It’s Sunday morning and I stumble sleepily into the living room, fire up the iPad and think, “What a perfect time to catch up on a few posts.”
I pull out the bottle and a glass so I can take the picture of last night’s wine and my 16 year old helpfully pipes up with, “You’re not drinking this early, are you!?”
Turgid and dense – this wine’s colour is an intensely deep ruby turning garnet with bricking on the edges. But the first sniff had me concerned I’d kept it too long or that something was definitely wrong.
For sure, there is brett on this wine – but I generally don’t mind having a little of that gamey, barnyard character in a deep and rich red. And having a little complexity makes up for the ‘foch’ factor – the non-noble nature of the hybrid grape used.
The nose is a bouquet of blackberry, cassis and salami with espresso and mocha. Echoed on the palate, add in a medium plus acidity with extra gameyness and sweaty leather saddle. There was so much initially I left it to sit open and just breathe (me and the wine). It took about an hour to blow off.
The wine is WSET Good and would be more if the alcohol was not so high as to make it slightly hot and unbalanced. Lots of swirling required, but a medium plus bodied, fully barnyard concoction with black fruit and coffee.
Drink now if you have a bottle; not suitable for further ageing after this point.
I guess I’ll wait until at least noon to have the last glass.