metal, bitches.

Back to the wine. I like the simplified label towards the top end of the tall bottle, and the little blue grape leaf. It looks slick and like a serious bottle of wine. Like it's something they pull out of that massive wine room at Morton's Steakhouse in Boston and costs you your entire weekly paycheck. Luckily for all of us it'll only set you back $21 retail.

The ABV of this wine is 14.7%. It's 100% Tempranillo and was aged 10 to 15 months in new and used French oak from Bordeaux. The color of the wine is a deep, dense reddish-purple and leaves some long, thick legs on the glass. This baby is a teeth stainer. This baby will leave your head hurting in the morning. Be sure to drink plenty of water.

DEM BLACK CHERRIES THO
IMAGE SOURCE: 692olive.com

The nose shows off a great combination of fruit and oak with aromas of black cherries, plums, licorice, sweet pipe tobacco and charcoal. It's medium to full bodied with sweet tannins in the mouth. There's flavors of black cherries, blackberries, plum skins and a touch of chocolate. It finishes very dry with tart cranberry and smoking cherry wood.

It's more fruit-forward than I was expecting, but that actually might be to be expected. Super oaked-up, earthy Tempranillo are on their way out in Spain. That's the way things used to be done because Tempranillo can be rather bland sometimes and take in characteristics of other things (such as oak). But now with the spread of knowledge and sharing of information, and a rising willingness to break with tradition, the character of Tempranillo has come out of the barrel and we're now seeing more fruit-driven Rioja's and Ribera's. As much as I love an overly-oaked Tempranillo, this is not a bad thing. It's time for the grape to shine.

This is a nice Tempranillo and a nice Ribera, and for $21 it's a good deal. But please pair it with a steak or some lamb. When this wine was released in 2013 it was said by reviewers to give it another year, and three years later it's still powerful. Using it to help chew your ribeye is a great idea.

QUALITY VS PRICE RATING

Price: $21

Rating: 4/5 = Recommended (what does that mean?)

The bottle used was supplied free of charge by RiberaRuedaWine.com for the purpose of this unpaid review. To have your wine reviewed follow this link.