Abadia Retuerta’s Primicia and Rivola were always staples on my wine lists, rich but balanced Spanish wines without the stench of suntan oil. (Spanish reds with too much new American oak always smell like coconut Hawaiian Tropic to me.)

So, at right is the new package for the 2003 Rivola. It does everything correctly, making a better distinction between name, place, and producer with font sizing. It’s simple and crisp. But I miss my fat little cherubs. There was a bit of sweet recognition to that bottle on the left. Oh well.

The wine? As lovely as always. Lush berry fruit, great intensity of flavor, a little savory herbal quality, and soft finish. I tried it against some food with a high degree of matching difficulty. Greek salad and harissa pork in particular. Spain is the home of tapas, afterall, and Spanish reds can handle many different peprsonality plus foods. I also think Spanish reds are a nice bridge between old world and new. The fruit can be showier, bolder, easier to understand than some Italians; but there’s still that acid and nuance of flavor that mixes well with a variety of food.

Abadia Retuerta is owned by some Swiss mega-pharma now, whose owner loves Spanish reds. But this rich guy, instead of hiring some fatass blowhard consultant, installed a local boy as winemaker and basically wrote a blank check to help him realize the estate’s full potential. They’re doing a bang up job. But I still miss those chubby little naked people.

That’s a nice rich guy, good boy.