Cabernet Sauvignon may be my desert-island grape, but lately I’ve been trying to reach beyond the Bordeaux varieties to find the bold, satisfying reds I crave. Especially to drink with dinner.
Cabernet and Malbec can be distracting in their bodaciousness: They strut their stuff and suck up all the attention in the room. Wines based on Grenache and Tempranillo–with their lower tannins and generally lower alcohol–can be easier pairings for your weeknight takeout meal.
With that in mind, I dove into the bottom shelves of my local fine-wine emporium and surfaced with this bottle. (Pardon the terrible pic–it was dark at the bar and I’d already tasted a few wines that night.)
CVNE stands for Compañía de Vinícola del Norte de España, a behemoth Spanish wine company with a whole bunch of different brands and vineyards. They’re a dominant force in Rioja, where the same family has been making wine since 1879. Their volume and connections allow them to produce a giant portfolio of DO wines at truly unbeatable prices. Today’s wine comes from Spain’s other important Tempranillo growing region, Ribera del Duero.
Compared to Rioja, the vineyard sites in Ribera del Duero have more extreme temperatures including warmer summers. So, its Tempranillo-based wines tend to have a more intense color and darker fruit flavors than Rioja. Sometimes they’re blended with French varieties, sometimes not. This 100% Tempranillo selection was matured in new oak for a few months before being released to the thirsty masses.
I didn’t decant my CUNE Ribera del Duero, but started sipping it right away. The color is a dark-dark plum, like staring down into a Tempranillo abyss. Not a whole lot of aroma leaping out of the glass, even at room temperature. Dark fruit, oak. There’s some faint florals (violet) and dry blackberry-leaf tea. There’s also that slightly weird, vanilla-icing, powdered-sugar note that can indicate Rioja-style oak aging to my nose.
In the mouth, it’s heavy. Lightly sweetened berry jam, fruit leather. Stewed plums, more vanilla and mulling spices. The lush flavors make it taste more sugary than it really is: The quite-dry finish barges in to interrupt a smooth mouthful of chocolate-cherry truffle. Between sips, you can find some damp-clay minerality, a hint of wood smoke, and animal leather.
One traditional pairing for this style of dry Spanish wine would be tapas or grilled steak. But I’ve also had good luck pairing them with Middle Eastern and Greek food–both meat and vegetarian dishes.
The full, slightly smoky fruit flavors of Ribera del Duero heap even more richness on fatty lamb/gyros, creamy hummus, and char-grilled chicken. There’s just enough acidity to stand up to olives and vinaigrettes. And it’s not so high in alcohol that it’ll have you breathing fire after a dollop of spicy harissa. In this case, the perfect pairing was a to-go kabob bowl from Luna Grill.
There’s nothing absolutely remarkable about this wine–not a whole lot of depth or length. But it doesn’t have any glaring flaws, either. I’m scoring it a whole point higher for price.
CUNE’s table wines retail for $15 to $20 a bottle in my area and are maybe $35 to $45 in restaurants. In Europe the suggested retail is €9.85 (about $10) which makes me green with envy–this is a very solid Ribera at that price point. As a reminder: Cheap, Tempranillo-based wines are not intended for aging. So drink up!
Bottle: CUNE Ribera del Duero (2022)
Variety: Tempranillo (100%)
ABV: 14%
Suggested retail: $15-$20
My rating: 8 (out of 10)
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
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