Earlier this week opened two serious Washington reds to serve with steak and welcome my brother and his partner to the neighborhood. Chose these two:
2015 Passing Time Red Wine Columbia Valley Red Bordeaux Blend
Very open and ready after a one-hour decant. Seductively spicey (60% new oak) and cabernet flavors (it's 92%) with more body, tobacco and earth than two previous bottles 12 and 24 months ago. Can easily cruise for a few more years but so gulpable now I'd find it hard to resist if I had more.
2013 DeLille Cellars Chaleur Estate Red Mountain Red Bordeaux Blend
Despite a two-hour decant, strikingly hard and tannic for a 7 yr old WA cab--wouldn't have been a surprise in a young Bordeaux, but one doesn't typically run into this kind of structure in WA wines, and I've had a lot of Chaleurs. HOLD.
Then another night I opened these two, both losers initially, but:
2015 Matchbook Tinto Rey Dunnigan Hills Tempranillo Blend, Tempranillo
Not decanted. Immediate nose of gangly, too-prominent American oak followed by scorched earth. On the palate fire-roasted tomatoes and paprika and an oppressive note of alcohol. In all, overwelming, so we set it aside (not expecting to ever return to it) and I opened:
2014 Leeuwin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Art Series Margaret River
Major disappointment. Barely medium bodied, lacks substance, American oak shows, light fruit, very savory/herbal. Screechy and unpleasant. Another candidate to feed to the rhododendrons.
But then it dawned on me: each of these two wines had what the other lacked, so I blended them. The result? Not just good but fantastic. Two unusable wines became one very attractive, balanced blend, and the night was saved.