Plush, dark red in color, the nose at first suggests a heavily green Merlot, something along the lines of a Hawkes Bay merlot from ten years ago. This seems odd; aeration helps, changing the notes to heavy oak and camphor, almost a Victorian gentleman's armoire sort of thing. Smoky bacon-wrapped cherries emerge at last, and you've got a fairly idiosyncratic rendition of Merlot that doesn't seem quite to match any normal international style.
Initially tannic, fairly aggressive acidity springs forth along with fairly simple red berry flavors, resolving into something like an Australian fortified Shiraz, albeit with less punch: this is thankfully a mere 13% by volume. Although not hugely complex, the oak turns out to be very well judged, offering up a soft baker's chocolate cushion for all of that pretty cherry-berry fruit. The finish is noticeably long; a subtle hint of black olives and sweet spicy oak shows up just before the curtain falls.
After two hours' aeration, however, the wine does improve into a remarkably well put together drink; there's enough shiny red fruit to make anyone happy, and the oak influence is subtle and interesting enough to make this really work for anyone else.
All in all, this stuff is fairly delicious. Depending on its price, this is either a remarkable effort (if it's $10) or a slight failure (if it's $20). Funny how that works sometimes.
Initially tannic, fairly aggressive acidity springs forth along with fairly simple red berry flavors, resolving into something like an Australian fortified Shiraz, albeit with less punch: this is thankfully a mere 13% by volume. Although not hugely complex, the oak turns out to be very well judged, offering up a soft baker's chocolate cushion for all of that pretty cherry-berry fruit. The finish is noticeably long; a subtle hint of black olives and sweet spicy oak shows up just before the curtain falls.
After two hours' aeration, however, the wine does improve into a remarkably well put together drink; there's enough shiny red fruit to make anyone happy, and the oak influence is subtle and interesting enough to make this really work for anyone else.
All in all, this stuff is fairly delicious. Depending on its price, this is either a remarkable effort (if it's $10) or a slight failure (if it's $20). Funny how that works sometimes.
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