Wine Cave is Available for a Private Dining Experience

"At least once a day you should do something purely for enjoyment, and wine is my way of relaxing." - Young Uck Kim, Wine Collector

We try to do things that are relaxing more than once a day here at the Wine Watch… but that's just us...

We have just been informed by the Consorzio del vino Brunello di Montalcino Montalcino that the Wine Watch has been awarded the prestigious Leccio D’Oro award and I will have to reschedule a few events so that I can attend the Benvenuto Brunello event to receive the award in Montalcino on Saturday November 16th.   

Every year the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino awards a prize called LECCIO D’ORO.
The prize is divided into two sections:
Restaurants (Italian and overseas) and
Wine Shops (Italian and overseas).
The prizes are awarded to the places that have a Wine List with a wide well represented range of Brunello di Montalcino and the other Montalcino wines covering both the various vintages and numerous labels from many different estates.
Past winners of this award include: EATALY, New York, VINO ITALIANO, Boston, PRAELUM, Singapore, HEDONISM WINES, London and ENOTECA “K&L WINE MERCHANTS”, Los Angeles just to name a few of the world’s top wine establishments that Wine Watch has now joined receiving this prestigious award in 2024!

The Penfolds Grange event and the Vintage Madeira event will be back on the schedule soon and the Chateau Mouton Rothschild vertical tasting back to 1982 may have to wait till next year now but we have an incredible line-up of wine personalities coming to South Florida the next few weeks and we will be hosting one of the top names in Spain at the wine bar in a few weeks, Mikel Eguren will be here on Tuesday, November 19th from Sierra Cantabria,  Bodegas Teso La Monja, Senoir San Vicente and Vinedos De Paganos will all be on the table tonight from the Eguren family of wineries.

We just visited the three Rioja properties back in June and Mikel hosted us to an amazing day of tastings and we can’t wait to return the hospitality tonight.  This will be a night to remember as we are opening up the top wines from these properties including the wines that we did not taste on our visit to Rioja!  That’s right the 2020 Sierra Cantabria Magico Rioja that retails for $699 a bottle as well as the 2019 Teso La Monja that sells for $1500 will both be on the table tonight!  You know what I say: “Drink the Good Stuff First”!

The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $275 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.  Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have any dietary restrictions or aversions and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.

Eguren Family Spanish Wine Tasting Featuring Sierra Cantabria, Bodegas Teso La Monja, Senoir San Vicente and Vinedos De Paganos with Special Guest Owner Mikel Eguren
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
7:30 PM

2022 Sierra Cantabria Organza Rioja Bianco
2020 Sierra Cantabria Finca El Bosque, Rioja DOCa
2020 Sierra Cantabria Rioja Crianza DOCa
2015 Sierra Cantabria Gran Reserva, Rioja DOCa
2020 Sierra Cantabria Magico Rioja DOCa
2011 Vinedos De Paganos El Puntido Rioja Gran Reserva
2020 Senoir San Vicente Rioja
2020 Bodegas Teso La Monja Romanico Toro
2021 Bodegas Teso La Monja Almirez Toro
2021 Teso La Monja Victorino Toro
2021 Bodegas Teso la Monja Alabaster Toro
2019 Teso La Monja, Toro

Menu
Pata Negra, Manchego and Stuffed Spanish Olives
Papas a Rioja
Torta Espana with Roasted Pepper Puree
Australian Lamb Chops with Garlic Jalapeno Mint Jam
Dolce de Leche Flan

The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $275 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.  Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have any dietary restrictions and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.

About the Eguren Family
Bodegas Sierra Cantabria was founded by Guillermo Eguren, a self-made bodeguero, who was, in the family tradition, a viticulturist. His family, native to San Vicente de La Sonsierra, one of the most sought after terroirs in Rioja, had grown grapes in Rioja Alavesa since the 1870’s. For decades the family sold their grapes to local producers, but Guillermo recognized the potential that his family's vineyards had to create great wine, and founded Bodegas Sierra Cantabria in 1957. Today, the fourth generation of the Eguren family directs all aspects of the winemaking process, with Marcos Eguren as the winemaker and director of operations and his brother Miguel Angel Eguren as the general manager.

The family still prides themselves as viticulturists first, and as a result, all of the grapes are estate grown, and they do not source fruit from any third party source. As viticulturists in Rioja Alavesa, they grow a vast majority of Tempranillo, with only a small percentage of Garnacha and Graciano, as they recognize that Garnacha and Graciano do not ripen reliably in northern Rioja, and they do not want to source their Garnacha and Graciano from Rioja Baja.

Viñedos Sierra Cantabria was a project started by the Eguren family around 1995 with the goal of producing and showcasing the finest wines they could possibly make from their finest vineyards that produce distinctly unique expressions of Tempranillo. Due to the history of viticulture in their family, the Eguren family takes pride in understanding their vineyards to a degree which is rare in the winemaking world.

Today, the original wines produced by Bodegas Sierra Cantabria have been combined with the wines created under the Viñedos Sierra Cantabria brand to form a cohesive collection under the Viñedos y Bodegas Sierra Cantabria brand.

The Viñedos y Bodegas Sierra Cantabria collection is built upon a foundation of classic style Rioja wines made from a blend of selected vineyards. Due to their viticultural background, the family’s wines are composed of mostly Tempranillo, as they recognize that Garnacha and Graciano do not ripen reliably in Northern Rioja.

As the business and customer demand evolved over the years it has allowed other projects such as Viñedos Sierra Cantabria to take shape. These were created from the family's collection of single vineyard wines.

From this selection of single vineyards, they produce a series of ageing declassified, small production boutique wines, which all attempt to showcase the unique microclimate, soils, and terroir of each vineyard. Through this unique process, they are also able to demonstrate the different expressions of Tempranillo that are possible, even within a single subzone of Rioja.

Sierra Cantabria Cuvée, the entry level wine, is produced from La Llana, a vineyard located planted in loamy soils on the northern banks of the Ebro river, which produces a distinctly mineral expression of Tempranillo. Sierra Cantabria Reserva Única is a select blend of the best Reserva tier wine that the winery has that is submitted to a strict blending process and given a luxurious barrel treatment. Sierra Cantabria Colección Privada is produced from two very old vineyards planted in the 1950’s that marries two very classic Rioja winemaking styles – destemmed maceration and whole cluster carbonic maceration. Finca El Bosque is produced from the vineyard of the same name. This vineyard is an absolutely spectacular expression of Tempranillo, planted in iron and nutrient rich soils that are extremely well drained due to the uncommonly high proportion of large rounded stones in the soil. The high drainage reduce yields while the concentration of nutrients and minerals produces a deep, intense, and structured wine that the Eguren family believe is the ultimate expression of structure and intensity that Tempranillo can achieve. Finally, Amancio is the family’s top Rioja wine, and is named for Marcos and Miguel’s grandfather, who planted the intermixed La Veguilla vineyard by himself starting in 1966.

The Eguren family started this project after the resounding success of the aging declassified, single vineyard, single variety, single cellar wine San Vicente.

All the wines from the Eguren family available at Wine Watch on SALE!!

2022 Sierra Cantabria Organza Rioja Bianco
Price: $40.50                    Sale $35.64
Viura (45%), Malvasía (25%) and Garnacha Blanca (30%).  Bright yellow colour with golden hues. Complex and intense on the nose with fi ne aromas reminiscent of stone fruits, spring herbs and spicy notes. The palate is refreshing, crisp, complex and very elegant. Pure and delicate.

2016 Sierra Cantabria Reserva Rioja
Price: $30.00                    Your Price: $26.40
Sierra Cantabria Crianza is one of the flagship age-classified Rioja bottling produced by the Eguren family of San Vicente de la Sonsierra. While the family is most well known for their single cru classified bottlings, they produce outstanding ageing classified wines from their estate vineyards in San Vicente. While this category is dominated by blends of purchased fruit sourced from many growers across the entire appellation, the Eguren family are one of the few (if not the only) families in Rioja that produce an estate grown and bottled Reserva from a single village - in this case, San Vicente de la Sonsierra, one of the most respected villages for Tempranillo in Spain.

2015 Sierra Cantabria Gran Reserva, Rioja DOCa, Spain
Price: $50.00                    Your Price: $44.00          Quantity in Stock: 8
(93 Points) I hadn't tasted a Gran Reserva from Sierra Cantabria since the 2012, and the 2015 Gran Reserva follows the same traditional style: mostly Tempranillo with 2% Graciano matured in American oak barrels, 25% of them new, for 26 months. It's ripe at 14.3% alcohol, with the powerful and velvety house style, but it shows the effect of the warmer and powerful years, especially in the tannins that are more abundant and a little drier. It's a concentrated year that might need more time in bottle.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2019 Sierra Cantabria Reserva Unica Rioja
Price: $35.25                    Your Price: $31.02
The Eguren family are the pioneers in the production of parcel specific single cru wines from Rioja in the Burgundy model. Sierra Cantabria Reserva Única is the family's introduction to their single vineyard range, which is sourced from a spectacular vineyard on the banks of the Ebro River in Labastida. The entire vineyard is vinified as a Reserva, and throughout the aging process, Marcos Eguren carries out a severe barrel selection. The wine is produced every vintage, but in varying quantities (1,500-4,000 cases) depending on the quality of the year. Unica represents a premier cru style Rioja single vineyard with fantastic structure, a seamless texture, and a pure red fruit character.

2020 Sierra Cantabria Rioja Crianza
Price: $22.50                    Your Price: $19.80
(93 Points) An intense Sonsierra wine with a modernist touch, the 2020 Crianza is 100% Tempranillo sourced from San Vicente de la Sonsierra and Labastida, Rioja. Aged for 14 months in oak barrels, this purple wine presents aromas of violets and cherry against a balsamic and herbal backdrop. Dry, juicy and compact on the palate, the taut, fine-grained tannins lead to a lingering, mouthwatering finish. This is a well-crafted Rioja with an enticing style. (JH)  Review Date: 12/2023, Vinous

2020 Sierra Cantabria Magico Rioja
Price: $795.00                 Your Price: $699.60
The wine world is one of sensations and emotions that sweep us away to other places. As Riojans, we are always seeking genuine and pure wines that express their origins, landscape, culture, tradition, ancestors, family and personal experiences.  In this wine, Sierra Cantabria Mágico, all these qualities come together.

Sierra Cantabria Mágico proceeds from a small vineyard: El Vardallo (also known as Las Sepulturas) measuring 1.18 hectares, located in San Vicente de la Sonsierra.

It is a vineyard sown and grafted after and spared from the phylloxera crisis at the beginning of the 20th century, with a wide range of varieties, both red and white. Among the reds there is 65% Tempranillo, 20% Grenache, 2.5% Graciano, 1% Petit Bouschet and 1.1%, others; among the white varieties is 4.4% Calagraño, 3.2% Turruntés (Rioja) and 2.8% Viura (Macabeo).

2019 Sierra Cantabria Finca El Bosque, Rioja DOCa, Spain
Price: $180.00                 Your Price: $158.40
(98 Points) The 2019 Finca el Bosque is another single vineyard and comes from a site on a deep, gravelly escarpment overlooking the Ebro River. It offers more ripe blue fruits and cassis as well as sappy herbs, flowers, violets, graphite, and chalky minerality. It shows a more elegant, flawlessly balanced, incredibly pure style on the palate, with ultra-fine tannins, wonderful overall balance, and no hard edges. This is pure class. Give bottles 3-4 years in the cellar and enjoy over the following two decades of more. Best After 2025.  Jeb Dunnuck

2020 Sierra Cantabria Finca El Bosque, Rioja DOCa, Spain
Price: $180.00                 Your Price: $158.40
(95 points) "A graceful red, with delicate notes of violet and anise winding through flavors of black cherry and black plum reduction, a touch of cocoa powder, fig cake and mandarin orange peel. Long and supple, expanding on the palate as the generous flavors are defined by sculpted tannins. This has concentration and density without excessive weightiness, with a savory component emerging through the midpalate and finish, showing hints of iron, graphite and mountain herbs. 150 cases imported. Drink now through 2035. (5/3/23)"  Wine Spectator

2021 Sierra Cantabria Finca El Bosque, Rioja DOCa, Spain
Price: $180.00                 Your Price: $158.40
(96 points) "The 2021 El Bosque comes from 1.482 hectares planted in 1973 on deep gravel soils that produce powerful wines. It fermented in oak vats after a cold maceration and matured in new barrels, mostly French (5% were built with oak from central Europe), for 18 months. It has the refreshing effect of the cooler year with more freshness and nice balance. It's a powerful and generously oaked modern expression of Rioja, with more aromatics from the élevage than La Nieta from their project in Páganos. 5,000 bottles were filled in July 2023. Drink 2025-2036. (02/29/24)."  Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate)

2020 Senoir San Vicente Rioja
Price: $69.00                    Your Price: $60.72
San Vicente is perhaps the Eguren family’s most well known wine, as it was the wine that first put them on the map. At a time when people were obsessed with producing classic style Rioja wines, Marcos and Miguel Angel Eguren strove to produce a Bordeaux styled single vineyard wine. They selected one of their magic vineyards, Finca La Canoca, to produce San Vicente. Located in a tiny valley at the foothills of the Sierra Cantabria, Finca La Canoca is a vineyard of the unique Tempranillo Peludo variety. They built the wine from the vineyard. In 1991, when they began working on the project, there were no single vineyard Rioja wines. After the success of San Vicente, all of the great Rioja wineries followed suit, declassifying their top, flagship wines from the typical Rioja ageing system, and focusing on specific vineyards. San Vicente is a unique wine which marries the modern intensity of fruit and concentration with classic Old-World style Rioja aromatics of mountain herbs and licorice.

2011 VINEDOS DE PAGANOS EL PUNTIDO RIOJA GRAN RESERVA
Price: $120.00                 Your Price: $105.60
The Eguren family produce El Puntido Gran Reserva from a selection of higher altitude, sloped, and lower yielding parcels of the El Puntido estate vineyard. The wine is produced every vintage but in significantly varying quantities depending on the conditions of the vintage. All of the wines from El Puntido display a distinctly mineral, fresh, and savory character emanating from the limestone quality in the soil. This wine displays all of the savory and developed character expected of a great Gran Reserva married with the freshness, fruit, structure, and ageability of the great Gran Reservas of yesteryear.

2020 Bodegas Teso La Monja Romanico Toro
Price: $22.50                    Your Price: $19.80
(92 Points) The entry-level red 2020 Románico was produced with Tinta de Toro grapes from younger vines (10 to 35 years old, most of them grafted because it's forbidden to plant ungrafted...) in the villages of Valdefinjas and Toro. It fermented in a traditional way, foot trodden and with soft pump-overs, with indigenous yeasts selected from their own vineyards and matured in used French oak barrels for six months but not for 100% of the volume, as they keep part of the wine unoaked and in stainless steel.  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2021 BODEGAS TESO LA MONJA ALMIREZ TORO
Price: $36.00                    Your Price: $31.68
(95 Points) The 2021 Almirez, sourced from La Jara, Villabuena del Puente and Valdefinjas vineyards in Toro, was aged up to 14 months in oak barrels. Garnet in hue. Its ripe aromas feature plums, dried flowers, undergrowth, licorice and garrigue against a cedar backdrop. Dry and rich on the palate, the mild and balanced flow leads to a lasting, juicy, cherry-like finish. The 2021 is a nuanced Toro wine.  Vinous

2021 Teso La Monja Victorino Toro
Price: $76.50                    Your Price: $67.32
Variety: 100 % Tinta de Toro, ungrafted and pre-philoxeric.
Vineyards: Proprietary vineyards situated in Valdefinjas, Toro and Villabuena del Puente (Zamora). Head-trained in goblet. 35 Has.
Average age: from 45 years up to more than a hundred years old. Altitude: 750 - 900 m. Integrated viticulture, respectful of the environment and in harmony with the rhythms of nature. Organic fertilization.
Elaboration:  Traditional method, 100% de-stemmed.
Traditional foot press three times a day during fermentation and light pump-overs. Malolactic in new French oak.
The wine is submitted to an ageing of 18 months in new Bordelaise barrels of French oak.

2021 Bodegas Teso la Monja Alabaster Toro
Price: $247.50                 Your Price: $217.80
(97 points) "[$275 list] Lastly, the 2021 Alabaster pushes on the price and is 100% Tinta de Toro coming from three separate sites of very old vines. It's easily the biggest wine in the lineup, yet as with everything here, it stays light on its feet and balanced. Beautiful black fruits, cassis, jammy cherries, classy oak, graphite, lead pencil, and tobacco are just some of its nuances, and this rich, full-bodied, concentrated wine stays flawlessly balanced, has silky tannins, and a great finish. (7/3/24)" Jeb Dunnuck

2019 Teso La Monja, Toro, Spain
Price: $1800.00               Your Price: $1584.00
Red wine Teso La Monja, which draws its name from Toro D.O. winery, came about as a result and reflection of the love affair between a family of La Rioja winegrowers and the Toro region, one that has lasted for more than 15 years.
Teso La Monja is an invitation to enjoy the magic of the Tinta de Toro grape variety and the vineyard's intimate connection with its setting, in a wine that was created to become a legend, whose memory will transcend generations, enduring over time.
To uncork a bottle of Teso La Monja is to undertake a fascinating journey to a small plot of land embraced by magic and the legendary character only boasted by those privileged vineyards acquiring natural heritage status over the course of decades, and that man is called to care for with the dedication he would show any precious and fragile treasure like this one.
The bottle of Teso la Monja comes with an exclusive packaging. It is an impressive wooden case, in case of 2014: in its interior two bottles hide, one the one of Teso La Monja wine, to keep it in the best conditions. And another exactly the same, but empty, next to a wooden display to look anywhere without risk to wine