Marques de Caceres white

This bottle of Marques de Caceres white 2007 was bought in the Hummelstown store some four months ago. The cost was $9.99 (NJ price $7.99. At one point this wine was put on sale at that price in PA, but it sold out in one day and reordering proved impossible). For reasons best known to the PA Liquor Authority, not only it, but the reds from that bodega too have since disappeared from the bins. This is more than mildly astonishing, since Marques de Caceres is one of the most prominent vintners of the Rioja, as well as being the house wine of the Paradores, the government owned chain of Spanish luxury hotels.

Be that as it may, the Rioja whites undeservedly lag behind the reds in repute. When they are good, as this one certainly is, they are surprisingly light as well as unassertively fruity, but by no means sweet. This bottle would go very well with a delicately flavored fish such as sole or tilapia, which would not stand up to a more aggressive, fierier white. We had it with a super hot chilli, but that is the kind of decadence I would not urge on everyone.