Cosme Palacio y Hermanos 1993 Bodegas Palacio Rioja, Spain 70,20 FIM It's Rioja's special gift to be able to produce red wines with rich tastes and scents. This week's wine is a fine example of that talent. It's no coincidence that it's named after Cosme Palacio who founded the bodega over a hundred years ago. The wine is made of carefully selected tempranillo grapes harvested on the slopes of Laguardia. The best wines have been combined to make a rioja "cuvée", a carefully balanced wine. The basic color of this still young wine - if one counts only the years - was deep red with hints of blue when first marketed. Yet just opening the bottle gives an immediate promise of an experience that is much ampler than the years tell. Some maturation has also taken place; the color has become a more definite deep red. The scent is strong - the kind I call dark, and which takes one into the deep. Sniffing and collecting the aroma gives great pleasure. The taste is very, very close to being fully full-bodied. There is roundness and robust ampleness. Nothing to be complained about the duration of the taste, either. The finish has tannine power. All the signs are telling that here we have a wine that will keep on maturing in a healthy way for many years to come. At the same time I find Cosme Palacio's wine such a tasty pleasure right now that mere storing for future feels like a deprivation.

P.S. If you know or guess the original image that is used to form the maelstrom in the top picture, send your view with e-mail. I'll promise to send a bottle of Palacio's wine to the first one having the correct answer.

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