Shorts.

Today I was at The Wines of Spain tasting and here are a few top choices with more to follow. Bodegas Chivite Expression Varietal Merlot Biologico 2007, Navarra, Spain, £18.35. Stockist: Berry,Brothers & Rudd. Navarra has often played second fiddle to Rioja, yet there are a selection of top producers like Chivite who really deliver high quality wines. A new wine is their organic medium-full bodied complex Merlot, which is full of dark, deep fruit flavours, cloves, chocolate backed by tannic grip.
Marques de Cáceres Reserva 2005, Rioja, Spain, £15.99. Stockist: Majestic with 2004, 2005 to follow soon. A great standard bearer for classy Rioja, Cáceres have always eschewed the use of American oak, previewing the savoury character of French oak. Their 2005 Reserva has only just been released, fruit sourced from 30-35 year old vines, with the wine spending 22 months in oak. 2005 was a stellar vintage in Rioja and this Reserva is only just starting to loosen up, well–structured, underlying intense dark fruit character, good balance of fruit and oak. Decant 4-5 hours before serving.
Marques de Cáceres Gran Reserva 2001, Rioja, Spain, £18.99. Stockist: Templier Wines, thedrinkshop.com Cheers Wine Merchants. From another exceptional vintage, fruit from 50 year old vines, 26 months in French oak and five years in bottle. Rich, concentrated, good depth of fruit flavours, cinnamon, cloves, this is drinking now and can be enjoyed for another ten years.