Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Tuesday, August 4, 2020 - A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (61%), Merlot (23%), Cabernet Franc (12%) and Petit Verdot (4%). According to the winery, this was aged in new (66%) and used (44%) 300-liter oak barrels. That's 110% oak for you. 14% alcohol, 3,4 g/l residual sugar, 5,6 g/l acidity and pH 3,66.

Deep, dark and completely opaque blackish-red color. Very ripe, sweet-toned and toasty nose with bold aromas of juicy blackcurrants, coffee oak, some cooked bell pepper, a little bit of mocha latte, light plummy tones and a hint of cocoa. The wine is full-bodied, extracted and chewy on the palate with concentrated flavors of ripe blackcurrants, bittersweet dark chocolate tones and extracted woody bitterness, some plummy tones, a little bit of blackberry jam, light notes of cocoa oak, a hint of toasty mocha oak and a sweet touch of cooked bell pepper. The overall feel is quite firm and structured, thanks to the moderately high acidity and somewhat grippy medium-plus tannins. The powerful finish is somewhat grippy, a little bit warm and quite long with polished, toasty flavors of sweet blackcurrants and ripe dark plums, some mocha oak, a little bit of extracted woody bitterness, light notes of jammy red fruits and a hint of coffee grounds.

A rather robust and impressively big blockbuster wine that just feels way too modern, polished and heavily oaked for my taste. With noticeably less oak influence this could've been a rather impressive powerhouse of a wine, sporting very firm structure and bold, concentrated fruit, but now when a huge majority of descriptors in my tasting note are of different oak qualities, I find it hard to think of this as wine as much as an attempt to create liquid oak extract. Although I'd question the math skills of the people who wrote the tech specs of the wine, it nevertheless feels like this wine has seen 100% oak. Most likely this wine will improve in a cellar as it feels like it is built to age and most likely some of the oak will integrate with the fruit in due time, but I heavily doubt any amount of aging can integrate this much oak before the wine falls to pieces. Not my cup of tea, but if you happen to enjoy modern, heavily oaked blockbuster reds, feel free to add 5-6 extra points to my score.

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