By accident, I discovered the wine region of La Mancha in Spain. A while back, I had purchased a mystery box of wine from a company called Wine Insiders (thanks to Groupon). While most of the wines have left much to be desired (sorry Wine Insiders, but it’s true), I decided to give a bottle of Spanish wine a second glance. It was a bottle of Bodega Fernando Castro Finca del Viso Blanco.
Researching the wine more, I found that it was from the La Mancha region of Spain. La Mancha is the home of the Man of La Mancha, a Broadway musical (and a book) inspired by Don Quixote. It is also the home of Manchego cheese (one of my favorites) and many, many vineyards. According to the La Mancha website, this area is ideal for growing grapes and is one of the largest wine growing regions in the world – impressive.
I could not find too much on the bottle of wine I had, but Bodega Fernando Castro does produce quite a bit of wine. They make everything from boxed wine to their award-winning Castillo Santa Barbara Syrah, go figure.
So, I bought some more Manchego cheese, and poured myself a glass. The wine was very pale yellow, almost clear. It had a very light nose, I got hints of honey, lemon and ginger. The palette was also light, I could taste the same notes that I also smelled ginger, honey and lemon. However, there was a bitterness at the end of each taste that I did not like.
Funny enough, when I nibbled on my cheese and then drank the wine, the cheese actually killed the bitterness. It is a pretty wine, but the bitterness was just too much for me to want to buy another bottle.
I am interested to taste other wines from this region though. Maybe a red wine. When I think of don Quixote, I picture jars of olives and glasses of heavy red wine. Something to look for on my next visit to the La Mancha region.
The Splendid Grape 