Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Thursday, November 25, 2021 - 13% alcohol. Tasted blind.

Somewhat translucent and slightly rust-hued dark red color. Very heady, volatile nose of ethyl acetate (nail polish), along with some sweet notes of cherry marmalade, a little bit of damp sous-bois, light leathery tones, an evolved hint of wizened blackcurrants and an acetic touch of balsamico. The wine is dry, firm and medium-bodied with quite volatile flavors of nail polish with a tiny acetic streak of VA, some tart lingonberry, a little bit of crunchy redcurrants, light sweeter notes of ripe red plums, a hint of bretty leather and a touch of tangy salinity. High in acidity with moderately grippy medium-plus tannins. The finish is dry, moderately grippy and quite intense with a medium-long aftertaste of sour cherries and tart cranberries, some bretty notes of horse stables, light leathery notes, a hint of tart red plums and a touch of tangy salinity.

A surprisingly lifted and heavily volatile Saint Julien that shows otherwise good sense of balance, structure and intensity, but suffers from the excessive ethyl acetate character and minor acetic nuances that lend a subtly vinegary streak to both the nose and the taste. Without its volatile nature, this could've been a pretty wonderful old claret, but now the wine feels somewhat unbalanced and not that enjoyable. Trying to guess where the wine came from was pretty impossible due to the elevated levels of VA. This bottle wasn't really worth the price at 24€, but it's always possible that we just didn't have a bottle representative of the vintage (EDIT Jan/29, 2022: confirmed, this was an off bottle).

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