Chris Coad
Chris Coad
So Lisa's finally out of med school and back into the workforce. Residents don't make huge dough by doctor standards, but by most any other standards they do pretty well, although the seventy-eighty-ninety-hour workweeks do tend to be a pain. Or so I hear when our paths cross, as they occasionally do. But our steady transition from upper-lower class shlubs to lower-upper class elitists continues apace. The economy sucks, I'm told, but now that we have a Hawaiian running the country things are sure to be looking up.
So it's time to spend, spend, spend like there's no tomorrow!
OVERPRICED SWILL THAT IS WHITE
Francois Pinon Vouvray 'Silex Noir' 2007 ($19). I'll have to get the story behind this special version of the 'Tradition,' but in the meantime it's eminently drinkable. I haven't done the sensible thing, which would be to taste it alongside a normal Tradition, so the specific difference eludes me on that level, but it's happily aromatic, lightly medicinal-herbychamomile and quinine hints over a subtle minerality. It's a relatively light wine, lithe and nervy and brightly crisp, and my glass is quickly emptied. More, please.
Thomas-Labaille Sancerre Chavignol Cuve Buster 2006 ($29). Shy aromatics, lemon and lime rind, subtle chalkiness underneath. Much leaner than the tropical '05 version, racy and composed, nothing of extravagance here. Mediumweight, vivid acidity, it's pure and focused and lean, but I don't find it terribly distinctive. It's just real nice Sancerre, tart and crisp and easy to drink, devoid of the chameleonic complexity that I usually find in this cuve. I'm left a little disappointed, I'm afraid. Lisa really likes it, though, so maybe I'm just being a crank.
Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2007 ($19). Lightly cream-edged green chile and grapefruit aromatics. Crisp acidity supports a gentle fleshiness, white grapefruit, lemon and ginger blossom. Nice, balanced sauvignon solidly in the tritonal kiwi mode. Nothing terribly exceptional, but very decent and complex enough to keep my attention from wandering. SCREWCAP!
F.X. Pichler Sauvignon Blanc Wachau Smaragd 2006 ($76). Smells... different. Grass cuttings drizzled with honey and lime juice and topped with a spoonful of lilikoi. Creamy tasting, weighty and rich, slightly gonzo in a way that brings Dagueneau to mind. Firm acidity, with a touch of sweetness. Pure, vivid and rich sauvignon blanc that leaves me muttering "Wow, this is sauvignon blanc? Really?"
You know, I can't get over the fact that there's a product on the market called a "Foaming Pipe Snake."
OVERPRICED SWILL THAT IS RED AND FROM THE OLD WORLD
Catherine et Claude Marchal Bourgogne Cuve Gravel 2005 ($26). Yikes! This wine was $16 the last time I bought it. I called it 'undervalued' then, but I didn't want to be taken so literally. This seems a bit bigger than usual, ripe spicy cherry-beet-clove aromatics, with a bright underlying minerality. Tangy, focused, bright and long, with a wonderful intensity of flavor mingling with a general lightness. Hasn't the depth and tensile strength of their pricier wines, but for a Bourgogne Rouge it's its usual overachieving self. Pretty, lithe pinot noir.
Catherine et Claude Marchal Savigny-les-Beaune Vieilles Vignes 2006 ($47). Quiet cherry-earth notes, light stony underpinnings, touch of clove up top. Light, friendly little pinot noir, crisp and simple, about what I'd expect from the Cuve Gravel. Which used to cost sixteen bucks. This is $47, and to my tastes a step down from the '05 version, which had substantially more heft and character. Avoid, at least at this price.
Alain Graillot St. Joseph 2005 ($35). Smoky blackberry-smoked meat, light African violet floral hint up high. Dark, taut at the core but loosening out fleshily, the often severe Graillot acidity on a short leash, only apparent at the very center of the wine. Okay, it's not exactly plush, but there's a relaxed quality to its tenseness. Finishes with a scorched-espresso-blackberry bitterness. A certain diffuseness in the middle is the only quibble, but this is perfectly charming St. Joseph.
Vignale Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2004 ($38). Dry, dark, raisiny hints mingled with stony redfruit. Medium-large and broad-shouldered, a bit stripped down and lacking in distinction. Not bad, but shrug. Or maybe just meh.
OVERPRICED SWILL THAT IS RED AND FROM THE NEW WORLD
Stolpman Vineyards Red Table Wine Santa Ynez Valley 'Rhne Ridge Cuve' 2000 ($22). Medium-dark amber-garnet, just a curious hint of browning at the rim. Jeepers, this is the wine that haunts Jay Miller's nightmares: huge candied smoky-leathery raspberry liqueur aromatics with a pleasant horsey streak. Tastes big, ripe, round, soft, fleshy, meaty, squishy, candied & blowsy, medium-low acidity. I passed on the '03 Chteauneufs, but this makes up admirably, for far less dough. HEAVYASS BOTTLE!
Clos Mimi Syrah Paso Robles 'Petite Rousse' 2003 ($21). Smells of blackberry, black raspberry, hints of menthol and African violets, touch of shoe polish, ripe and rich smellies. Tastes similarly rich, fleshy up front, slight spikiness in the middle, finishes like finegrain licorice sandpaper, shyly abrasive and dark. The raspy finish actually comes across as a positive, giving the fleshy fruit some mouthgrapple. Gently complex, nice enough new world style syrah. FAKE PINK CORK!
Belle Pente Winery Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Murto Vineyard 2000 ($36). Medium-light translucent garnet color. Brightly spicy-smellingcola, clove and mulled Christmas spices couched in a backdrop of tart cherry-plum fruit. With air a distinct cloviness emerges, shouldering some of the lighter aromatic notes aside. Tastes lean and focused, crisp and taut with a lipsmacking sour-cherry-plum juiciness. Very nice, seems to be coming around from the more ungiving wood-marked showings of a few years ago, the overt oakiness now less obtrusive toasty hints. Probably needs another year or three, but it seems to be coming together nicely.
Belle Pente Winery Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Murto Vineyard 2004 ($38). Medium translucent garnet color. Spicy clove-cola-plum-cinnamon-cherry aromatics, a gentle pool of mulled-wine spiciness. Medium-lightbodied, expressive, softish pinot noir. There's no firm spine at the center of this wine, there's a certain diffuse quality, but the gently expressive fruit makes up for that, spreading out languidly on my tongue, smooth and easygoing pinot noir, contemplative. My only complaint is a bit of astringency on the finish, but apart from that it's a distinctive, balanced and happily loose little pinot noir.
Radio-Coteau Syrah Sonoma Coast Las Colinas 2005 ($52). Dark purply-garnet color. Smells rich and concentrated, like something that's been boiling down on the stove for a good long timeblackberry and raspberry reduction, iodine, smoke and a tickle of menthol. It seems a bit irrationally exuberant, aromatically speaking, but there's a lot going on. A sip, and it's a coiled, muscular wine. Medium crisp, with dark smoky red and black berry flavors, ripe and a bit rough edged, quite tannic on the finish. I've got a black and blue steak on my plate, and, although I found it a bit too much at first, it sure matches well with the charred/bloody cow bits. It reminds me of the South African syrah that dal Piaz tipped me off to a while back, what was that called? Anyhoo, it's a great big bounding mastiff of a wine, but it has a certain rough composure, as well as lots of character. We polish off the bottle quickly.
Cavatappi Winery Nebbiolo Washington State Red Willow Vineyard 'Maddalene' 1995 ($46). Medium translucent ruby color, just a hint of bricking at the rim. Bit of barnyardy funk at first, blows off quickly, then spicy sandalwood-cherry notes, hints of cedar and tea. A sip, and it's medium bodied, loosely wrapped and a bit understructured, kind of a wash of wood-accented cherrypit redfruit. Not bad, could use more focus. Seems rather advanced for a twelve year old nebbiolo, but maybe that's the traditional Washington State nebbiolo style.
Kirkland Signature Meritage Napa Valley 'Master Cask Series' 2005 ($26). Gentle pruney-raspberry aromatics, hints of stewed tomato, touch of berry candy. Loose, blowsy and red berry-candied, glossy oak hints, not much in the way of focus. Medium-low acidity, poofy and loosely wrapped, duotonal and rote, merlot by the numbers. Inoffensive facsimile of a pointy wine, rendered drinkable by a reticence with overt wooding or freakiness, but generally dull and ponderous.
Dashe Cellars Zinfandel Alexander Valley Todd Brothers Ranch 2002 ($32). I don't usually shell out six fins for a zin, but I really liked the first few vintages of the regular Dashe zin, so what the hey. Big ripe black cherry-raspberry aromatics, generously smoky-oaky, toasted vanilla and smokiness. Tastes plush, round mouthfilling redfruit kind of washes over my tongue, with some medium-low acidity chasing after. A big, robust wine without enough structure to keep the flesh from bulging out around the edges, especially in the middle. Then, once the candied fruit recedes, the smoky burnt-toast oakiness dominates the finish. Powerful wine, but clumsy.
Shingleback Cabernet Sauvignon McLaren Vale 2002 ($22). Smells of blackberry and blackcurrant, touch of mint up high, dark baker's chocolate notes down below. Medium acidity, tastes fleshy and loosely-wrapped, smoky redfruit carries on a bit into a sort of finish. Amiable, I guess, but not terribly interesting.
OVERPRICED SWILL THAT IS SWEET
Quinta do Infantado Porto Late Bottled Vintage 2000 ($26). Deeply colored, almost black, purpling at the rim. Richly aromatic, dark and tarberried. Thick and matte-textured, medium-plus sweet, full of earth, red berry and pomegranate, baker's chocolate. Rich and long, chewy-dark port that lingers earthily on the tongue. Really nice, good value. Buy more.
Chteau Rieussec Sauternes 2003 ($56). Slightly baked-smelling orange, vanilla, creme brule and apricot-crayon aromatics, smells rich and vivid but oddly like something from a kitchen science corporation, kind of plasticized, and there's not a whole lot of botrytis evident . Tastes sweet and rich and spineless, just a rich mouthful of multiflavored sugar syrup. It actually tastes pretty good, but is so lacking in mouthgrab as to be cloying. The least pleasing Rieussec I can remember tasting, unless your tastes run to overly sweet liquid candy syrups. Kane?
Chteau de Rayne Vigneau Sauternes 1988 ($41/.375). Quietly spicy apricot-orange-rind-vanilla aromatics, not exuberant but fairly vivid smelling, with just a hint of botrytis in play. Tastes broad and sweet and rather puppyish, with some firm acidity moving in to rein things in and keep it from getting sloppy. Still quite young, but drinking very nicelya happy-go-lucky kind of Sauternes, unsubtle and easy to enjoy without putting it under a microscope.
Chteau Lafaurie-Peyraugey Sauternes 2001 ($61). Gosh, this used to be the go-to cheap Sauternes for when you couldn't afford to drink the good stuff, now it IS the good stuff. Or at least it's priced that way. Brightly, richly aromatic, botrytis-dusted lemon-cream, apricot and vanilla. Weighty and richly flavorful but startlingly bright and crisp, it's got much more going on than any Lafaurie-Peyraugey I've tasted. If I'm looking for something to complain about, maybe it's not as focused as some of the giants on the scene. But really, that's splitting hairs. The best L-P I've had. You know, in a decade of hearing 'VINTAGE OF THE CENTURY' hype every year about some place or other, only '01 Sauternes has held up to the hype. Even houses that I often find pedestrian somehow managed to make exciting, vivid wines.
Huet Vouvray le Mont Molleux 2002 ($42). Nice layered aromatics, classic Vouvrayapricot and bergamot, chalk and paraffin and a touch of orange rind. A sip, and it's oddly wan, robust-demisec-sweet, with sort-of-firm acidity that doesn't quite pull things together. The light sugar gives it a pleasant silkiness. Really, this seems like a demisec with the wrong label, although not an entirely successful demisec, lacking focus and precision, maybe a demisec from '99 or '00. Connell used to posit that '02 was entirely a demisec vintage, if there are doubters, here's another brick in the wall.
Domaine du Mas Blanc Banyuls Vieilles Vignes 1985 ($65). Amber-brown color, just a hint of red at the core. Whiff of sherry, yes it's heat-damaged. Medium-plus sweetness, hasn't turned into Chteauneuf just yet, but there's been some poor storage somewhere along the line here, as the wine is in bad shape. Perhaps I oughtn't ever be optimistic about the place just below 15th Street with the storage issues, the more fool me I guess. Annoying.
Niepoort Porto 2000 ($85). Rich-smelling and dense, blackberry and dark red raspberry and tar and dark chocolate. Dark and tooth-staining, a bit closed, but obviously big-boned and rich, dense and sweet and deep. Not quite the bruiser that the '97 is, but firmer than the lovely '92, one for the cellar. Too bad the price has tripled in the past six years or so, I won't be buying much with much better values available. Still, it's very pleasing, if a bit bumptious.
Whoops, looks like we're broke again. Back to the cheap stuff next time, kids!
So it's time to spend, spend, spend like there's no tomorrow!
OVERPRICED SWILL THAT IS WHITE
Francois Pinon Vouvray 'Silex Noir' 2007 ($19). I'll have to get the story behind this special version of the 'Tradition,' but in the meantime it's eminently drinkable. I haven't done the sensible thing, which would be to taste it alongside a normal Tradition, so the specific difference eludes me on that level, but it's happily aromatic, lightly medicinal-herbychamomile and quinine hints over a subtle minerality. It's a relatively light wine, lithe and nervy and brightly crisp, and my glass is quickly emptied. More, please.
Thomas-Labaille Sancerre Chavignol Cuve Buster 2006 ($29). Shy aromatics, lemon and lime rind, subtle chalkiness underneath. Much leaner than the tropical '05 version, racy and composed, nothing of extravagance here. Mediumweight, vivid acidity, it's pure and focused and lean, but I don't find it terribly distinctive. It's just real nice Sancerre, tart and crisp and easy to drink, devoid of the chameleonic complexity that I usually find in this cuve. I'm left a little disappointed, I'm afraid. Lisa really likes it, though, so maybe I'm just being a crank.
Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2007 ($19). Lightly cream-edged green chile and grapefruit aromatics. Crisp acidity supports a gentle fleshiness, white grapefruit, lemon and ginger blossom. Nice, balanced sauvignon solidly in the tritonal kiwi mode. Nothing terribly exceptional, but very decent and complex enough to keep my attention from wandering. SCREWCAP!
F.X. Pichler Sauvignon Blanc Wachau Smaragd 2006 ($76). Smells... different. Grass cuttings drizzled with honey and lime juice and topped with a spoonful of lilikoi. Creamy tasting, weighty and rich, slightly gonzo in a way that brings Dagueneau to mind. Firm acidity, with a touch of sweetness. Pure, vivid and rich sauvignon blanc that leaves me muttering "Wow, this is sauvignon blanc? Really?"
You know, I can't get over the fact that there's a product on the market called a "Foaming Pipe Snake."
OVERPRICED SWILL THAT IS RED AND FROM THE OLD WORLD
Catherine et Claude Marchal Bourgogne Cuve Gravel 2005 ($26). Yikes! This wine was $16 the last time I bought it. I called it 'undervalued' then, but I didn't want to be taken so literally. This seems a bit bigger than usual, ripe spicy cherry-beet-clove aromatics, with a bright underlying minerality. Tangy, focused, bright and long, with a wonderful intensity of flavor mingling with a general lightness. Hasn't the depth and tensile strength of their pricier wines, but for a Bourgogne Rouge it's its usual overachieving self. Pretty, lithe pinot noir.
Catherine et Claude Marchal Savigny-les-Beaune Vieilles Vignes 2006 ($47). Quiet cherry-earth notes, light stony underpinnings, touch of clove up top. Light, friendly little pinot noir, crisp and simple, about what I'd expect from the Cuve Gravel. Which used to cost sixteen bucks. This is $47, and to my tastes a step down from the '05 version, which had substantially more heft and character. Avoid, at least at this price.
Alain Graillot St. Joseph 2005 ($35). Smoky blackberry-smoked meat, light African violet floral hint up high. Dark, taut at the core but loosening out fleshily, the often severe Graillot acidity on a short leash, only apparent at the very center of the wine. Okay, it's not exactly plush, but there's a relaxed quality to its tenseness. Finishes with a scorched-espresso-blackberry bitterness. A certain diffuseness in the middle is the only quibble, but this is perfectly charming St. Joseph.
Vignale Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2004 ($38). Dry, dark, raisiny hints mingled with stony redfruit. Medium-large and broad-shouldered, a bit stripped down and lacking in distinction. Not bad, but shrug. Or maybe just meh.
OVERPRICED SWILL THAT IS RED AND FROM THE NEW WORLD
Stolpman Vineyards Red Table Wine Santa Ynez Valley 'Rhne Ridge Cuve' 2000 ($22). Medium-dark amber-garnet, just a curious hint of browning at the rim. Jeepers, this is the wine that haunts Jay Miller's nightmares: huge candied smoky-leathery raspberry liqueur aromatics with a pleasant horsey streak. Tastes big, ripe, round, soft, fleshy, meaty, squishy, candied & blowsy, medium-low acidity. I passed on the '03 Chteauneufs, but this makes up admirably, for far less dough. HEAVYASS BOTTLE!
Clos Mimi Syrah Paso Robles 'Petite Rousse' 2003 ($21). Smells of blackberry, black raspberry, hints of menthol and African violets, touch of shoe polish, ripe and rich smellies. Tastes similarly rich, fleshy up front, slight spikiness in the middle, finishes like finegrain licorice sandpaper, shyly abrasive and dark. The raspy finish actually comes across as a positive, giving the fleshy fruit some mouthgrapple. Gently complex, nice enough new world style syrah. FAKE PINK CORK!
Belle Pente Winery Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Murto Vineyard 2000 ($36). Medium-light translucent garnet color. Brightly spicy-smellingcola, clove and mulled Christmas spices couched in a backdrop of tart cherry-plum fruit. With air a distinct cloviness emerges, shouldering some of the lighter aromatic notes aside. Tastes lean and focused, crisp and taut with a lipsmacking sour-cherry-plum juiciness. Very nice, seems to be coming around from the more ungiving wood-marked showings of a few years ago, the overt oakiness now less obtrusive toasty hints. Probably needs another year or three, but it seems to be coming together nicely.
Belle Pente Winery Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Murto Vineyard 2004 ($38). Medium translucent garnet color. Spicy clove-cola-plum-cinnamon-cherry aromatics, a gentle pool of mulled-wine spiciness. Medium-lightbodied, expressive, softish pinot noir. There's no firm spine at the center of this wine, there's a certain diffuse quality, but the gently expressive fruit makes up for that, spreading out languidly on my tongue, smooth and easygoing pinot noir, contemplative. My only complaint is a bit of astringency on the finish, but apart from that it's a distinctive, balanced and happily loose little pinot noir.
Radio-Coteau Syrah Sonoma Coast Las Colinas 2005 ($52). Dark purply-garnet color. Smells rich and concentrated, like something that's been boiling down on the stove for a good long timeblackberry and raspberry reduction, iodine, smoke and a tickle of menthol. It seems a bit irrationally exuberant, aromatically speaking, but there's a lot going on. A sip, and it's a coiled, muscular wine. Medium crisp, with dark smoky red and black berry flavors, ripe and a bit rough edged, quite tannic on the finish. I've got a black and blue steak on my plate, and, although I found it a bit too much at first, it sure matches well with the charred/bloody cow bits. It reminds me of the South African syrah that dal Piaz tipped me off to a while back, what was that called? Anyhoo, it's a great big bounding mastiff of a wine, but it has a certain rough composure, as well as lots of character. We polish off the bottle quickly.
Cavatappi Winery Nebbiolo Washington State Red Willow Vineyard 'Maddalene' 1995 ($46). Medium translucent ruby color, just a hint of bricking at the rim. Bit of barnyardy funk at first, blows off quickly, then spicy sandalwood-cherry notes, hints of cedar and tea. A sip, and it's medium bodied, loosely wrapped and a bit understructured, kind of a wash of wood-accented cherrypit redfruit. Not bad, could use more focus. Seems rather advanced for a twelve year old nebbiolo, but maybe that's the traditional Washington State nebbiolo style.
Kirkland Signature Meritage Napa Valley 'Master Cask Series' 2005 ($26). Gentle pruney-raspberry aromatics, hints of stewed tomato, touch of berry candy. Loose, blowsy and red berry-candied, glossy oak hints, not much in the way of focus. Medium-low acidity, poofy and loosely wrapped, duotonal and rote, merlot by the numbers. Inoffensive facsimile of a pointy wine, rendered drinkable by a reticence with overt wooding or freakiness, but generally dull and ponderous.
Dashe Cellars Zinfandel Alexander Valley Todd Brothers Ranch 2002 ($32). I don't usually shell out six fins for a zin, but I really liked the first few vintages of the regular Dashe zin, so what the hey. Big ripe black cherry-raspberry aromatics, generously smoky-oaky, toasted vanilla and smokiness. Tastes plush, round mouthfilling redfruit kind of washes over my tongue, with some medium-low acidity chasing after. A big, robust wine without enough structure to keep the flesh from bulging out around the edges, especially in the middle. Then, once the candied fruit recedes, the smoky burnt-toast oakiness dominates the finish. Powerful wine, but clumsy.
Shingleback Cabernet Sauvignon McLaren Vale 2002 ($22). Smells of blackberry and blackcurrant, touch of mint up high, dark baker's chocolate notes down below. Medium acidity, tastes fleshy and loosely-wrapped, smoky redfruit carries on a bit into a sort of finish. Amiable, I guess, but not terribly interesting.
OVERPRICED SWILL THAT IS SWEET
Quinta do Infantado Porto Late Bottled Vintage 2000 ($26). Deeply colored, almost black, purpling at the rim. Richly aromatic, dark and tarberried. Thick and matte-textured, medium-plus sweet, full of earth, red berry and pomegranate, baker's chocolate. Rich and long, chewy-dark port that lingers earthily on the tongue. Really nice, good value. Buy more.
Chteau Rieussec Sauternes 2003 ($56). Slightly baked-smelling orange, vanilla, creme brule and apricot-crayon aromatics, smells rich and vivid but oddly like something from a kitchen science corporation, kind of plasticized, and there's not a whole lot of botrytis evident . Tastes sweet and rich and spineless, just a rich mouthful of multiflavored sugar syrup. It actually tastes pretty good, but is so lacking in mouthgrab as to be cloying. The least pleasing Rieussec I can remember tasting, unless your tastes run to overly sweet liquid candy syrups. Kane?
Chteau de Rayne Vigneau Sauternes 1988 ($41/.375). Quietly spicy apricot-orange-rind-vanilla aromatics, not exuberant but fairly vivid smelling, with just a hint of botrytis in play. Tastes broad and sweet and rather puppyish, with some firm acidity moving in to rein things in and keep it from getting sloppy. Still quite young, but drinking very nicelya happy-go-lucky kind of Sauternes, unsubtle and easy to enjoy without putting it under a microscope.
Chteau Lafaurie-Peyraugey Sauternes 2001 ($61). Gosh, this used to be the go-to cheap Sauternes for when you couldn't afford to drink the good stuff, now it IS the good stuff. Or at least it's priced that way. Brightly, richly aromatic, botrytis-dusted lemon-cream, apricot and vanilla. Weighty and richly flavorful but startlingly bright and crisp, it's got much more going on than any Lafaurie-Peyraugey I've tasted. If I'm looking for something to complain about, maybe it's not as focused as some of the giants on the scene. But really, that's splitting hairs. The best L-P I've had. You know, in a decade of hearing 'VINTAGE OF THE CENTURY' hype every year about some place or other, only '01 Sauternes has held up to the hype. Even houses that I often find pedestrian somehow managed to make exciting, vivid wines.
Huet Vouvray le Mont Molleux 2002 ($42). Nice layered aromatics, classic Vouvrayapricot and bergamot, chalk and paraffin and a touch of orange rind. A sip, and it's oddly wan, robust-demisec-sweet, with sort-of-firm acidity that doesn't quite pull things together. The light sugar gives it a pleasant silkiness. Really, this seems like a demisec with the wrong label, although not an entirely successful demisec, lacking focus and precision, maybe a demisec from '99 or '00. Connell used to posit that '02 was entirely a demisec vintage, if there are doubters, here's another brick in the wall.
Domaine du Mas Blanc Banyuls Vieilles Vignes 1985 ($65). Amber-brown color, just a hint of red at the core. Whiff of sherry, yes it's heat-damaged. Medium-plus sweetness, hasn't turned into Chteauneuf just yet, but there's been some poor storage somewhere along the line here, as the wine is in bad shape. Perhaps I oughtn't ever be optimistic about the place just below 15th Street with the storage issues, the more fool me I guess. Annoying.
Niepoort Porto 2000 ($85). Rich-smelling and dense, blackberry and dark red raspberry and tar and dark chocolate. Dark and tooth-staining, a bit closed, but obviously big-boned and rich, dense and sweet and deep. Not quite the bruiser that the '97 is, but firmer than the lovely '92, one for the cellar. Too bad the price has tripled in the past six years or so, I won't be buying much with much better values available. Still, it's very pleasing, if a bit bumptious.
Whoops, looks like we're broke again. Back to the cheap stuff next time, kids!