Casajus Vendimia Seleccionada 2006

So today, to make things easier, I have a slight CWT adjustment I'd like to announce. Starting with this post, each wine I blog about will be PWC's selection for Thirsty Thursdays. That means on Thursdays from 5:30-9, you can come in to Personal Wine Cellar and try whatever wine I reviewed on the previous Tuesday. How do I know this? Because I'll be the one pouring the samples. Boo-yeah!

This week I have a really nice wine for you. It's a Tempranillo with a great rating (The Wine Advocate gives it 91 points) and some fun facts to boot: Casajus Vendimia Seleccionada 2006.

unless you want this guy
 spitting in your food, I
 would recommend NOT
calling him "Garcon"

Looking at the label, I came up with this whole story (in my head of course) based on a loose translation of what I think "Casajus" would mean in English. That would be either "house juice," as in: "Excuse me, Garcon, but what is your house juice this evening?"
-OR-
"juice house," as in: "Here is the house where we make our juice." (ta-da!)

Neither, surprisingly enough, is the case. Upon doing a little research I discovered that the wine is named for Jose Alberto Casajus, the owner of the Bodega Casajus vineyards where the wine is produced. What's more, Jose Alberto is the only employee of Bodega Casajus AND the town's baker! So he bakes bread until 9:00am, then heads across the street to the Bodega and makes some wines. You cannot make this stuff up.

Ghost approves.

And, as it turns out, Casajus Vendimia Seleccionada is an excellent wine. When you pour a glass, the first thing you'll notice is the heavy color-- deep red, bordering on purple (as Tempranillo tends to be). The scent is very juicy with strong aromas of grape and cherry. The taste is not nearly as fruity as the smell though. There is a pretty high mineral concentration and you can taste and feel it as it travels in your mouth. You can definitely detect the soil where the grapes are grown in the wine (which I think is very cool). There is an earthy quality in the finish that some tasters might be on the fence about, depending on if you like that sort of thing...I do.

I paired the wine with homemade baked mac n' cheese and ham. It wasn't a great match, and I didn't go for a second glass with my meal. I'd recommend pairing the Casajus with something more complex and/or spicy, like jambalaya.

This wine's a little more expensive than many I review here, so all the better if you come in and try it (for free, of course) before you buy it.

Price: $$

Rating: B+