One day back in the spring or early summer, I met up with TE (MT joined us later) at a wine bar in Hitchin. Worth a visit, although perhaps not in lesser company. At any rate, on the walk back to the railway station, TE dragged us into a bottle shop. I had only seen it offering beer, and pointed this out, but she told me I was wrong, so in we went. MT stayed outside, perhaps to have a smoke. At any rate, they had an interesting collection of wines. TE bought two or three. I felt I had to buy something – how could I not, being in a wine shop? But, alas, I was having trouble making up my mind. Instead of pondering all night, I picked this one up, more or less at random. I finally got around to tasting it.
In the glass
Deep. Garnet. Admittedly, I had to look that up. My notes had a more technical description of: ‘the one darker than ruby.’ Clear. Basically, it looks like a red wine. Which is probably a Good Thing.
The nose
Definitely something. A faint smell of nail polish remover at first. Otherwise, dark, with a hint of sweetness to it. Spices? Cinnamon? Perhaps mulberries?
The palate
Dry, medium body. Dark fruits, but no cherries. There’s a bit of an alcohol burn to it. There’s also a hint of sourness that’s not completely pleasant. On mouthfeel, I’m going to go with ‘it feels like wine’. It’s nice, but unremarkable.
The tannins aren’t grippy or woody, or overly obvious, but they are definitely present, and quite persistent.
It has a long finish of… Well, according to my notes, I never actually decided. It has a long finish, though.
Rating
Yummy. It’s wine. It’s nice, but that’s about it. I unfortunately did have a chance to have food with it. I strongly suspect it is much more of a food wine than a ‘drink on its own’ wine. Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with it, and it’s nice enough, but I was hoping for a bit more.
Sustainability
Organic.
The technical info
14%, Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, £??? Someplace in Hitchin.