2015 Blue Poles Merlot Reserve
Community Tasting Note
Rote Kappelle wrote:
Thursday, June 15, 2023 - What place is there for well-crafted but anodyne wine? In a way I would prefer a wine with personality, even it is a bit of a rough diamond. However, an odious personality is probably still a thing deserving obloquy and anodyne might be to preferred?
I came to this wine in about 2018 with much goodwill, having read fine things about the maker and their Merlots. I was underwhelmed and it was yet another reminder that whatever the merits of the AFR, it's wine writers (in terms of my preferences) were not to be trusted.
I found the wine underwhelming at the time, not because it was bad but because it was dull. The oak was a little prominent for my taste but was not badly handled or clearly out of balance, the fruit was varietal but uninteresting, length and intensity were medium; overall a very medium wine. Good for a meal with people who don't care about wine, or for a time when you have a cold or rabies, or want to live like a Seinfeld viewer.
Nothing much has changed. It is more integrated but still dull. It might become a late life eccentric, but I suspect it will just get more and more inoffensive, like one of those sad old people who no one notices, cares about or is offended by. At the nursing home staff and visitors step over and around his body for days after he has expired. They have to look up his name.
As Saki wrote in Christmas with Dull People "They say there is nothing sadder than victory except defeat. If you have ever stayed with dull people ... you can probably revise that saying". If you have a cold and want something to cut through the food, drink a Negroni or a Martini. Don't waste time with people who don't care about wine. Suicide over Seinfeld.
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