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January 11, 2007
I hav heard, of course, many times, of "smelling the bouquet" of a wine when tasting it initially....I hav always thought to myself.. "OK, so what? The most important thing is that the wine taste good, right?"
Well, of course it should taste good, and I know much of "taste" is smell, but I hav never really taken to heart the "smelling of a bouquet" until tonight. Maybe it is the wine, maybe it is my evolving tasting appreciation of wine as it should be. In either case, the bouquet on this one was just...fulfilling. Fulfillingly lush and whole and wonderful. It smelled just like a wine should smell like and brought my experience of it full circle and I just loved it. I loved the smelling part of my tasting tonight and appreciated it as I have no other before. It set the stage even though this wine was young and tight with a bit more acid than I am sure it will hav with some years of aging. With that said..I also hav to say that this wine was just excellent. I say excellent especially for the $60 or $80 (around that) which I paid for this wine (recommended to me by Per who has since left Vinfolio) and it really delivers in all areas for me. It was a well rounded, robust taste and drank very well before, during, and even after dinner. It must have a high Merlot content because it started to get somewhat bitter after a few hours so I won't be trying it tomorrow (none left but a glassful) as hubby drank as well and was quite happy I liked something under $200. lol. Nice berries and some oak, this wine was just sensationally balanced and I loved the low acidity, though that "bite" was there, but I could tell it was because it was opened too soon, so I am going to look for more of this to let age, and am sure this will be wonderfuly integrated (let's hope) within 10 years. You can just taste the quality that went into making this bottle. Barely noticed the 13.5% alcohol until I started laughing at really stupid jokes while we were still sitting at the dinner table and the bottle was empty. I think it took a 92 from Parker, but I would rate it higher, the potential is just so obvious to me...a big 4+ stars..OK maybe closer to 5 for the price as it was a joy to consume. I highly recommend this one..really really.
