Roca de les Dotze Noray 2016 Review – Balanced and Complex

As far as Spanish wines are concerned, we are often hit-or-miss with the hot climates resulting in very ripe grapes that lower acidity and increase alcohol.

One exception for our tastes is the Priorat region, which often has some delightful Garnacha-based blends that we quite enjoy. Roca de les Dotze Noray is one such bottle, and the aged blend of Grneache, Carignan, and Syrah hit our tastes perfectly!

We received this bottle as part of our Vinera Wine Club sample provided for review. As always, all opinions are our own.

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Chateau Musar 2000 Review – Aged Red at Its Finest

We have a long history with Chateau Musar, and we often identify this producer as being our gateway wine that helped us go down the rabbit hole in the first place (the 1998 vintage, in particular)- so much so that we now have a rule that whenever we see a bottle in the wild, we grab it no questions asked.

One of the reasons we love Chateau Musar is that they tend to hold vintages at the winery until they're ready to drink, and you are far more likely to find a fairly old bottle in a store compared to other producers.

This was how we came to acquire a few bottles of the 2000 vintage of Chateau Musar Rouge, made with nearly equal proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, and Carignan. We grabbed a bottle in early 2025 to see how this one was holding up at nearly 25 years of age.

Naturally, it is aging beautifully, but we'd consider letting our next bottle go a bit longer!

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Agriolas Turriga 2016 Review – An Intense Sardinian Red

I have a general rule that if a friend whose tastes I trust recommends a bottle of wine, I'll do what I can to find it. Agriolas Turriga 2016 was one such bottle, and my friend Strictly Sardinia recommended it as one of the most acclaimed wines from the island.

This one is a blend of Grenache (85%), Carignan, Malvasia Di Casorzo, and Bovale Sardo and can only be described as an intense wine. But even in drinking this one at five years old, for our next bottle I think I'd let this one sleep for another five if not longer!

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Chateau Musar 2010 Review – Red Fruits, Black Fruits, and Age

If you've read any other wine reviews on our site, you would know we have a soft spot for Chateau Musar from Lebanon. We first had an aged Musar at Wine Bar George in Disney Springs, and have been buying bottles wherever we can find them ever since.

The Chateau Musar 2010 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, and Cinsaut which hits all the things we love about this bottle. Despite enjoying this one in 2021, we think this one could age even more!

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Chateau Musar Pere et Fils 2012 Review – A Great Find

Chateau Musar is one of those wineries that we have to buy a bottle of every time we find them in a liquor store- especially the aged bottles which the winery does not release until they are ready to drink (making them somewhat hard to come by).

Our first experience with this winery was enjoying a lovely '98 at Wine Bar George at Disney Springs, and ever since then we've been on the hunt for bottles. We found a great Chateau Musar 2006 at a store locally and struck gold when visiting family in Ohio where we found half case of Chateau Musar 2010 and the Pere et Fils 2012 as well.

We bought one of each, went back to my mom's house, cracked open the 2012, and knew we had to go back to the store the next day to buy more- this Carignan, Grenach, Cinsaut, and Cabernet Sauvignon blend offered everything we love about the winery in an attractive price point as well!

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Chateau Musar 2006 Review – A Delightful Aged Red Blend

Our first sample of Lebanon's Chateau Musar came at Wine Bar George while we were on vacation at Disney. At that point in time, Angie had never tried a significantly aged wine, and the 1996 Chateau Musar caught her eye as a splurge sample.

It was, in a word, lovely.

It was there that we learned that Chateau Musar is somewhat unique as a producer in that they do not release their bottles until they are ready to drink. Sometimes these can be young, other times quite old depending on the grape, growing season, and blending choices.

Cut to a year later when we found a bottle of 2006 Chateau Musar at a local store with a three-way blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsaut, and Carignan at a rather respectable price point. Without thinking twice, we bought the store's one and only bottle.

A few months later we cracked it open with our Ah So, gently poured it into our decanter, and snuck a taste while letting it breathe. It was different, naturally, but every bit the high-quality wine we expected.

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Gratavinum 2Ï€r 2016 from Priorat, Spain Review – Herby and Earthy

If you are a fan of wine with intense herb and spice notes, Gratavinum's 2Ï€r from Priorat, Spain is for you. This one is a blend of Grenache, Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah and is taglined “the well rounded wine” to play off of its name.

While we thought the 2016 vintage could do with more aging beyond the 4-year age we enjoyed it at, this one was simply intriguing.

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