Vino 100 Bordeaux Tasting
Vino 100 (Tinderbox), Cherry Valley, IL
Tasted December 7, 2007 by Steve Jones with 895 views
Introduction
Ever since the Tinderbox moved off mall and went to being a wine store I've enjoyed their wines. The Vino 100 concept was 100 wines for under 25. The owner supplements that with other stuff and some high end vodka, scotch, tequila, cognac and rums. I had not been there in a long time, so when I got the email announcing this I was excited.
I got there about 8 PM and there was a good crowd. Some cigar smoke wafted through the air. I was expecting this to be some of the new 2005 reds, but there was a mix of stuff from prior years with 4 whites and a Sauternes. As I perused the bottles I only recognized 2 names, which was not a good sign.
They had run out of wine glasses and I got a dreaded plastic cup. It was bad because I could get no nose from almost any of the wines. I finally got one of the girls who work there to find me a wine glass and they found a small stemless Reidel for me to use. It only helped a little as they all turned out to be pretty blah wines.
Flight 1 - White Bordeaux (4 notes)
Nothing spectacular here. The more Semillon, the less flavor I tasted.
Nice grass in the nose. A very typical white bourdeaux. A bit overpriced at $20.
This would turn out to be the best wine of the night. There was a flinty stoniness (a Graves) to the nose with a nice balanced flavor and acidity. Nothing spectacular, but a good solid white bourdeaux. There was no price to be found with the wine.
Some floral in the nose. Very light flavors. Far too light to be very good, but not bad at all. $16 is a bity high for the value.
Some floral, grass and tar in the nose. Interesting. Again a light wine. Didn't catch the price but it was similar to the others, a fair value at best again here.
Flight 2 - Red Bourdeaux (6 notes)
Less special wines here. Disappointing.
This wine had the best nose of all. It had complexity that was unrivalled by the others in nose and flavors, but what this wine lacked was very good flavors. There was an overall medicianl taste and a flat finish thta were there. $23 is too much to pay for this wine.
Tight, tight tannins. Some structure may be there and it has a bit of a finish. $23 was a bit high for the value, but this one may develop.
Some nose and bordeaux flavors. Short finish. Not a value at $25.
Tied for the best of the reds with two others, this wine had some earthiness, tobacco and leather. It had some lingering on the finish. Not too special, not bad. At $18 it is fair value, a tad overpriced.
Light, ok flavor. Didn't catch the price, probably not good value.
Medium body and lighter flavors. Ok. $22 is overpriced for value.
Flight 3 - Dessert Bordeaux (1 note)
A nice finisher.
This wine was nicely syrupy and had anise, caramel and other traditional flavors. $22 a split is fair.
Closing
I was highly disappointed in the event. I picked up some (3) South American wines and a Washington wine along with a CAO Triple Maduro cigar that was quite tasty. At least the tasting was free; it would have been bad to have paid to sample these mediocre Bordeaux wines.