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New England Style Weather for Award-winning wine

I confess, I often pick wines because I like their label. I picked this one for that very reason. The clean, graphic type on the bottle of Oinoz Crianza, caught my eye. But, when I tasted it, I wanted to know the story of behind this delicious, drinkable red.

A dry, harsh winter, a miserable wet spring, and a summer drought sound like what we endure here in Arlington, but in 2014, at the northern end of the Rioja region of Spain, that weather pattern led to a late budding in the vineyards of Gallamate La Canoca in San Vincente. Those late buds produced grapes of extraordinary quality— so good, that this particular vintage won a Gold Medal at the Consurso Mundial de Bruselas, one of the most prestigious international wine events.

Crafted from Termpranillo grapes, Oinoz Criaza pairs well with pungent cheeses, aged beef, and roast goat. I didn’t have any of those on hand, but my kids were coming over, it was a rare warm spring night, so I decided to throw some burgers on the grill and share a couple of bottles of my newest obsession. 

We cracked the first bottle open and poured. The Oinoz Criaza is a beautiful ruby red color with an aroma of cherry, vanilla, and pepper. We sipped and dove into a baked Brie that my son had made. The gooey cheese was a perfect complement to the dry, fruity wine. My daughter, who tends to drink hard seltzer and white wine, commented, “I can tell that this is a good wine, because I actually like it.”  Smart girl. The 2014 Oinoz Criaza is the highest-rated vintage for this wine. 

We pulled the burgers off the grill and poured the second bottle of wine. It had been breathing for about an hour and the flavor really opened up and mellowed. The night was getting chilly, so we moved inside (four out of six of us have been vaccinated) and ate around the fireplace in the living room. The menu was burgers, tater tots, and salad. It was a double celebration of my daughter-in-law’s birthday (we also had a killer Key Lime pie from Petsi’s Pies in Somerville) and a send-off for my son who was being deployed with the National Guard to Washington DC. Oinoz Criaza proved to be a wine that is fitting for multiple occasions, but I plan to drink it often and for no particular reason at all. Here’s to getting together again.

By: our favorite wine connoisseur, Carol Band

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Auctioning Off 20 Year Pappy Van Winkle for a Good Cause!

On Monday, March 22nd, we will be starting the auction of  a bottle of 20-year Pappy Van Winkle!  The auction will run from March 22nd and end on Monday, April 5th, at 5pm. You can place your bid by calling into the store or in person. Also, feel free to post your bid on our Facebook & Instagram pages (post on our Pappy Van Winkle Posts). All proceeds will be donated to the Arlington Covid Relief Fund. This fund was developed to help struggling families and small businesses in Arlington. We proud that we’re able to support such a worthy cause.

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Just Breath…

Just Breathe…

To decant or not to decant…

It’s a question that many of our customers ask. How long should this wine breathe? Would it benefit from being decanted? What if I just can’t wait to drink it?


We’re here to answer these questions and we’re not too proud to say that, although we consider ourselves wine experts, we also checked in with the experts at Google.

Here’s what we know.

  • Most wines benefit from some degree of aeration and that’s what decanting accomplishes. Simply opening a bottle of wine and letting it sit isn’t enough. The narrow neck of the wine bottle prevents enough air from reaching the entire bottle.
  • The best way to let a wine “open up” to its true potential is to decant it. A decanter aerates the wine twice. Once, when you pour it from the bottle into the decanter and again, as it sits in the decanter, which has a wide surface area. However, if you don’t have a decanter (or you sold the one you got for a wedding present at a yard sale) the best way to let the wine “open up,” is to simply pour it into a glass and let it sit for a while.
  • An interesting experiment to do, if you’re patient, is to take a sip when you first pour your wine and then let it sit for a half hour before you take the second sip. Wow! Is that the same bottle of wine? You’ll often be able to discern dramatic differences in aroma and in taste.
  • Aerating or decanting is especially recommended with bigger more tannic reds such as Cabernets, Nebbiolos and Petite Sirahs. Decant younger, bolder reds longer; old vintages for only 30 minutes or so.
  • Delicate reds and older, lighter wines like Pinot Noir, don’t usually need to be decanted at all, just carefully poured into a glass. Other older—and by older we’re talking wines aged over 15 years — reds like Burgandies, Riojas and older Chiantis can be treated the same way. Their age makes them more susceptible to the affects of oxygen. Let the bottle stand upright for 24 hours and then pour carefully to reduce the risk of sediment clouding your glass.

Drinking white wine? Whites also benefit from aeration, but not as dramatically as the reds.
A rule of thumb is that the younger the wine, the longer you should decant. Have fun and enjoy!

Here are some guideline that we think make sense.

  • Full-bodied Red Wines (Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Tannat, Monastrell, Tempranillo, etc): Use a decanter with a wide base. Decant for several hours
  • Medium-bodied Red Wines (Merlot, Sangiovese, Barbera, Dolcetto, etc): medium-sized decanter. Decant for about an hour.
    Light-bodied reds (Pinot Noir, Beaujolais): serve in a small to medium-sized decanter that’s been chilled. Decant for under an hour.
  • Store leftover wine (there’s an oxymoron!) back in the bottle and drink within 36 hours.

Looking to get the best decanter? Check out this blog post.

Thanks for reading, Carol (Mystic Wine Shoppe’s Connoisseur)

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