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Parada de Atauta is the new entry-level wine from Dominio de Atauta in Ribera de Duero. This Spanish Tempranillo wine is fresh, attractive, with sweet fruit; it's an approachable wine but also has some good intensity and depth. It really is great value from this fairly expensive Spanish wine region, only 18 euros in Spain. Here in the US I've seen it online for 30 dollars, which is a pretty good import price. Parada del Duero is my new favorite value Ribera del Duero...for more detail read on...

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Dominio de Atauta has always been one of my favorite wineries in Ribera del Duero. These wines buck the current trend of extraction and heavy oak that is still dominate in the region, offering a fresh, terroir-driven style. In my earlier <a title="Domino de Atauta" href="http://planetavino.net/2009/03/12/wine-rating-dominio-de-atauta-2005/" target="_blank">blog article</a> I wrote about the basic Domino de Atauta cuvée and mentioned the single vineyard wines. These wines can be quite austere and tannic at first and need lots of time. That 2005 basic Atauta I review in the 2009 article is drinking youthfully still today and is really beautiful! I had a chance to try the 2009 single vineyard wines and the basic cuvee in Oct 2012 and they were amazing but wound as tight as a drum!

I was really pleased to see the Parada out at such a great price point. It's so accessible and drinkable comparable to its big brothers....the 2009, on the market now, is perfectly delightful! Intense red fruit, a bit sweet, touch of spice, approachable tannins, but with that freshness that vineyards planted at over 3000 ft will give you. The fruit intensity comes from old vines...there are no vineyards less than 60 years old at the winery.

It would be great with any red meats or any roasted meats, poultry or vegetables. At 13.5% alcohol and with only 12 months in French oak, it's a lot more food friendly than some of the heavier, oakier Riberas.

Ribera is one of Spain's most expensive regions and this is a lot of wine for 18 euros. At <a title="" href="http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/dominio+atauta+ribera+del+duero+parada+atauta/2009/usa" target="_blank">winesearcher.com</a> there are several options to buy it for 30$ on up here in the US.

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