La Berta Almante Alicante

When I first opened the bottle, I thought it had gone bad, but it opened up rapidly and became drinkable within about twenty minutes. Made from the elusive Alicante varietal, the La Berta Almante is a pepper-bomb. It smells of pepper and spices, and it tastes, oddly enough, of pepper. It's really a bit too much pepper for my taste. However, it seems very much a food wine, so we drank it with dinner. I made Pasta e Fagioli and the wine really stood up to it. Garagiste described it as an "eccentric" wine, and it sure is at that. It's non-vintage, which means they blended wines from several vintages (2001, 2003 and ???). For certain people who really love old-school wines, this would fit the bill. I don't think I'll be buying more of it, even for $14.