Hi KMP

And welcome to Snooth!

I am curious as to what spice you are looking for. There are some grapes with spicy flavors, Malbec and Shiraz spring to mind. Then there is the spice of oak, which a Rioja Reserva would certainly exhibit.

In that case you might actually be looking for a combination of a certain fruit profile and the spicy tones of wood. In particular American oak as most Rioja continues to be aged in American oak. You might want to explore Australian Shiraz, where there is also significant use of American Oak coupled with a naturally spicy grape though the wines bear little resemblance to Rioja.

One thing to keep in mind is that the spice of wood tends to fade with time so you might prefer younger or more recently released wines to those with some age on them.

Happy hunting!

Fontenella, a very small new winery in Napa makes a spicey (peppery) Zinfandel. On the Edge Winery, also makes a spicey zin...the 2003. Karen Culler of Culler Winery makes a spicey Syrah.

KMP

Petit Sirah is known for having a white pepper note to it. Here's one I remember being particularly peppery:
http://www.snooth.com/wine/fleur-de-california-petit-sirah-cental-coast-2006/

Totally different, is this Pinot Noir - im suggesting it as I remember it being very spicy and peppery.
http://www.snooth.com/wine/cono-sur-pinot-noir-2006-5/

Pelaverga, which often has a nice peppery note but with a relatively light body.

I'm surprised at how many pop up on the shelves here in NYC, actually, and not all at the usual suspects (Astor, Chambers, etc.) A couple of years ago I found two on the shelves of a store on 7th Avenue in Park Slope. I think we are rather blessed here, though, Pelaverga-speaking.

Ridge, Paso Robles Zinfandel. I think 2005 is the one I'm thinking about. Really spicy and a very wild and attractive wine.

I had a 2005 Cotes du Rhone from Saint Cosme recently that had quite a bit of peppery spice, and for only about $12 if I remember correctly.

http://www.snooth.com/wine/st-cosme-cotes-du-rhone-2005/

Nice suggestions folks!

Love to see them keep coming!

Lots of Syrah (unsurprisingly) in this list - I think this will dovetail nicely into the Snooth GTI Tasting of Syrah: http://www.snooth.com/talk/topic/snooth-gti-syrah-post-your-notes-here/

KMP - if I read you correctly, the Australians have identified specific molecules that cause that peppery flavor. I think what happens is that in certain circumstances, the flavor is expressed and in my experience, the wines usually come from ares that are cool for the particular grape. So syrah from Austria, for example, is more likely to express that flavor than shiraz from Australia, although there are in fact some Aussie shirazes that very clearly have the pepper. Victoria Cliff, for example, And it's not only in syrah - you can find it sometimes in langrein, and in good blaufrankish, among other wines.

Spice however, is not the same as the black or white pepper. Many garnacha based wines from the south of France or Spain can exhibit that, as well as the occasional cab franc and even zin. In the best cases, it's from the grape but sometimes, as Greg DP said, it's from the oak - usually that's more like cloves and sandalwood.

The green pepper, or vegetal flavor, is entirely unrelated and comes from a lack of adequate sunlight, which is why you get it from Bordeaux varietals from less-sunny areas, e.g. malbec in Bordeaux and not Mendoza.

I agree with the classical peppery wine recommendations of Syrah and some zin.
Old-world syrah (from Northern Rhone, for instance) will have more pronounced pepper than new world (like Australia or California, which tend to be fruitier and riper, thus often overshadowing the spice to the point of it being unnoticeable).

For Zin, the best one I had that was pepperry, not too sweet, and food friendly was a Shifrin Zin, described here: http://www.chevsky.com/2008/12/shifrin-brings-zinfandel-back-from-dead.html - there is a whole video blog that I linked to on the blog talking about that Zin and how peppery it is.

Lastly, you should probably learn the concept of "garrigue" - it's the term used to describe the spice found i the wines of Southern France, particularly Languedoc and Provence. It's a combination of pepper, herbs, mint, char, pine needles - quite fascinating and distinctive on one's palate - you can read more about it here: http://www.chevsky.com/2009/01/languedoc-wild-wild-wild-south-of.html

Enjoy!
Best regards,
Gary "Iron" Chevsky (from the Iron Chevsky wine blog at http://www.chevsky.com)

(I think I accidentally posted this on your other thread...) Check out the less likely candidate from Gamay grape -- quite peppery beaujolais (Cru level) from Moulin-à-Vent appellation in Beaujolais (just above Northern Rhone). It's the most serious appellation in Beaujolais and the wines that come from there are sort of a cross between a red Burgundy (from Pinot Noir grape) and a Northern Rhone (from Syrah grape) -- so naturally they have a black cherry and black pepper combination. Much more serious than your typical Beaujolais Nouveau juice at prices that are still quite affordable. I just had one of those last night with Chinese cuisine, and the spice was undeniable. Went great with both black-peppered and spicy red-peppered dishes. Under $20/bottle. Solid, at the level at Cotes du Rhone, not amazing - but great value.

Regards,
Gary "Iron" Chevsky (from the Iron Chevsky wine blog at http://www.chevsky.com)

Hard to find, by try the Kiona Lemberger from Washington State. Recent bottle was super peppery and spicy.

Hey man. My reccommendations are Monastrell from Jumilla and Alicante, in Spain. Monastrell is the name of the grape in this instance. Beautiful cedary, spicy, peppery finish on most. French Carignan(also a grape name) have profound black pepper on the finish. Of course, your aforementioned Riojas. Cesanese from Italy are a little more difficult to locate, but tasty and zesty nonetheless. Anything else easily locatable that I would have mentioned has already been mentioned here. Good luck.

When it comes to spicy one wine in particular stands out to us. It's schioppettino from the Friuli region of Italy along the Slovenian border. We've been told that the word schioppettino is analogous to Italian for shotgun, so that ought to give you an idea of what to expect. The best example we have found so far is the Ronchi di Cialla winery.