Bodega Vinae Mureri, Xiloca 2009

Spanish wine is a favorite of mine, and I love Garnacha in particular.  It’s a nice dining experience when the restaurant offers some Spanish choices on the wine list. Bow and Truss is such a place.  

The NoHo Arts District area of the San Fernando Valley is crammed with attractive dining options to accompany the theater options there. We stopped in to Bow and Truss before a screening of Les Miserables at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre.  

There’s a bit of a courtyard seating area in front of the eatery, and inside it’s all concrete floor, brick walls and wood nearly everywhere else.  From the kitchen in the rear, comes a blast of shiny aluminum. I ordered a Spanish Garnacha to pair with the pork belly tacos.

Bodega Vinae Mureri is located just a short distance outside the Calatayud region, in Aragon.  Its wines bear the designation of Vina de la Tierra.  This area is just as known as Calatayud for its high-altitude, old-vine Garnacha.

The Vinae Mureri Xiloca carries an alcohol content of 14.5%, is 100% Garnacha and sells at retail for around $12.  It cost $8 by the glass.  

Big, dark cherry notes burst from the glass as if they have been imprisoned there.  A meaty, beefy aroma supplements the fruit and a little essence of barnyard creeps in, too.  On the palate, cherries, cola and dusty minerals prevail in a wash of complexity.


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