Stunning scents…Black currant, cedar, loam, compost, syrup
Fantastic flavors…To be quite honest, this was a desperation
purchase on a quick trip to my local super market. I wanted something with
quality and had heard this wine had particular depth and character for a wine
frequently sold in grocery stores. So I placed it in my cart and came home.
Then promptly forgot about it as I had placed it in my new wine cellar. After a
few months I was rearranging my cellar to organize it by varietal and ran
across this particular bottle. Once again my interest was piqued and while my
wife sipped on a bottle of Sparkling Wine, I chose to pop the cork on this
beauty. And beauty it what this wine is. It’s not a 92 or 93 point wine, but it
has defined levels of complexity that you won’t find in many wines sold in the
super market, particularly at the 20 dollar mark. Be warned, this wine needs a
good day of decanting before you start to sip it; it’s big, bold and very dark
in flavor and texture. The attack is full of heavy black fruits blackberry,
black currant, roasted black plums and black cherry jam mingling with vanilla
and butter all floating atop a foundation of oak, wet leaves and peat moss. The
mid-palate has a whole lot of everything; chewy tannins rise in force shoving
astringency across the surface of my tongue to battle against alcohol warmth
and tingle that flees from acidity and flavors of leather and dust. The
mid-palate seems overwhelming and long, when in reality it merely melds right
into a long finish that is full of more dark fruits and heavy savory
characteristics; the first of these show up in the form of dark cherry with
vanilla buttercream layered on top, this melts into a very pungent oak and
tobacco taste with just a hint of sour blackberry and finally comes the wet
leaves, loam, chalk and compost bringing sensory overload to my palate. This is
a full bodied wine with a wonderful aftertaste of wet wood, damp earth and
cooked plums.
Overall this is an excellent wine with few failings. Sure
it’s not for every palate. It’s a very heavy red wine with lots of tannins and
particularly deep/dark flavors. It will assault many red wine drinkers and
overwhelm their “softer” palates, but for a Cabernet enthusiast this hits the
spot. It’s not overly expensive or immensely complex. It shows flashes of
complexity above a 20 dollar wine but provides a lot of even quality. I
recommend this and award it with a solid Good QPR. If you are in a hurry at the
grocery store grab this bottle, it will pair wonderfully with those steaks,
heavy stews or hamburgers.
Beringer Vineyards
Beringer Vineyards
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