Bodegas LAN Rioja Crianza `06 $10.99 ***

Comfort food and comfort wine.  That was our evening. I've written a lot about my beloved Tempranillo.  This wine is complex, fruity, brooding and well balanced.  It is a mouthful of flavor, and it is better off balanced with food...fatty food.  JPH knocked it out of the park with home made burgers, stewed onion & peppers, roasted cherry tomatoes and pan fried potatoes.  S. sat down at the table and exclaimed "Comfort Food".

Now for the wine.  This is a rustic wine.  Textured, a lot like the unseasonal (57 degrees outside in January?  Really??) grilled hamburgers that we had .  Juicy, but with a hint of char and full of flavor.  I made a comment about "chewing on a mouth full" of this wine, and I stand by it. Flavor and balance all in one bottle, and for $10.99 - we've had a few of these bottles so far this winter, and it really is a great find.

From Bodgeas LAN 100% Tempranillo, 13.5% ETOH. Rioja is an amazing wine region producing some really nice, inexpensive wines. Thank you.

And as an added bonus, their back label actually teaches us something.  I love the graph telling you when the wine is at its peak.  This may be my favorite label of the year (so far)