Unfortunately, not such great wines this week:
'11 Domaine Lamartin Cotes du Rhone: F. Watery and dull. Another bottle of mevushal plonk from France. After trying a few bottles of the Mas Noir (also imported by River) I was optimistic, but alas, my optimism was misplaced.
'10 Livni Shani Shiraz/Cabernet Blend: F. This is the polar opposite of the previous wine. If the Lamartin is a perfect specimen of a bland, watery Old World plonk wine, the Livni is a caricature of a big, bold New World wine. Overripe, over extracted, over oaked, too sweet, and worst of all, searing heat in the 14.7% alcohol. Undrinkable.
'10 Capcanes Peraj Petita: B/** A very poor vintage of what is usually one of my favorite wines, consistently scoring A- year after year. The '10 lacks the balance and finesse typical of Capcanes wines. A bit too hot and on the dull side. Plenty of acid, but lacks the structure to carry it. Seems like the fruit on this wasn't quite ripe enough. Either stick to the '08 or '09 or skip straight to the '11.
After all those misses, I switched to beer, but for dessert I took out some Kinor Dovid K'Port 8 year: A-/** Yummy!

Delicious cherry and raspberry, without being too sweet. Great pairing with fresh Black figs. Cheered me up!