This week I have 3 very different selections each special in some way.
1) Taurino, Salice Salentino, Rosso, Riserva 2001 (Guagnano, Italy) - A sign in the store describing this as a good value also said it had hints of sausage and that's really what sealed the deal for me. Sounded interesting. And I have to admit I can smell it. It's sort of a spicy fennel-like smell, which probably isn't technically a sausage smell but really sort of an herbal spice smell, but hey I liked it. I can't say it tasted like sausage though, which I suppose is a good thing. The wine is smooth, rather weak flavored, maybe even watery, but I'd buy this again just for the unique bouquet and I'm going to give it as a gift to someone and see what they think. So I say this is a fun choice.
2) Dominique Mugneret, Bourgogne Hautes-Cotes de Nuits, Pinot Noir 2004 (France) - This was supposed to be one of the 2 or 3 stars of my collection which I would age and open gloriously in a few years. It was a $28 bottle recommended by Best Cellars as a truly exceptional burgundy. Of course I opened it early and I think for several reasons. First I've had other wines in my reserve which I went ahead and sampled and decided they weren't the type of thing I wanted to age as a treat anyway. Second I have several other pinot noirs waiting to be sampled and I guess I wanted to know what a really good one was like before I evaluate the others. Third, hey I wanted to try it. So how was it? Well, I can tell it's a nice wine, probably something wine fashionistas would speak highly of. Personally, I just thought it was OK. The bouquet and palette were nice, it was very smooth and well balanced. Honestly though the flavor was not dramatically different from my past tastings of pinot based wines. It's not like it was in a whole different class of taste. And I know I could have let it age a lot more but I suspect that would have boosted the bouquet but that's about it. So I don't disregard this wine, I can tell its a very nice wine, but it didn't excite me and I don't see myself spending $28 to buy it again. But at least now I can say I tried a Cotes de Nuits.
3) Chateau Le Barraillots, Margaux, Grand Vin de Bordeaux 2004 (France) - Ahh, and another I was holding in reserve to open a few years from now for a transcendent experience. Again, I thought I should go ahead and try one to see if it was worth keeping around awhile, and also I thought I'd go buy another as a gift. This was $20 at the Wine Press in Brookline and a sign said it's unheard of to find a Margaux at that price. I believe it because I'd actually heard of Margaux even before I started this wine sampling hobby. So how was it? Very very smooth with a mild bouquet and palette and very little or very soft tannins. I can tell if this was aged 5 or more years it would be much more of a contender. Yet, despite opening it pretty young for a bordeaux I again was expecting more. Sure, I think it's a $20 value, but there are still wines in the $10-$15 dollar range I'd much rather drink. Even some of the earlier bordeaux's reviewed in my blog would be chosen by me instead. Still, I enjoyed it more than the burgundy reviewed above and it was a better value too.
Some overview comments.
A) At this point I'm coming to a conclusion that I only enjoy pinot noir once in a while, and it's not that I'm buying poor choices demonstrating an inferior product because even the really good stuff doesn't thrill me. Pinot noir sits a little weird in my stomach. I'd even go so far as to say it has some of the "foxy" characteristic used to describe new world grapes which didn't crack the global grape scene. In fact if pinot noir didn't have centuries of tradition in France and had been discovered with those new world grapes I doubt it would have the infamy that it does.
B) Although I can enjoy a bordeaux, and other French or Old World style wines, I have to confess more and more my wine tastes lean toward the bigger, bolder, fruitier wines of the new world. I'll be working my way for half a week through these really nice wines like the burgundy and bordeaux above and instead of really savoring them I catch myself looking at unopened bottles of different wines which when they get their turn might yield something a little more interesting. And that's not to say the classic wines never appeal to me, because that Italian Rosso I discussed is an enjoyable repeat for me.
C) From now on I'm going to impose a personal rule that I won't put a wine in my "reserve" (chuckle, it's not much of a reserve anyway) unless I've already sampled it and decided it's worth having for a special day. So far every age-worthy wine I tried turned out to be just sort of OK - The $28 burgundy, $28 Chattaneuf-de-Papf, $20 Margaux, and $20 Francis Coppola Claret, to name a few. I shed no tears now that I've already had them.
