Bodegas Felix Solis Viña Albali Tinto Reserva 1996

Viña Albali Valdepeñas Tinto Reserva 1996: This wine still has a youthful, garnet red, although it is beginning to develop a tinge of the patina of age. Roasted, chocolate-edged plum fruits on the nose, with a sweet, smouldering hickory-charcoal scent reflecting a period of oak ageing. On the palate, this is further evidenced by a creamy, polyphenol influenced mouthfeel. Nicely rounded texture, good plummy, chocolatey fruit, with a cinnamon-spiced edge. There are some dry, slightly woody tannins which show on the finish. Drinking nicely now and over the next year or two. Good. (6/6/03)