WTN: Mas de Booze

[Jenise]

Opened yesterday, the first of four bottles bought long ago. No idea what prompted the purchase and at this point didn't know what to expect.

2010 Mas de Boislauzon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhone Blend
Not decanted. First pour out of the bottle: kirsch-like alcohol, unpleasant sediment particles in every sip. [Pause here to read the label--15%!!! Egads!] So I poured the wine thru unbleached coffee filters into a decanter to clean up the particulate and then gently added water, about three tablespoons in all, which freshened up the fruit greatly and smoothed out the alcohol. At this point modestly enjoyable with our taco dinner, but without intervention no way could we have drunk this.

[David M. Bueker]

Gotta love it when you need to treat wine like Scotch!

[Jenise]

It's crazy!

15%? That's the same alcohol level as Fino Sherry.

-Paul W.

Uh-oh!

I have only some 2007 but haven't opened any yet. Went and looked at it and there is no alcohol rating on it at all, which probably means that I didn't source it up here as our liquor board is pretty strict about that sort of thing.

If any vintage is likely to be hot/ripe, it would be 2007! Will make a note to try and remember to open this one when you are here, Jenise, as only you will have a frame of reference to tell if it is better or worse!

Took a look at the 2010 reviews and they were generally very good - maybe the current generation of Parkerites are out there rolling in sweet fruit and living it?

Crap!

Decided to see if I had any 2010 CnduP. I do, but only to (unusual for me), a Deydier and a whole case of Vieux Lazaret Cuvée Exceptionnelle. Went and pulled a bottle - you guessed it, 15% alcohol.

It was rated as good vintage but I don't recall now why I moderated my usual buying practices unless it was an early caveat from a critic about ripe/hot wine.

Maybe we should do a 2010 CnduP tasting......

[Jenise]

Took a look at the 2010 reviews and they were generally very good - maybe the current generation of Parkerites are out there rolling in sweet fruit and living it?

If you're talking about critics, I am no longer surprised by how few ever mention high alcohol. I actually had a conversation with Owen Bargreen (late of Vinuous) about it over the weekend in re his rave reviews of the new Orin Swift releases. I didn't burden him with my dislike for those wines, but I'm not a stranger--we haven't shared wine but we're friends, he knows what I drink--so on behalf of all haters I just thanked him for including clues like "cherry cordial" so call it out even if he's not going to throw in the numbers. In response he mentioned kirsch, didn't I love that? You can guess how I answered. But obviously, for guys like Owen the consumer isn't their base--it's the wineries who provide free wine and welcome them like kings.

But back to the Booze: in adjusting my inventory this morning I noticed that the last person to review it on CT (coincidentally just one week ago) confessed that he saw the alcohol level before tasting the wine and worried about kirsch-like flavors but said reported with relief 'none there'. Certainly not the case with mine, but then he didn't mention the particulate matter either. We may have different sensitivities.

Btw, I know you regard my filtering etc with great reservations, but I would be happy to sacrifice [ ] two more of this '10 to demonstrate how the methods outlined above turned an undrinkable wine into a drinkable one, if you're interested. Believe me, suffering wines like this as-is is not an option.

Took a look at the 2010 reviews and they were generally very good - maybe the current generation of Parkerites are out there rolling in sweet fruit and living it?

Btw, I know you regard my filtering etc with great reservations, but I would be happy to sacrifice [ ] two more of this '10 to demonstrate how the methods outlined above turned an undrinkable wine into a drinkable one, if you're interested. Believe me, suffering wines like this as-is is not an option.

That might be a fascinating experiment - do it at a CNduP brown bag lunch and don't tell us which has been filtered - I'd be very interested in the difference.

I'd also be interested in seeing a chemical analysis of the wine before and after filtration to see exactly what has been changed.

I knew a guy that stuck an aquarium air stone in his decanter to fast-ox the ones he thought needed it. Made a fair bit of difference. I guess there is a spectrum of interventionist activity with mild and beneficial at one end and undesirably aggressive on the other end (although I don't know what the latter would be - putting it in a container and giving it a run on a commercial paint shaker...?)

[Jenise]

I knew a guy that stuck an aquarium air stone in his decanter to fast-ox the ones he thought needed it. Made a fair bit of difference. I guess there is a spectrum of interventionist activity with mild and beneficial at one end and undesirably aggressive on the other end (although I don't know what the latter would be - putting it in a container and giving it a run on a commercial paint shaker...?)

I've heard of somms whizzing young wines in a blender in the backroom, and that awful decanter you posted about isn't the first such one. A friend of ours did get one once as a gift. Not a blender but the little stand you merely set a bottle on and let it jiggle. We compared two bottles of same-everything Bord Sup. A newbie or two in the group more used to American wines liked the jiggled wine the best, but the experienced tasters preferred the other--it wasn't all just top notes.

But sure, queue up CdPs, I'll bring the Booze.