Car-ry Me Car-a-van, Take Me A-way, Take Me to Por-tu-gal, Take Me to Spain

Borsao, Tres Picos, Garnacha, Campo de Borja, Spain '06

This time round, our long lost buddy Jim Morrison gets the headline - it's another round, another vintage, another chance for you to knock boots with a bottle or three of Tres Picos Garnacha. The epic Spanish elixir that you crave incessantly all year long - awaiting its return like the blooms on the heirloom tea rose bush outside the kitchen window. When it hits, its all about abundance, and giving it up just like a flower should - no holding back. The color you say? Like Moroccan fabric dye. The aromas? Well, like that tea rose bush. As for what really counts, I say on the raw sensory pleasure scale (RSPS) which spans 1-50, I'm giving this jugo a solid 42! Again, this vintage is a contender for red wine value of the year! $11.99 retail...sheesh!

Not unlike its blended sibling, the 2006 Tres Picos Garnacha is shockingly lavish, deep and crammed with sweet toasty fruit. In the nose, there is a boundless, let me say that again - boundless - bouquet of mature red fruits with traces of flowers that are typical of the best Garnachas. In the mouth, it is rich and well-structured all together conveying flavors of blackberries, strawberries and tones of leather, charred oak, vanilla and plums.

I’m thinking slow roasted chicken stuffed with lemon, butter, coarse salt, thyme and marjoram. Some woodfire grilled fennel sausages, a salad of frisee, blood orange, and oil-cured olives and a nice hunk of Manchego to go along with a good baguette. Hey batt’a, batt’a, batt’a, batt’a - hey, batt’a, batt’a - shhwwingg!

Importer: Jorge Ordonez, Dedham, MA