OK. It's Sunday night & I have no great joy in going back to work tomorrow morning. To top it off, my father-in-law is back in the hospital & my parents' cat, the beloved little Pazza, is missing. I almost want to say I'm numb to all of the sadness right now. Regardless, I'll dive into a wine anyway. And this one, with its 13% alcohol content & partial grenache composition, would make Julie proud.
The back of the bottle is written in five different languages, so there's not much to say except that I should expect "ripe red berry flavours with hints of spices and licorice." Well, sounds good to me.
I can smell the berries on the nose. I mean big, bold, ripe, luscious red strawberries. Add red grapes & black pepper to the mix, and that is the smell of this wine. I literally want to bite into it. It takes about ten seconds for the legs to form down the side of the glass, and then they roll downwards, back into the glass & the beautiful color. It looks like it's a really dark pinot noir with a shot of purple. Really beautiful.
Unfortunately, this is one of those times in life where I wish the smell would translate into the taste. This wine is very Burgundian on the palate, heavy with sour tannins. The finish is just bitter!
On the bright side, this is a well-made mine with a polished mouthfeel and - my favorite thing - a SCREW TOP! So I can't really condemn Chamarre just b/c I wish this wine tasted more like how it smells. Besides, how often is it that you find a decent-quality French wine for under 10 bucks? http://www.chamarre.com/#/home/
Cheers!
Kate
P.S.: This is the reason I prefer US wines over French. Flavor abounds!!!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
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