Sharon Bowman
Sharon Bowman
Yesterday, I met the esteemed Mister Coad at a local watering hole for some wine.
Surprising me right off the bat, he expressed a yen for a light red. To start!
So start we did, with:
2013 Occhipinti Il Frappato - Bingo. This did the trick. A lovely wine. A little bit hard, a little bit tart, light and lithe. The wine is (and her wines in general are) always lovely; I think the only reproach I've ever heard leveled at them is the creeping price. Here, $80 on a list; is that what is considered fair, these days?
Later, reversing course, we decided to go for a half-bottle of white.
As my drinking companion had gone outside to get a breath of fresh tobacco, I tasted the wine and unthinkingly said it was OK. As the bartender poured it, my sense of dread grew. It was not OK. It was screamingly not OK. It was blasting TCA underneath its lemon rind and cat pee.
We pow-wowed when Chris got back, and I made him taste the sour milk in the fridge, so to speak (well, he did actually of his own volition).
So a new bottle was procured.
2013 Clos Floridène Graves Blanc - This was in honor of Chris's recounted highlight reel - the blind tasting of an '80s Domaine de Chevalier Blanc. Who ever thinks of white Bordeaux? This started off bright and tight and cat pee-ee (so much cat pee!) but with some air opened up to nice aromatics and a pleasant trip around the tongue; lemon and gravel. I mentioned from past experience in France that Clos Floridène is often lumped in with Chateau Carbonnieux, but Chris rightly pointed out that this was unoaked.
Gives thought, too. I wonder if this is meant to age? And why haven't white Bordeaux been afflicted by the pox, ever? They seem indestructible.
After, a chill had come to the night, so away to the tracks and then home.
Surprising me right off the bat, he expressed a yen for a light red. To start!
So start we did, with:
2013 Occhipinti Il Frappato - Bingo. This did the trick. A lovely wine. A little bit hard, a little bit tart, light and lithe. The wine is (and her wines in general are) always lovely; I think the only reproach I've ever heard leveled at them is the creeping price. Here, $80 on a list; is that what is considered fair, these days?
Later, reversing course, we decided to go for a half-bottle of white.
As my drinking companion had gone outside to get a breath of fresh tobacco, I tasted the wine and unthinkingly said it was OK. As the bartender poured it, my sense of dread grew. It was not OK. It was screamingly not OK. It was blasting TCA underneath its lemon rind and cat pee.
We pow-wowed when Chris got back, and I made him taste the sour milk in the fridge, so to speak (well, he did actually of his own volition).
So a new bottle was procured.
2013 Clos Floridène Graves Blanc - This was in honor of Chris's recounted highlight reel - the blind tasting of an '80s Domaine de Chevalier Blanc. Who ever thinks of white Bordeaux? This started off bright and tight and cat pee-ee (so much cat pee!) but with some air opened up to nice aromatics and a pleasant trip around the tongue; lemon and gravel. I mentioned from past experience in France that Clos Floridène is often lumped in with Chateau Carbonnieux, but Chris rightly pointed out that this was unoaked.
Gives thought, too. I wonder if this is meant to age? And why haven't white Bordeaux been afflicted by the pox, ever? They seem indestructible.
After, a chill had come to the night, so away to the tracks and then home.