2005 Orin Swift The Prisoner Napa Valley Red Wine, 48% Zinfandel, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Syrah, 10% Petite Sirah, 2% Charbono, 15.2% alc., $35.99: I finally got a taste of this neighborhood crowd pleaser, thanks to a sample bottle from the local distributor, and, at first, I was going to state that I wouldn’t call the almost-opaque purple garnet a travesty or an atrocity, because it’s not quite THAT bad (although it’s not even close to anything that I’d refer to as real wine). But, the more I taste it, the more it impresses me as a real deviant-kind-of-grape beverage. There’s not much more than a little bramble-briar on the nose, and the fat-a$$ toast, mocha, toffee and root beer flavors obliterate any identifiable fruit. Full bodied, low in acids and a bit more than moderately tannic, this is a poster child for what some folks refer to as “spoofalated;” in short, it’s a horribly manipulated, over-oaked wine.
“What kind of food would you drink this with,” I asked my better half, “ice cream, or some kind of fruit pie?” “Maybe the pie,” she replied, because it surely doesn’t work with a good New York strip (I knew it wouldn’t after the first sip, but went ahead with the match-up for the sake of documentation). We decided that, despite its sweet nature, it probably wouldn’t even work with BBQ beef or pork, because it doesn’t have the acidity to stand up to the fatty character of the meat. BBQ chicken, maybe? I don’t think so, and I’ll probably never find out, because I’m not inclined to ever put this in my mouth again, but I’d imagine that fans of Cinq Cepages will love it. The obviously Sine Qua Non-esque label is a real plus too, but that’s been hashed over already.
You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time…
Reporting from Day-twah,
geo t.
