I would like to serve a Spanish red wine with a Roast Leg of Lamb for our Christmas Dinner. Any suggestions on variety and vintner? I need to purchase it here in the USA.

My personal favorite is Marques de Riscal Reserva.
It's a widely available Rioja for $15-$20.

gsobotta,

I'm rather partial to Solaz. It's a very mild wine and I buy it at either an ethnic, Italian grocery like Nino Savaggio's or Randazzo's and I've even seen it at party stores with a large selection of wine. Usually about $9.95 a bottle.

gsobotta,
I like dry light red wines like Mongo's Marqués de Riscal Reserva, or Marquéz de Cáceres. But with lamb you can also have a more robust red like Torres Gran Sangre de Toro. About the same price. All are under twenty dollars at most wine stores.

Buen gusto,
Carmen

I'd love to make a suggestion but before you need to find out what Spanish reds are available to you locally. These things changes greatly around the States, although the ones already mentioned are fairly widely marketed and you shouldn't have any trouble finding them.

They are all perfectly fine choices, but if I had to pick I'd go with the riojas mentioned or even the Sangre de Toro.

I just discovered that MadridMan has a wonderful section on Spanish Wines in his portal! You may want to visit it before you buy.

gsobotta,

I just noticed that you are a fellow Michigander. They ought to have a Nino's or a Randazzo's on your side of Detroit. If not, come over to the east side. But Parkway party store on 16Mile and Groesbeck has better prices and most of the time a better selection including all those listed above.

Uh, oh MadridMan. I'm not advertising. I'm just a customer, frequent though I might be at these fine establishments. Just trying to be helpful.

Thank you everyone for your help. I decided on Marques De Riscal Rioja Reserva 2000. It should work very well with my roasted leg of lamb marinated in red wine, Spanish olive oil, herbs de Provence and garlic. We wanted something other than turkey, so our Christmas Dinner will have a Mediterranean flavor. Merry Christmas Everyone.

Altos de Luzón 2002 (Jumilla) is my latest discovery. I tried it for the first time two weeks ago and seven people agreed it was a blast. I you have the chance dont let it go.

Juan Gil, from the same region (Jumilla) is also making a lot of noise:

http://dat.erobertparker.com/bboard/showthread.php?t=76886

Andres

Andres -
Thanks for the info and link. There's a Spanish wine loving family that owns a small market near me - and I just printed out your part of this post to pass on to him. With luck perhaps he will get some of the Altos de Luzon or Bodegas Juan Gil ....

I tried the Juan Gil 2004 yesterday and I am going to try it again tomorrow to check that the wine is as good as I think it is.

From that comment, I'm guessing that you really really liked the Juan Gil

Well considering that they are using the Monastrell grape to make it (not one of my favorites at all) the wine is a blast.
Another recommendation: Pintia 2002 the only affordable Vega Sicilia wine. Decant it for half and hour, at least.

Raving reviews are coming in for Pintia. The winery belongs to Vega Sicilia, but the wine is made in Toro and, therefore, shouldn't be considered a Vega Sicilia (technically speaking), which is made in Ribera del Duero. Still, you're right, the price is much more reasonable, I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 euros.

Toro is one of the hot spots in the Spanish wine scene these days. I bought one while back in the States and thought it was very good. It was called "Oro" playing on the region, Toro, and it went for something like 8 or 9 dollars.

Try "Cune" it's a great red wine with an incredible quality-cost.

So, which one did you have after all? If you are interested in reading some tasting notes and getting more info on Spanish wine visit www.catavino.net.
I tried a wine mentioned on the site, Maduresa, from Valencia. It was fabulous!
I agree with Pippo, Cune is nice too,and you can get it in the US. And Toro is great.. Also try some smaller but also great regions like Montsant or Priorato.
Salud!
j.

gotta go w/ Campillo, my favorite.

Primero 2005
Winery: Fariña
Region: Toro

A hell of a wine. You don't know whether you are smelling a wine or you just entered a candy shop. Pears as I have never smelled before. Easier to drink than water. Amazing.

That's a good one Andrés. I think it's a carbonic maceration wine, the fermentation process normally begins within the grape; it is a young wine and should be drunk within its first year. They are known for being very aromatic and fruity.

Right between the eyes, Murdy.
Carbonic maceration or, in other words, 'Beaujolais nouveau'. And to think that there are many Americans that consider the Spanish wine industry inferior to the French one....
http://dat.erobertparker.com/bboard/showthread.php?t=80393&highlight=fari%F1a

I tried Abrazo Cariñena Gran Reserva 1996 and really liked it. Maybe for sentimental reasons because that was grandfather's homeland or is it a dog and my palate not discerning enough? The label read that Cariñena was one of the three varietals. I recognize garnacha and tempranillo, but am I confused? I thought Cariñena was only an appellation. By the way how much does it cost it Spain?

It's both. Cariñena, the grape, is native to Aragon and gets its name from the town and region. In English (and French, I believe) it's called Carignan. Many of you have probably tried Cariñena without knowing it because it is often used for blending in riojas; but there it goes by the name Mazuela or Mazuelo.

Old-vine Cariñena also plays a big role in the powerful and intense wines from Priorat in Cataluña.

The wine region of D.O. Cariñena,ironically less than 10% of the vineyards have this grape. Most use Garnacha and Tempranillo. Foreign grapes are becoming popular too. But it is making a comback.

Cariñena, the wine, traditionally was very a strong, rustic wine and not considered to be especially sophisticated. Wineries are now making some excellent wine for very low prices. Most wines cost less than 10 euros, and many go for less than 5. I've even tried a decent crianza for 1 euro.

So, if you liked the wine, it's probably because it was good. Trust your instincts!

I don't know what the Abrazo costs off hand, but I'll see if I can find the price. Do you know the winery?

I bought it at the local grocery store for about $12 bucks and hate to pay more here in the States for something that can be reasonably priced in the home country. I threw the bottle away last night so I can't tell you the winery. I'll get another.

I remember as a child by dad taking the garafa to the bodega and getting wine for the week--barely paying anything for it then filling the home barriles so they could take on the flavor of the oak.

I think I like that blend better than the Shiraz and Garnacha which is what I've been putting on the table for dinner lately.

I couldn't find the wine either in the Spanish guides, but I did track it down on the internet. It's made by Covinca, which is one of the many cooperatives in that area. Cooperatives have improved their quality a lot over the past few years, and normally their wines are among the cheapest.

Wineries will sometimes sell wines under different labels in the US for marketing reasons, so maybe that's what has happened. As for the price, it's hard to say what that would have cost originally. Mark-ups can be considerable for lots of reasons, and you have to figure in the exchange rate. This might have cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-7 euros in Spain, but that's just a wild guess. Glad you enjoyed it.

The good thing about the American market is that people are more willing to try wines from different regions because they don't have any pre-conceived opinions about Spanish wine regions. That's why many unknown wineries search heavily for foreign markets.