Decant Stop Tasting Wine Blog

Sometimes you read reviews of wines that say you can enjoy it now… but your experience with wine tells you it is probably best to cellar it for at least a few years.  Then you open the wine at the review’s recommendation, and you find you should have cellared it.  This is one of those times.  Oh, when will I learn?  For the most part, if it is a French red, cellar it 3-5 years after release.  It may or may not gain anything, but undoubtedly won’t lose anything.  If you have a case, open a bottle a year upon release… who cares.  We don’t have that kind of budget though, plus, we’d rather drink lots of different wines than more of the same. 

The color is medium ruby, quite pretty.  Aromatically it is pretty nice, after decanting, with some dustiness and a nice red fruit tart (not sure what, but maybe has some blackberry in it as well).  I think what I’m also smelling is actually the tannins, which would be the first time I noticed that in a wine.  Mouth-feel is probably what you’d expect from a Cotes Du Rhone… a little bit lighter than most of what we drink typically, with what I can only describe as perfect acidity – can be drank by itself or will probably go with just about anything.  The fruit is pretty much a nice red fruit mix; strawberry, raspberry, and cranberry – and a nice surprise… orange and lime peel!  Add a little black pepper (joy) and spice, very smooth and balanced oak and tannin, and you’ve got the flavor profile. 

This is a really nice little wine for the money.  Made me want pizza for some reason… a nice gourmet basil and mozzarella, not Pizza Hut anything.  Basically, something simple but delicious.  This isn’t weak like a white, so it doesn’t require weak flavored food.  You just want to be able to appreciate the wine, so don’t blow it out with something too complex or intense. 

My advice is to find this wine, cellar it for a few years, decant it for an hour, and enjoy.  Even if you can’t/don’t want to decant, it is very enjoyable right now.  I do think it has the structure/backbone to continue to blossom for another couple of years at least, so if you can, drink in 2010.

Rating:  90

Price:  $13 (K&L)

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I bought this wine in the hopes of finding an every day wine for 10 bucks that was readily available, and that I could count on – as from what I read this wine is pretty consistent with every vintage.  It isn’t bad, but it didn’t make me want to keep buying bottles of it either.  Mostly, it has the simplicity of most mass produced wines, the fruitiness of the California versions, but without the oak. 

It is a pretty medium to medium-light ruby red with a slight hint of violet for color and has a fairly nice aroma with cherry and raspberry being dominant with a floral aspect and tiny bits of veggies.  Mouth-feel was fairly light, but smooth and somewhat acidic, and just a hint of soft tannins.  Taste was similar to the nose, but not as good really.  Again, red fruit mix – the usual suspects, with a very slight hint of black pepper.  The after taste was all the vegetal aspect of the nose fleshed out on your palate, along with a mineral residue not a lot unlike the after taste you get when you eat something salty. 

This is a decent meal wine actually, and it would probably work decently to cook with, but I wouldn’t recommend drinking it on its own.  There are better wines for the price for that purpose.

Rating:  87

Price:  $10

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