Dornfelder. It’s not a common grape. I really never remember anything about it, except it’s a German grape, makes red wine. So when I saw that the Wine Society had one for sale, I bought a bottle.
In the glass
Let’s call it medium-plus. Just short of being a dark wine. It’s ruby with hints of purple. A young wine. It’s nice, somewhat enticing. Remembering nothing about it, I was surprised how dark it is. I’m used to German reds being on the lighter side. But that’s fine – I can sometimes handle the unexpected. Sometimes.
Sadly, in writing this review up, I realised I never took pictures of the wine in a glass. So, imagine what you want.
The nose
It’s fairly pronounced, even if, as per my usual, I’m not quite sure right away what I’m picking up. Dark fruits, but not really black ones. Darker, earthy reds is what I come up with in the end. I find it’s a nice, enticing smell. ‘Inviting’ is what my notes say. Just wish I could, you know, smell it. I think TY comes up with black currants and cherries, but, sadly, I didn’t make a note of this.
The palate
Medium-plus bodied, dry. Round. Soft. Smooth. Cool. Soft tannins. At least, that’s what my notes say. It has a nice finish. Well integrated alcohol, which doesn’t stand out like some of the previous wines. No burn, which is good.
I really can’t distinguish any particular fruits. They’re sort of a conglomeration (or assemblage perhaps, if you want to be pretentious) of various flavours. I know the WSET would consider this a fault, but I’m not particularly fussed. ‘A general sense of niceness’ is my conclusion on the tastes.
When I mention the vague fruit taste to TY, she sighs in relief. Actually, she says ‘Thank goodness you said that. That was my reaction as well.’ But for narrative purposes, I think we can gloss that as a sigh of relief. And yes, she really does say ‘Thank goodness.’ I don’t think I’ve ever heard her curse.
My notes also say something about something fruit. Unfortunately, that’s all I can read. See the photo. I blame my third grade teacher. She had bad handwriting, so used to give me better marks than I deserved on mine, since she felt she couldn’t judge. But yeah, I can’t always read my own handwriting. Deal with it. I have to.
Rating
This gets a yummy from me. I like it. It’s a bit heavy for the weather – it’s more of a winter wine, I think. And it goes well with the stuffed shells we have for dinner. It does benefit from having food. I quite happily drink it. And, I think, given the price (about £9) it’s definitely worth giving it a taste.
At this point, TY declare she has changed my ranking system. (MINE!) She calls the wine ‘Yum,’ which, she informs me, falls between Yummy-minus and Yummy on the scale. It’s actually a useful category, so I try not to get too cross with her for mucking around with my scale.
Sustainability
Can’t find any information.
Other stuff
Nothing to add, really. Except that I’m trialing using more visible sub-headings. I’m not sure I like them, but the SEO plugs-in do. They sort of feel like overkill, but I’ll see. Plus I don’t like all the white space they add, but I can’t be bothered to figure out how to sort that at the moment.
The technical info and such
14.0% ABV. Dornfelder. £8.95 from The Wine Society