Flavium Bierzo Crianza 2005
For my first wine review, I have chosen to review a wine that I received as a gift recently. The gift was from a good friend and was sold to me as, “his favorite red”. That bottle was a 2005 vintage of Flavium Bierzo Crianza. Not only had I never heard of the vineyard, but I had never heard of the region/variety before. For some that would be disconcerting, but not for me. I go out of my way to try something new every time I go out to buy a bottle of whisky or wine. Sometimes I find a diamond and sometimes I find coal.
This particular bottle of wine hails from the El Bierzo region in Spain. I had never heard of the region before, but I wouldn’t exactly say I was surprised to learn that it existed. According to regulations by the DO (Governing body of wine makers in Spain), Crianza wines must be aged a minimum of 6 months in oak casks and 18 months in the bottle.
Immediately upon opening the bottle I detected a rather strong, fruity aroma. I don’t really like my wines really dry and woody, but I’d rather have a tall glass of Welch’s grape juice than an overly fruity glass of vino. I poured two healthy servings for my wife and I and couldn’t help but notice the strong aroma of berries. I was growing concerned that I was not going to like this wine very much. Upon first taste, however, all of my fears quickly evaporated. The flavor contained an excellent balance between the fruity overtones of dark berry and yet had a nice amount of that woody, dry taste you expect from a good red. Overall, my wife and I absolutely loved the wine. We just couldn’t get over how balanced the taste was. It went down nice and smooth and had a nice even finish.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not one to drop a whole lot of money down on a bottle of anything. I get the shakes whenever I reach for a quality single malt of more than $50 bucks and damn near hyper-ventilate when I buy a cigar for more than $8 dollars a stick. You can call me cheap if you want, but I haven’t got a lot of money to spend on luxuries these days. Imagine my surprise when I learned that this fine bottle of wine costs a whopping $10.00! I can honestly say that this is the best red I’ve had under $50, let alone $15.
I would suggest that you’ve made all the technical points that need to be made, so I won’t wax on in that regard. Not to mention.. I’m not qualified to do it. I love this wine. Most of the time, I’m left with an aftertaste that I do not like, or an initial sensory reaction that I’m just drinking something typical. I remember having a really nice bottle of wine in town over dinner which was really fantastic, but I also remember having to pay 100.00 for the bottle. This is such a great price point for this wine. I expect that it won’t be long before this wine becomes very popular.
D
[...] Christy and I were in the local liquor store today and were hoping we could find a bottle of Flavium Bierzo Crianza. We received a bottle of the absolutely fabulous wine as a present a couple of months back and have been completely unable to find it anywhere. The couple that gave us the wine said the place they bought it from hasn’t had it since. It just occurred to me that an Internet A.P.B. might be in order for this great wine. I even did a review on it at OakandSmoke.com. [...]
Wegman’s carries this. We just bought a bottle last week.
I found your review as I was writing mine and I thought you got it done pretty well. This wine is a super value at $10 a bottle, and something that I will make a point to keep a bit around. It’s very versatile as it can pair nicely with food or make a nice sipper all on it’s own. As yreilly pointed out, it is readily available at Wegmans should you have one in your area..