There's a curious class of wines that just smell grapey - not particularly like wine. At first, this wine seems like one of those; it's a rich, fruity smell that smells just fine, if not particularly sophisticated. The nose is odd: there's something vaguely volatile there, not bad though, and just a whiff of something unripe, almost like a New Zealand merlot with that faint hint of capsicum (green bell pepper). It's weirdly like unripe tropical fruit of some kind - I'm thinking green papaya salad. Don't misunderstand: it's not "wrong" or "bad" - it's just really different.
Hugely tannic and wildly acidic, my first thought after having a sip was "bad idea." It's fairly hot, not particularly flavorful, and taste something like burned coffee grounds mixed with overripe papaya. The trick seems to be to not take such a big sip; with less in the mouth, it's somewhat more palatable - but even so, I am decidedly not a fan of this wine, alas. Sure, there's some pleasure in trying to suss out what components of Port derive from this, but otherwise? There's probably a reason you don't see varietal wines from this grape.
Hugely tannic and wildly acidic, my first thought after having a sip was "bad idea." It's fairly hot, not particularly flavorful, and taste something like burned coffee grounds mixed with overripe papaya. The trick seems to be to not take such a big sip; with less in the mouth, it's somewhat more palatable - but even so, I am decidedly not a fan of this wine, alas. Sure, there's some pleasure in trying to suss out what components of Port derive from this, but otherwise? There's probably a reason you don't see varietal wines from this grape.
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