The High Council

I wrote a post about wine from Consejo de la Alta almost exactly 4 years ago. It has been a family staple ever since, courtesy of Papa Willie and Papa Vincent (long story). Anyhoo, at a family "do" recently the Papas were having a lively discussion about the merits of the "Novo" from 2010.

Papa Willie opined that it couldn't possibly be any cop (I'm paraphrasing, obviously). I generously offered to arbitrate the dispute so long as I got some for free.

Papa Vincent duly obliged, with the not only the 2010 Novo but with various other Consejo de la Alta vintages and styles. See below...

Left to right, they are:

Reserva 2004, Reserva 2005, Crianza 2008, Novo 2010, Alta Rio Crianza 2010

I think Alta Rio is the second wine (now) of this winery, but I'm not sure, as they appear to have used Google translate to generate the English language version of the website...

Reserva 2004
Selfishly, I'm keeping this for a future vertical tasting. I already have a 2001 and a 2005 Reserva in my "cellar" against just such a possibility.

Reserva 2005
Big alcoholic wash at first. Some fruit, some tannins, very long finish. Very nice.

Novo 2010
Not bad - good nose. A little sharp at first but got better over the course of the evening. Not a patch on the Reserva but pretty decent.

Crianza 2008
Very very tasty, and, in the absence of tasting directly against the Reserva, this comes off very well. 

Alta Rio Crianza 2010
Corked, desafortunadamente.