Saturday, March 13, 2010

French wines.


I have a sensitive palate when it comes to French wines.  But this morning I am a bit perplexed.

Last night we opened a bottle of this Ch. Ballan-Larquette Bordeaux.

It smelled like barn, hay, horses -- and tasted the same. Blech.

So this morning I decided I would write about it.

I don't think I've ever had wine in the morning. But I wanted to describe the barnyard aromas and taste so I poured a teeny, tiny bit in a glass so I could smell it and taste it for a description. And much to my surprise it had a lovely blackberry smell, with just the faintest whiff of earth. And the taste is fruity, like blackerries.

hmmmm. Where did the horse and barn go?  Maybe this wine just needed to open up and breathe.

Or maybe because I'm tasting wine at 8am I have a fresh palate? I wonder when the best time of day is to sample wines? I asked Don if he would smell it and taste it to confirm that I'm not crazy. He looked at me like I'm crazy. "No." was his short and firm answer. ooooooookay.

Maybe I could come to like French wines. I'll have to pull out the decanter and see what happens. This is exciting!!  Stay tuned for more updates on French wine.

And check this out! Here is the description on the BevMo website. I nailed it! Sweet.

GOLD MEDAL, 2009 LOS ANGELES INT'L WINE & SPIRITS COMP. A superb effort, the '07 Ch Ballan-Larquette is a classic Bordeaux; fine red fruit flavors with an accent of sweet earth.

5 comments:

  1. Hey Kris,
    This happens from time to time. You open up a bottle of wine, especially if it is not over-extracted or over-oaked and you may find the wine's aroma strange at first then better. While barnyard aromas don't really go away, the aeration can be beneficial. Additionally, one generally has a better palate in the AM. I have had this wine a number of times both in France and in the US and I can see this happening.
    Cheers,
    Wilfred

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  2. Hey Wilfred, thanks for the note. I was pretty amazed how different the wine tasted this morning. I don't think I'll start tasting wine at 8am on a regular basis. But it was pretty interesting how different it tasted today.

    Kris

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  3. That's a new record for our family.......Wine at 8:00 a.m. Whine maybe but Wine? Sounds interesting........Maybe we will start with Larry and Erma tomorrow.......only we will be drinking Terrazas Malbec....our new BevMo favorite.
    Mom

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  4. Hello Kris,
    Thanks for giving Ch Ballan-Larquette a second chance. The words you are using seems strong compared to my experience, but our customers report sometimes they prefer our wines the day after opening the bottle. We generaly advise if possible to decant our red wines.
    Enjoy Bordeaux !

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  5. Hi Regis,
    Thanks so much for your note. Sorry if i sounded harsh. I will definitely decant next time. Thanks for the tip!
    Kris

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your feedback!

~Kris