Fine Wine Experience!

Last weekend, I was very fortunate to be hosted by my boss and his wife at their lovely home on Cape Cod.

Some icing on the cake is that my boss is a connoisseur and collector of excellent, unique wines from around the world.  See, I told you: I’m one lucky girl.  We tasted several incredible bottles over the course of an evening that included a cocktail hour, appetizers, salad and dinner!  The night was capped off with a fantastic video of a classic jazz concert from Pittsburgh (my home town! and the same band that played my mom’s wedding!).  And, if you know me at all, you know that a night of (excellent) wine, shrimp and jazz is probably one of the best nights I could enjoy.  The quality of the wine made the evening all the more unique and celebratory!  (Especially unique as the “aging” I have come to know is more like that in the comic –>)

We opened a bottle of Chateau Saint-Estèphe Bordeaux wines from… 2001.  That’s a ten-year old bottle of wine!  This particular bottle was actually grown, bottled and aged at this Chateau named for the grape’s region.  Total treat!

Saint-Estèphe is one of Bordeaux’s many famous wine growing areas, and gives its name to the red wine appellation  Saint-Estèphe. Situated at the northern end of the Haut-Medoc region and on the gravelly western shores of the Gironde Estuary, Saint-Estèphe is a true “terroir” wine, meaning that it is greatly influenced by the soil, gravels and clays, which makes for a rich, dynamic tasting wine. Saint-Estèphe wines are very colored, earthy, firm, robust and tannic.  Distinguished by the clay in the subsoil (more than other Bordeaux vines in the region), the wine in Saint Estephe attains has an organic structure (wood-tasting, in a good way), a deep red color and has a dynamc flavor/texture balance that is unusual (to me) for a French wine.  Apparently, due to the robustness of the soil type, it ages well- preserving its youth and freshness.

We had our first sip right out of the bottle, which was, too soon.  The taste was sour, tight, and it was clear the aged wine just needed some air.  After a few minutes (we were impatient to have our fantastic wine!),the wine had more body and the taste was stretched out- so you could sense more parts of the wine (sweet, fruity, bitter, spice, etc.).  It was smooth, rich, balanced and yet had a full, interesting structure I don’t come to expect from a drier red wine.  This particular Bordeaux really surprised me- very approach, luscious fruit taste, good earth balance to give it some legs and made the wine really last through the whole taste.  I was a big fan!

Details:
Color: Dark, purple-red, with hints of aging on the edges (legs on the glass, auburn colored edges at the line of the wine in the glass).
Nose: Leather, violets, and damp earth give way to a sweeter, cedar and tobacco note with (MUCH needed) time in the glass.
ABV: 12.5%
Palate: Soft tannins with a long finish, a little tight (bitter, sour) the midpalate (at first) but its a good balanced blend with lively acidity.

Overall: This wine would be a great food wine- I could see it especially paired well with a red meat, lamb, or hearty pasta sauce or stew.

JuliaUncorked says: 9/10 (after letting it breathe!)  I don’t know the price point… but the wine was really delicious, unique and fun.  I think it would only improve with a robust homemade, red meat kind of dinner 🙂

Truly delicious!