A quick round of two wine stores yesterday, tasted 7 or 8 wines. Here are the notes I could scribble, and still read my handwriting:
Domain de l'Espigouette '05
Cotes du Rhone, Vieilles Vignes
color - translucent strawberry red, but real strawberry, a dark slightly bricky color, not bright red cartoon strawberries. The nose was thin. There was some strawberry, but not much more. It came to life some in the mouth, with strawberry and raspberry, a bit of a bacon surprise, and some minerality. Finish did not last long. The store offering this for tasting had it priced at $19.99, far too much for this bottle. The second store had the same for $13.99, which seems about right, for a fresh, dry, fruity wine, quaffable, but nothing to write home about.
Casa Lapostlle, Cuvee Alexander, 2005
Very dark color. The nose said "South America," with its screaming bell pepper, along with dark cherry. Tasted, too, of dark cherry and bell pepper, with some plum. There was also some vanilla. This was a competent South American red, but you can get more from there for the $25.00.
Darioush, Cab. Sauv., '05
Did I mention infanticide? Okay, huge credit to the store, because who opens something like this for an open wine tasting? It is almost impossible to taste this fairly, both because it's so young, and because he opened it in front of us, so it had no air time. The nose? Evolving with every sniff. Creme de cassis, anise, vanilla, coconut cream .... I can say it had huge promise, and screamed aloud "I'm wonderful, just let me grow up first," but I could have kept sticking my nose in the glass and coming up with something new. If I hadn't had to run I would have stuck around an hour just to see what happened. Ditto on the palate. First, a huge mouth feel, full, thick, coating. There was plum, anise, blackcurrant, vanilla, black fruits, some meat, well, .... Know what I mean? Just opened, too new, and everything possible exploding out of the bottle at once. Maybe somebody more sophisticated than me could have gotten more out of it. All I got was "this will be good, very good, probably great, if only you had enough time." Was it screaming too loud? Was it trying too hard? Dare I use the "over" word and the "extracted" word in the same sentence? Was the whole goal of this wine to be sure the word "huge" was used in every review? Maybe. But can I really be fair 2 minutes after opening? I don't think so. If you like really great big huge Napa cabs, and have a lot of money you need to burn, put some of this stuff up. Otherwise, wait for a better tasting note.
L’Abbaye de Saint-Ferme Bordeaux Supérieur 2004
This started out a typical inexpensive Bordeaux, dark fruit, some wood, then, WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!!? ACETONE?! Who put nail polish remover in my wine? Yup, acetone. I have no more detailed notes because I felt no need to linger. Acetone. Next?
Clos Severi, Priorat 2002
Very dark purple, almost black. Leather, dark fruit and spice on the nose, and on the palate. The fruit was well balanced with spice and tannins. This was not a fruit bomb. Finish was medium length and pleasant. This wine has clearly more cellar time in it.
N.V. Rex Goliath Cabernet Sauvignon Giant 47 Pound Rooster
This was served at a charity fund raiser, where they were saving the money for good causes. It's one of those wines they serve free at the bar, and it was still not a great QPR. Okay, that was sarcasm, but sometimes sarcasm is the only defense. Overextracted? Too kind. How about "overworked"? Oak powder, sugar, vanilla extract, molasses, canned cherries, blueberry pie filling, need I go on? No? I didn't think so.