A tale of two wines

I've had three bottles of the Jacob's Creek 2003 Reserve Shiraz. I've loved the last two vintages of this and when Wine Spectator gave the 2003 a 91, it was a no brainer for me to buy a good bit of this for $8. I think I bought 8-10 bottles in two different batches. And then the trouble started. WS said to wait a bit on this, so I did.

Bottle 1: in early 2007 was thin, acidic and a huge disappointment. I felt like a fool for buying so much of this. Score: 80.

Bottle 2: in a blind tasting in early Oct. Warm mulled apple cider with cloves and cinnamon and ginger in a soft berry wrapping = nose. Just super. Tastes a bit more dirty initially,
but good dark berry with some spiciness. Score: 90 with a nose of 92. Now I know what the WS tasted.

Bottle 3: tonight, 10/30/2007. Another blind tasting. A very strange wine. Minimal nose and flavor but fairly rich in texture. Smooth and easy to drink, but like somebody magically removed most of the flavor. Score: 86.


Things get more interesting when I realized bottles 1 and 3, the not so impressive bottles, had a black labelling but bottle 2 had a red labelling. Are these really the same wine?

Chenin Blanc, who knew?

I have certain word associations regarding wine. Here's one: box wine, jug wine, chablis, almaden, chenin blanc.

But about 2 years ago, I read a French grower, Baumard, made excellent Chenin Blanc. Of course, somebody had to make a decent wine out of it somewhere in the world. But about 6 months ago, I started hearing much more of it. Wine Spectator gave a 98 (!) to a Baumard. The african Mulderbosch Chenin Blanc got a WS 90 for $14. And today, I pulled a French Loire Valley white out the fridge and wondered what it was. It says "Savennieres" prominantly and I thought could this might be yet another Chenin Blanc?

Sure enough, Chenin Blanc. A Pierre Soulez 2002 Savennieres Chateau Chamboureau (WS 90, $24). And an interesting wine at that. Intense honey suckle, almond and honey in a slightly viscous body. Good acidic finish. It paired nicely with my left over cous cous with fish and butternut squash. It also went well with a cous cous salad with chicken, grapes and walnuts.

Sticking my nose in manure

Since my wife wasn't drinking tonight, I looked for a wine that she wouldn't enjoy. I dug up an Italian wine that I had mental note to "let it cellar, about 18 months ago". After getting the tightly stuck synthetic cork to open, I was greeted with a blast of manure, sulfer, and farm yard smells. Oh my. I thought I was getting use to earthy wines, but this was too much. It was hard to imagine drinking this. The palate was sharp with twig, manure and just bit of black berry in the acidic ("juicy") body.

I looked it up online, as I had a recollection it was liked by WS. The site lists a bottle for $52 but there's no way I paid that much. Looking up my email, the Wine Club says I bought it for $8. And it is the wine listed on the WS site, but they have a typo in the price. The WS review states:

Good blackberry and chocolate aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, with soft, round tannins. Juicy. This is an outstanding new wine from Angelini. Merlot, Sangiovese and Canaiolo. Best after 2007.

After writing this far in my blog, the smell has started to dissapate but the flavors are still quite lean.

Oh, what is it? TENIMENTI ANGELINI 2004 Toscana Tuttobene Red.