Bodegas Juan Ramon Lozano is a premium wine producer in Spain which sources its fruit from a few key regions: La Carrasca, La Numancia, El Corral, El Ventorro and Los Andreus. It features some of the more popular spanish grapes such as Granacha, Macabeo, Verdejo and Tempranillo – this wine is Tempranillo-based.

With an alcohol level of only 12.5% – this wine presents itself in a rather old-world, low alcohol fashion which I’m personally a big fan of. 

Nose: Blueberries and blackberries mixed with some vanilla spice, rubarb and faint hints of elderberry blossom. I also pick up hints of black licorice and bubbleyum.

Taste: Good fruit on the front which gets dry across the mid-palate. It finishes with black pepper-dusted plums and cherries. Hints of eucolyptus also linger quite nicely on the finish – this is a pretty well-balanced wine which is drinking rather well at this time – it has had wide-spread availability around the country, so finding a bottle shouldn’t prove too difficult. 

It’s not the best spanish wine I’ve had, but at just under $12, it is breaking into being a value-play.

W.E.P. Rating: 90%

Wine lovers are always on the lookout for great values in wine and in today’s challenging economic times that yearning is stronger than ever. Thankfully, we have a lot of great wine-producing areas that are churning out the good vino at prices that will allow us to maintain our wino-lifestyle – one of the primary regions doing that right now is Spain. 

In this review, I take a look at two white wines that are extremely food-friendly, reasonably priced and are ones that I think will really be an eye-opener for those who suffer what I refer to as a wine-rut. A wine-rut is what we get stuck in when we – for whatever reason – fail to branch out and check out wines from other regions and perhaps even made from grapes you haven’t heard of or tried.

I know that areas like Chili and Argentina have created a buzz amongst wine drinkers for the past few years, however, Spain – right now – is producing insanely good wines for insane prices.

2008 Adegas Gran Vinum Nessa – W.E.P. Rating: 110%

• Grape Variety: 100% Albarino
• Alcohol: 12.5%
• Region: Rias Baixas
• Fermentation: 100% Stainless
• ph: 3.24%
• Total Acidity: 6.3%
• Brix at harvest: 19.6
• Annual production: 5,500 cases
• Price: $12

Nose: Lemon peel, grapefruit pulp, kiwi, limestone, hints of fabreeze and clear river-water.

Taste: Bring on the citrus train with boxcars loaded with lemon, lime and grapefruit. This wine has great acidity and finishes quite nicely. It’s well balanced – not hot at all going down the hatch and I get a nice sour taste on the very backside of the palate. 

2008 Valde Pedro Escudero Valdelainos – W.E.P. Rating: 110%

• Grape Variety: 100% Verdejo
• Alcohol: 13%
• Region: Rueda
• Fermentation: 100% Stainless
• Price: $12

Nose: Apricots, honey, grapefruit skin, ball bearings. 

Taste: Killer grapefruit component on the front attack which is wrapped ever-so-loosely by some honeycomb cearal. Excellent acidty which is kept in check by layers of apricot, starfruit and kiwi. The finish lingers on for hours – a complete no-brainer of a wine buy.