Pesquera Reserva Especial 2001

2 wines, a veritable smorgasbord of antipasti, well hung rib-eye steaks and Real Madrid vs. Athletico on TV...very possibly the perfect night in?!

Sadly the football was less than exciting but the undisputed champion of the night was the red wine. It's a late release vintage 2001 Pesquera Reserva Especial from the Ribera Del Duero region in Spain.

My first experience of Pesquera came many years ago when a somewhat chagrined customer opened up a couple of his bottles of his 1994 Gran Reservas for me to taste. Not a regular occurrence in wine retail I assure you, but he was so adamant that the entire case was corked he started cracking open bottles just to prove his point.

His main argument was that as they looked red/brown in colour and tasted spicy and stewed they must have suffered from cork taint. Of course the customer is always right so I was more than happy to agree, whilst being secretly blown away by the stunning quality of a fully mature Gran Reserva and from that day onwards I’ve been hooked.

This wine isn’t a GR but it is certainly an expression of the sheer quality of any Pesquera wine and the potential that hides within almost every Ribera Del Duero wine. Deep and rich flavours of dark cherries and soft sweet spice flavours but it’s the balance and velvety smooth finish that really makes this wine stand out from the crowd.

A wine like this is a very rare find. Not because it is inherently so much better than other wines at the same price point it’s the fact that it’s sold at peak, sold ready to drink. I’m sure that if I had bought and stored this wine for the last 7 years I wouldn’t be as impressed as I am. But I bought this wine today and it drinks perfectly straight out of the bottle, no disappointment, no feeling that I’ve wasted my money on potential rather than drinking pleasure.

I’m not saying that maturity is the be all and end all and it’s certainly no guarantee of quality or value for money.  I’m just saying that it is so refreshing to find a good value fine wine that is easily available and drinks to perfection straight out of the box.