after a late meeting, the folks at Wine Styles were kind enough to pour me a big glass of this red Bordeaux near closing time.
2004 vintage.
Very dark color. Somewhat reticent nose-my host tasted quite a bit of tobacco, which was there. A slight touch of heat on the nose, but I am somewhat sensitive to alcohol, so...
The palette reflects the youngness of the wine and perhaps the vintage. This is a pretty "tough" red wine, lots of tannins, good acidity, dark leather and tobacco notes. No obvious vanilla oak notes (the website notes only 12 months on oak, so....)
There is not a lot of "obvious" fruit here-definitely a touch of current and cassis but the acids and tannins are pretty dominant now-which I guess one would expect at age 2 since bottling.
Bordeaux experts may be able to tell if this wine would age well...I'm almost thinking that the tannins will always be dominant and that there is not "enough" fruit.
Since I like this kind of austere, dry wine, the lack of fruit is not a turn off for me. *** About $23 at Winestyles.
