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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

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