Oxte The Silence Red Blend
The Oxte The Silence Red Blend 2017- Trader Joe’s is a Trader Joe’s $5.99 import exclusive, a blend of 40% Tempranillo, 25% Syrah, 25% Garnacha (same as Grenache) and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from vineyards in the Cariñena region of Northeast Spain. Oxte is the Spanish word for “shoo” as in shoo fly, to swat something away. The Oxte is produced by Axial Wines, who also make the TJ’s LaGranja 360 wines, which are Spain’s version of 2 Buck Chuck and to my taste about 3 times better, here is a link to LaGranja 360 Rosado 2016 and LaGranja 360 Verdejo Viura . I am usually impressed by how Axial Wines can produce a quality wine, with quality packaging for such a low price. They distribute over 500,000 cases (12 bottles to a case or over 6,000,000 bottles) of wine a year), I guess at that volume a little profit on each bottle adds up. Trader Joe’s exclusive wines rarely have much in the way of technical information available and the Oxte actually has none, so everything we are going to learn about this Red Blend is going to come from the glass. The alcohol content is 14%.
The color is a very dark raspberry jam red with black highlights. The nose does not say $5.99, it’s sort of dark and brooding, black cherry, cinnamon, black pepper, at this price I doubt if there is any oak, but I think I am getting some vanilla, also licorice, and blackberry. This is a wine with a nice bit of weight on the palate, smooth and easy to drink. It tastes of blackberry and black cherry, plum, black pepper, and some spice lurking around the edges. The mid-palate adds some sweet licorice, raspberry jam (but not too sweet) and herbs. The tannins don’t bite and the acidity has the length to let the flavors unfold, which is a high complete for a $5.99 red wine. The finish is full and stays around for a while.
Summary
- The Oxte The Silence doesn’t look or taste like a sub-6 buck Red wine
- This is a balanced, silky smooth Red blend, the flavors meld together
- Use the Oxte as a “ringer” when blind tasting under $20 Spanish reds, you will surprise everyone
- Also try the LaGranja 360 wines, I am not crazy about every wine in the line-up, but 3/4 of them seriously rock for $4 to $6
I’m on day 3 of a bottle of this and it’s pretty nice. I vacuum out the air from the bottle after each glass. Day One had some real acidity with Day Three being very smooth and still drinkable. Honestly, Vinturi it (which I didn’t do or let it sit out for a good amount of time. Obviously for $6 you can’t expect too much but it’s worth every penny.
I’m barely even a casual wine drinker but I’ve had some nice glasses here and there. My most expensive sampling was a 1999 Silver Oak Cab. I prefer reds but if you pour me an older Rombauer Chardonnay, I’m in a good place.
When it comes to wine, love the one your with. There may be wines more to your liking out there. But today, you must find joy with the wine you have.
knowing where your palate is at is the key to buying wine
The Oxte is a perfectly drinkable Spanish red from Carinena. I bought it because I imagined it might be a Carignan blend.
(Carignan is a wine grape grown in the Languedoc region of France and in the Carinena region of Spain, from which it gets its name) but there’s no Carignan in it.
No matter, the wine is excellent at the price and I’ve enjoyed three or four bottles of it in the last year or so. Approachable and surprisingly complex for a bulk wine. Pairs well with a variety of foods, perfect with Tapas, nice with garlic, olive oil, tomato and pepper based plates.
Nice job, A great review