WTN: La Puerta Bonarda Reserva 2005

Famatina Valley

Almost black in the glass.

Lots of chocolate and cherry on the nose.

Round and full in the mouth, plush, chocolate, cherry, spicy, quite rich, good acidity, with a hint of alcohol burn toward the finish.

A big, soft and pleasing wine.

A tangy finish.

Purchased at $13.95 (Canadian).

Hi, Bruce, at the Laura Catena tasting I picked up a bottle of the similarly named La Posta Bonarda (Estela Armando vineyard) and will give it a spin soon...

I look foward to your notes.

I have only had about five or six Bonarda in my time, so I can't say I really have a good idea of what the grape is all about, but I certainly enjoyed the plushness and richness of this one.

Nice notes Bruce. I'll be on the lookout for that wine.

Oswaldo, I'm glad to see you found the La Posta. I'll look forward to your notes. I hope you like it as much as I did. I was able to find an additional 6 bottles on sale at my local wine shop.

Bruce - was intrigued by your note, because I'd never heard of the winery and it comes from the Famatina Valley, which is way up north towards Salta in the province called 'La Rioja'. I've only had wines from the very sound large cooperative winery up there - La Riojana, so thought this might be one of their sous-marques. On doing a Google search, it appears probably not - seems they are a winery in their own right and the only info I can find is here. However, interestingly the 2006 of the same wine appears to have won the 'best Bonarda award' in this year's Wines of Argentina awards and they now have a UK importer (see here), so I hope to taste it next month at the annual Argentina trade tasting in London - thanks for bringing it to my attention - I'm always intrigued by Bonardas.

Bruce - was intrigued by your note, because I'd never heard of the winery and it comes from the Famatina Valley, which is way up north towards Salta in the province called 'La Rioja'. I've only had wines from the very sound large cooperative winery up there - La Riojana, so thought this might be one of their sous-marques. On doing a Google search, it appears probably not - seems they are a winery in their own right and the only info I can find is here. However, interestingly the 2006 of the same wine appears to have won the 'best Bonarda award' in this year's Wines of Argentina awards and they now have a UK importer (see here), so I hope to taste it next month at the annual Argentina trade tasting in London - thanks for bringing it to my attention - I'm always intrigued by Bonardas.

Thanks for the interesting background information. The back label on the bottle indicates that the winery was only 10 years old in 2005 vintage.