Marques de Caceres Rioja Reserva 2000

Marques de Caceres Rioja Reserva 2000Price: €18.99
Nutrition Information*
Serving: 5oz., 1/5 bottle
Calories: 105 per serving
Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: <1%, 7mg
Sodium: 0%, 0mg
Protein: 1g
Carbohydrates: 1%, 3g
Fiber: 0%, 0g
Sugar: 23g
Weight Watchers Points: 2 per serving

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Wine bottle says: Marques de Caceres GRAN RESERVA es un vino de alta calidad y reconcido prestigo. De distinguido aroma, aterciopelado y generoso al paladr, ha sido envejecido en barrica de roble y largamente afinado en botella para obtener un gran vino de calidad exceptional.

Abi says: Yes, I know: that is an enormous glass of wine. It was modest until I decided that certain people in my home should be studying economics rather than drinking wine. Thus, I would finish the bottle of Rioja.

My decision to start reviewing wine on Imbibable.com led to a near-argument with my fiance (and not just because I took the last of the wine). He claimed that there were many people out there with much more significant (okay, real) qualifications out there who were better qualified to write about Temperanillos and Chiantis and Pinot Grigios.

I agree with him. Those people all have better palates. The problem with them is twofold threefold:

  1. Availability. When you read about a wine in Wine Spectator or Bon Appetit, how easy is it for you to walk over to your local wine store and pick up a bottle of that wine? It isn’t. It sucks. You basically have to call people to ask if they have what you want and then you feel sort of like an idiot for being the person that requests the wine that they talk about in a magazine. You might as well wait until InStyle comes out every month before you do any shopping with your own judgment. I’m going to talk about wines that are available, wines that you pick up at Trader Joe’s and your local grocery store and Total Beverage and BevMo and Costco. The real wine of the people.
  2. Price. Sure, you get six servings in a 750ml bottle of wine, so overall a bottle is a good deal. But is it really a good deal? Is that 92 point $28.99 bottle of wine significantly better than that 83 point $12.99 bottle of wine? Most of us can’t tell. I’m going to make an effort to drink wines from a crazy-insane price range (yes, including Two-Buck Chuck) so that I can find the best wine for the money.
  3. Nutrition Information Who is going to tell you that port is full of calories or that a glass of Bordeaux is just 2 Weight Watchers Points while giving you actual opinions on the taste of the wine? Only Imbibable.com, that’s who.

So, What do I have to say about this wine? Well, before I ever looked at a description of the wine, I noted that it had notes of spice, red fruits, and a heavy, almost tongue-coating mouthfeel. Compared to some younger Chiantis I’ve been drinking recently, this wine seemed to have spent quite awhile in oak.

Now, what did the Winemaker’s Notes from Wine.com have to say?

Spicy, rich, complex Rioja drinking beautifully right now. Deep ruby in color, it is full and intense with a complex bouquet and a depth of ripe fruit which later matches its elegance, richness and full flavor. Marques de Caceras Reserva Red is produced from grapes that are specially selected in certain years for their outstanding quality. It spends just over two years in oak and at least three in the bottle before release.

I am a wine-reviewing genius.

So, will this bottle be available to you? Who knows. I bought it in a duty free shop in the Madrid airport as I was trying to shed the last of my Euros. I spent the equivalent of US $30.00 on this bottle and I can heartily say that I’ve had just as good wine for half that price. Don’t feel like you need to spend $30.00 on a bottle of wine. Even if your friends can read Spanish, they probably won’t mind if you break out something a bit less overpriced.

*Obviously, there’s no ingredients or nutrition label on the wine to let you know about calories and fat and all of those things, so we at Imbibable have taken the liberty of using a variety of data sources (including the U.S. Department of Agriculture) and wineries (when they answer our emails) to get a fairly accurate read on the ‘nutrition’ information in a glass of wine. We might be off by a few calories now and then, but most of the time we’ll be pretty darn close.

September 22, 2008 | 1 Comment 
Filed Under Alcohol, Fat Free, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, Marques de Caceres, Three Stars, Wine