Spanish Wine Sale at Supervalu. Look out for Lunático Double!

Spanish Wine Sale at Supervalu
Look out for Lunático Double!

Lunático Bianco Jumilla (DOP) 2018, 13%, Regular price €18.99, down to 12.00 during February offer.

This casual and easy-drinking wine has a rose gold colour, very clean and bright, quite attractive. Quite intense with both floral and ripe fruit notes. Creamy, with an unmistakable touch of oak (in which it has spent 3 months), fresh and fruity and a decent finalé. Perfect to pair with fish, white meats, medium strong cheese, cured fish, and Asian salads.  Take note of the serving temperature of 8 to 10 degrees. A superb Viognier and well worth looking out for in the sale.

Look out also for the Lunático red. This young Monastrell is part of SuperValu’s Specially Sourced Signature Range and has spent 12 months in French oak. It is 100% Monastrell (probably better known to many by its French name Mourvedre). Jumilla is one of the better areas for this grape.

Colour is medium purple with the legs slow to clear. Black berries feature in the aromas. On the palate, the rich berry flavours are enhanced by the sweet oak spice. It is rich and smooth overall with a long and pleasant finish and, I must say, I have a preference for the red over the white. But that’s personal. Do your own thing - especially in wine. 

Mosaic “Winemaker Selection” Priorat (DO) 2016, 14.5%, €12.00 (was 23.99) SuperValu

Full bodied red Priorat wines from a small region in Catalonia (north-eastern Spain), have been finding a much wider audience in the past few decades. So I was expecting good things from this Mosaic blend. And I got them.

Colour of this very accessible wine is purple. There are complex aromas with red fruits and spice featuring. Intense and full-bodied, moderate spice all the way, fresh and dry, tannins silky smooth with hardly a bite at all in a deliciously lingering finish. High quality here, and now at a terrific price.

Condado de Oriza Roble Ribera Del Duero (DO) 2017, 13.5%, €10.00 (14.99)

Say “hola” to this impressive youth from Ribera Del Duero where they’ll tell you they make better wines from the Tempranillo grape than their Riojan counterparts. 

Wine has been produced in this beautiful region since Roman times, though it became well known outside of Spain only in the 1990s. Just two hours north of Madrid, there are about 300 vineyards following the banks of the Duero River in the Castilla y León region, a flowing swathe of land that’s approximately 115 kms long and 35 kms wide. A few years back, Larousse Wine described the DO as “truly the queen of the Iberian peninsula and the cradle of the greatest wines”.

This Condado de Oriza is one hundred per cent Tempranillo (also known here as Tinta del Pais) and has been aged in new American oak for six months, a style known as Roble. After the oak, it is kept in bottle in the cellar for another six months.

It has a dark ruby colour. Ripe darker fruits (plum, cherry) in the aromas, plus spice and fresh herb notes. Rich fruit flavours fill the palate, muted spice, hints of the oak, full bodied and the finish is strong and long.

Serve it at 16 to 17 degrees and pair, the vineyard advise, with lamb chops, pies, cured or semi-cured Manchego or Gouda cheese, as well as dates wrapped in bacon.

Abellio Albarino Rias Baixas (DO), 12.5%, €10.00 (was 14.99).

Liked the colour of this current Wine of the Month immediately, an inviting medium gold. It is hand-harvested and ideal with shellfish and fish and also recommended for lightly spiced Asian chicken dishes. The medium intense aromas are of white fruit. It has a smooth character on the palate, intense fruit (pear, apple and peach) with refreshing minerality. It is zesty and well balanced.

On the Case!

As usual the Supervalu buyers have come up with a very attractive case deal, featuring the aromatic and soft La Miranda de Secastilla. Normal price for this six bottle deal in a wooden is ninety euro but during the Spanish sale you can get it for €50.00. Not to be sniffed at! Though you probably will have a nose or two at the fruity aromas before enjoying!

Like Cava, Spain's excellent sparkling wine, made in the same way as Champagne but better-priced, especially in this sale. We reviewed a couple recently - check it out here. 

* By the way....  If you buy any 6 normal sized bottles, including wines already on offer, you save another €10.00. So buy and enjoy responsibly.