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Old Doug -> RE: Postings after 1 whole bottle consumed alone (5/13/2011 12:07:12 PM)
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Time waits for no man, so they say; probably especially not for old drunks with but scant decades of life remaining. Yet who knows? I have one grandmother, going strong, who will be 100 years old in November. She never boozed, though, and I'm sure that's not unrelated to her longevity.
So, my name is Doug, I'm new to the forum, and trying too hard, but also quite enthusiastic after making a wish-list last night and then securing 16 of the 45 listed bottles an hour ago. The cheapest was from Portugal, Jose Maria Fonseca Twin Vines Vinho Verde 2009. Lovely color, very pale gold. Nearly noseless, hint of flowery citrus there. Damned if it didn't go down easy, nicely crisp palate, clean and little bubbly, even somewhat of a finish. Guzzlers or sippers could drink this for hours on a hot summer day. Not a complex wine, big surprise there, but completely unobjectionable to me, always with the $6.45 price in mind. 10% alcohol; no effect thus far. Well okay, a little.
Before I even started quick-chilling the green wine, I decanted the second bottle - South Africa's Mulderbosch Faithful Hound 2007, a Stellenbosch. Took a big inhale when the cork was first popped; hot, young, overly-fruity. "IWC gave this an 89?" [>:] So we wait....
Ah, I've long said that the early buzz is the best. You get about three beers in you - best time of the evening. Would equate to most of a bottle of wine. Unless it's a strong one, and then it'd be like a half. "The Faithful Hound label commemorates" - (ha! getting drunk) I mean "celebrates the memory of the dog, who, when abandoned by his master, kept a three year vigil outside an empty cottage on Mulderbosch Farm. Sadly, he died unrewarded for his loyalty." Bummer. Too bad a kindly vintner didn't take him in.
62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% each of Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and 8% Cabernet Franc. I like the sound of that, but in test-sipping it (right from the decanter, no less - establishing my Philistine credentials here) it's just too tannic. I can easily make allowances - I like this kind of wine, and now the nose is much cooler, black currant, mulberry, vanilla, butter, but no way this bad boy is going over 85 at this time. Lovely deep garnet/purple/ruby color, though. Looks dark and sensuous in the glass. $16.45 so we are still in "good value" territory. Slightly chalky, medium-chewy tannins, that's the deal here.
That's what I was trying for, today - value. Definitely have Bordeaux sticker-shock here, and what with Screaming Eagle and many lesser variations thereof in California, I've been on a "value quest." Portugal and South Africa seem like they haven't been jacked-up by wine mania yet. My wife and I are going to Italy and France for all of June, and one stop will be 'Max Bordeaux' just to get the little Enomatic machine-dispensed tastes of some of the "great ones" that we can't afford to buy, bottle by bottle. (But how do you decant one ounce of wine?) From a New York Times 'Travel' article:
Welcome to the future of wine tasting. Buy a tasting card (25, 50 or 100 euros), slip it into a high-tech Enomatic vending machine, choose from eight Bordeaux wineries, pick a size (2.5, 5 or 7.5 centiliters), put your glass under the spout, press the button and voilà: out comes a top vintage, kept at ideal temperature and free from over-oxygenation. Such is the routine at the Max Bordeaux Wine Gallery and Cellar (14, cours de l’Intendance; 33-5-57-29-23-81; maxbordeaux.com), which opened last year. I will say that the Max Bordeaux website listed a lot more than what the "eight Bordeaux wineries" sounds like.
But what does this thread want? Surely not long-winded narratives of 10 or 20 paragraphs. I confess that now that the second bottle is almost gone, I'm having to correct the spelling of some words. Okay, the nose of the Stellenbosch is weak, now, almost 2 hours after opening. Given the price, I'd buy more in a heartbeat - it's a very satisfying wine in the under $30 class and with few years' rest might be an outstanding value. Still don't see how it would ever get to IWC's 89, though.
Yet - I think I could take this wine as a shotgun, and blast away many Bordeauxs going for stout multiples of the price. Oh yeah - this is a good one to bring out for my 3 brothers-in-law when we are in the mode of 'Doug's Cellar Depletion.' Think about it - if it really smooths out with a few more years, this could be a mainstay of good, aged red wine, at $200 a case. Hoo aah!
I'm a fair-sized boy, and have a tolerance for alcohol. While I believe in the concept of posting-while-drunk (there is nothing better to read, at times), have been up for 21 hours, and have to go in for another 12 hour shift in 3.5 hours, a pretty grim prospect. Been doing it for over 26 years, though.
Ciao, everybody.
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