Name of the wine:               El Dulce – Chozas Carrascal

Vinification:

Garnacha grapes are harvested at 15° Baumé. 48 hours after being in a tank, around 900 liters of must are transferred to another tank with a capacity of 1,000 litres. The must is then racked gently at a low temperature followed by fermentation that starts from this low temperature (11 to 12° C). The process of fermentation continues until the wine reaches 8% of alcohol content. At this stage wine alcohol is added to bring the total alcohol level to 15%. The sugar content of 120 g/l comes entirety from the grapes.
The wine is then aged for 5 months in French oak barrels that are more than two years old.

Vintage: 2008.
Number of bottles: 1.500 (approximate number produced per year).
Alcohol content:  15% by vol. - 500 ml.
Grape variety:  Garnacha.

Crianza/ageing: 5 months in French oak barrels from the Allier forest.

Tasting notes:

Appearance:  Lively brilliant garnet red colour.
Nose:  The full aromatic potential of the variety is captured in this wine: wild strawberries and blackberries with subtle floral nuances of lilacs.
Palate:  Round, fresh and velvety. Unctuous and smooth. Refined, voluminous and ample tannins.

Recommendation:

The toasted, dried fruit and aniseed notes and flavours to be found in this wine make it an ideal accompaniment for sweets and desserts made with ingredients such as:

Almond cake
Wine-soaked sponge cake
Chocolate cake
Spanish sponge cake from Leon
Cookies
Christmas sweets: marzipan, nougat, Spanish polvorones, dry figs, dates, etc…
Spanish San Juan cake
Spanish turrón (nougat) cake from Mallorca
Spanish buñuelos (fritters) from the Ampurdán
French toast
Mostillo
Mostillo with honey and nuts
Honeyed puff pastries from Castilla-La Mancha
Dry figs from Lepe
Spanish bread with dried figs
Castilian crepes with chestnut cream
Zurrakapote from the Basque Country

This wine matches nicely with all kinds of fruits found on the nose or palate such as:

Natural red fruit
Candied red fruit
Pears cooked in wine

The silkiness of this wine, its lack of astringency or sharpness, round and refined tannins and its liqueur-like finish make it the ideal match to serve with chocolate sweets or desserts such as:

Chocolate cake
Chocolate and red fruit cake
Chocolate pudding
Chocolate soufflé
Chocolate brownies
Cookie cornets filled with chocolate
Chocolate crêpes
Truffles
Chocolate and fruit fondue