Campo Viejo Winemaker's Blend (2020 Vintage)
Country of origin - Spain
Score - 6/10
(AUTHORS NOTE - I know it has been a long time since my last blog post, but I've been busy. So why am I writing this now? Because I'm procrastinating writing my dissertation, arguably the most important part of my degree. But tonight, wine is more important than early medieval landscapes. I also wanted to drink.)
Here we have another example of me being drawn in by a pretty label. However, unlike the abomination created by Jam Shed, this wine is actually palatable. In fact, it I quite like it. The label was designed by Boa Mistura, a Spanish art group who create murals and graffiti. Their work is the kind of street art I like; its colourful, geometric and artistic, unlike those graffiti tags that crowd underpasses. Their other work can be seen at their website.
Unlike the Merlots and the Malbecs that I drink most often, this has much less "mouth feel" throughout the whole drinking process. This makes it easy to drink quickly. I agree with the tasting notes; it has pleasant fruit and spice notes but has a less satisfying overall presence. The best way that I can think to describe it is as “pleasant but forgettable”.
However, when doing that swilling motion you do when tasting wines, it takes on a mouth/throat feel more similar to that of drinking spirits (i.e. it makes you shudder a little the first time, but you get used to it). Admittedly, it has been a while since I last drank any wines made by Campo Viejo, but I do remember that the last time I drank one of their products I had an awful headache the next day (but from the notes I have in a draft post for that wine, I apparently drank that as part of a drinking game, something that I’d not recommend to anyone). I won’t judge as to whether this represents the entirety of Campo Viejo’s range (I’d quite like to try their Gran Reserva Rioja and would hope that it wouldn’t share this quality). Instead, I’d hope that this is because this wine, costing £6.00, is a wine designed to cost as much, rather than an £8-10 wine that I am more used to drinking.
Overall, I'd say that it’s a pretty unoffensive wine if drinking with food or for the purpose to get drunk. I like it, but there is something about it that I don’t like as much as a Casillero Del Diablo 2021 Malbec or a Trivento 2021 Malbec (what can I say, South American wines are just my thing I guess). These are my favourites at the moment, and as they’re in the same price bracket when on discount I’d probably get them instead. Would I buy it again? That’s hard to say. For personal consumption, probably not, I’d rather have a bottle of one of my favourites. I’d buy it for a party where the appearance of the wine is more important than what’s inside the bottle, but the wine still needs to be good enough. It is also a good enough wine for drinking when you want to be drunk enough at the end of the night to not be troubled by your thoughts; it’s pretty damn good for drinking if you want help to fall asleep without thinking about that one person whose always on your mind but shouldn’t be because you know she does’t like you in the same way, but you struggle to fall asleep without thinking of some alternate life where the two of you have some lovey-dovey life together. I’ll be fine tonight, but whether or not I’ll be suffering tomorrow morning, either from the wine or the emotions, will be another thing.
(AUTHORS SECOND NOTE - Quick follow-up from the next morning: I have an awful headache, but I fell asleep as soon as my head touched my pillow)
