Bodegas Castano 2005 Hecula Yecla Monastrell

When I tasted the 2004 vintage my feelings were generally positive but I promised to "let it breathe a bit next time", so this time I made like a mad scientist and funneled back and forth between the bottle and a carafe.

Near-opaque dark red/purple.

Smell of black cherry and plum, oak and leather.

Tastes of stone fruit and oak / vanilla. Well-balanced tannins.

The next day still big fruit over oak and leather.

This vintage, like last year, is a full-bodied fruity Spanish red. Breathing the bottle, and laughing like a mad scientist while doing so, was a positive. I haven't yet quite figured out how best to determine if an unfamiliar red will benefit from aeration. I must ponder.

Reasonably-priced at $13.49. Nyah-ah-ah!