Tasting - Palacio De Bornos Verdejo 2013

Second up for this week was the Palacio De Bornos 2013 Verdejo from Rueda, Spain. This wine was even more of a steal than the grillo coming in at $12 originally and $5.95 on sale. 

The review from Wine Enthusiast, along with an 89 rating was as follows:

"Zesty and clean, with pure grapefruit and passion fruit aromas. It’s charged up but perfectly balanced, with bright, focused citrus and pineapple flavors. Lemony acidity keeps the finish rolling, then throw in some chive and fresh greens and you have a spot-on Verdejo."

When this was first poured for me I was drawn to the smell and found that it was more complex than the previous white wine. The smell came across as very sweet and floral, but had a stronger scent of alcohol. The one scent that left me sniffing this wine for longer than usual was more of an earthy aroma - though I never quite nailed what it was I noted that it was something along the lines of hay or possibly dried tobacco. After finally deciding that I had spent enough time trying to pin point that earthy smell, I moved on to the actual tasting. First sip - I liked it, but wasn't crazy about it. After having the grillo prior to this wine, I found that this was not nearly as smooth and had a much more evident taste of alcohol. After the first taste I found that this wine was much more complex than the first, which I did like. This wine had a pretty clear nutty aftertaste, which I noted was possibly a walnut flavor. Following my second sip, and a more in depth review of what I was tasting, I found that this wine had a clear and zesty citrus taste that leaned towards grapefruit. Additionally, though nobody else around me at the tasting seemed to agree, I could have sworn that I got a hint of asparagus in the flavor. 

After checking the review of Wine Enthusiast with my own personal review, I was pretty pleased to read that there actually was something green noted - whether that was actually asparagus or not. I certainly noticed the zesty grapefruit taste and was thrilled when I saw the reviewer actually used the word zesty; that was the first word that came to mind when I tasted this. 

All in all I thought this was an okay wine, but I don't think I'd go out of my way to have it again. I did not pair this wine with food and don't foresee myself having this specific wine with food in the future.