Wine people tend to have favorite wine regions that they go to again and again. Regions in France and Italy seem to be the most popular but my favorite regions tend to be in Spain. Spain has a food culture that is hard to compare to anywhere else and their wines are no different. AlbariƱo doesn’t taste as saline and orange when it is made somewhere else. This is the same whether the winemaker is using Garnacha, Tempranillo, or Verdejo grapes. Garnacha made in Spain will not taste the same as Grenache from France, the United States, or Australia.
Spanish wine is very food friendly and the Borsao Berola is no exception. It is 70% Garnacha, 20% Syrah and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The addition of Cabernet Sauvignon makes this wine a little heavier than a typical Spanish wine but not so heavy that you can’t drink it without food. As a matter of fact, it is great on its own. In the glass, black and red fruits are present-blackberry, black cherry, dark plum, raspberry and pomegranate. The fruit is then balanced out by these lovely secondary flavors-chocolate, tobacco and leather. The combination of both French and American oak add levels of vanilla, spice, coconut and cedar that gives the secondary flavors more depth.
The blend of grapes and the oak aging smooth out the tannins, making them relatively smooth. They are noticeable and give the wine a nice texture but are not too overpowering. The acid is high enough to balance out the higher alcohol content (14.5% abv) but not too high that wine becomes harsh.
I decided to pair this wine with a marinated and grilled skirt steak and it was a fabulous pairing. The wine was not overpowered by the smoke and char but stood on it’s own. The grilled flavors of the steak were smoothed out by the fruit of the wine and, in fact, the fruit brought out the characteristics of the marinade, which consisted of soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. The wine even worked with the broccoli, which is a hard vegetable to pair.
The Barsao is a good, solid red wine that is of a higher quality than its price indicates. So, the next time you decide to grill, I recommend opening a bottle of the Borsao Berola. You won’t be disappointed.