Tonight's dinner and wine

Tonight I popped open a bottle I had been holding on to for awhile. The girls are out of town and my brother is visiting from college. It also just so happened that we had three ribeye steaks just waiting to be grilled up. I had been battling a bit of a cold/general sinus stuffiness and had decided to wait until the ol' sniffer cleared up. The timing was perfect. The stars had aligned. It was the moment of Clos Figueres Font de la Figuera 2005 Priorat.

Let's start with the color. A dark, inky purple fills the glass.

First sniff. Straight out of the glass this wine means business. It's already rich and full of character. I'm picking up candied cherries and plums, with a hint of licorice as you pull out of the glass. (I read a review that mentioned the aroma of flowers, which I will also agree to). It's a wine that has the richness to draw you back to the glass a couple of times as you try to figure out exactly what is going on.

In the mouth. It follows up on the flavors you get on the nose, those candied cherries/plums. It used to be that when I heard plums used to describe wines I never thought highly of it. My mind has been changed. There is also a an element of sweetness to the wine that will make it intriguing to newcomers who want an impressive wine as well as those who have been drinking for awhile. Let's face it, a good wine is a good wine.

The ribeyes were grilled and served up with grilled onions and peppers. The coup e'tat was chimichurri sauce, which is basically a pesto like sauce made with garlic, parsley, olive oil and crushed red pepper flake. This was a happy meal.

Overall, I give the wine 90 points. Solid wine from the Priorat region in Spain. I picked this out from a tasting of Spanish/Portugese tasting. I'm excited to dive into more wines from the region. Should retail around $32.