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theatrinomics February 17, 2005 2001 Coturri Maclise Vineyard Merlot Although I mention wines that I drink in Dinner Watch ª, I am not in the habit of doing wine reviews. I have been thinking of doing some, despite not having tremendous faith in my palette, yet, and this seemed like a good wine to start with: I have been a fan of Coturri for a long time. All their grapes are organic, mostly from Sonoma, some are estate, many are from neighboring vineyards. Their production processes are all organic and as Tony Coturri says, they make their wine the same way it was made in Italy 150 years ago. The product can be a little inconsistent. They have made some of the best bottles I have ever had but I have also had a higher than average rate of corked bottles. With the $10 blends, it doesn't break my heart, but with the $45 CabÉ Well, this is one of the good ones. The 2001 Coturri Merlot from the Maclise Vineyard is a fairly big wine, but certainly not one of their biggest. It is inky purple, almost completely opaque and the bottle I opened had dropped a tremendous amount of sediment. I detect quite a lot of alcohol in the nose, along with dried cherry and vanilla sweetness. I very much like the balance of the wine, but it is definitely boozy and tannic with some serious acid. The wine starts with wonderful gently sweet fruit and then goes through this amazing transformation. It doesn't have a finish. It has three. First your get the booziness, which hit you pretty hard and then that gives way to an earthy taste, black truffles maybe, finally in mellows out into a light, smooth caramel. The wine will run you $25 from Coturri and you won't see it in too many wine shops. The wines are worth seeking out. Sometimes after a bad bottle or one that is just too tannic for me, I think I will give up on them, but then I have a bottle like this that makes it all worth while. They are not for the unadventurous. I drank this bottle with some Penne Carbonara and although the match was ok, it pretty well smothered the food. It worked fine, insofar as the wine didn't suffer, but for a nicer meal, I think I would want something that would stand up better. Nothing with too much sweetness, because I think it would drown the relative sweetness of the wine. But try the wine. And tell Tony I sent you. Posted by dsomerfield at February 17, 2005 09:26 PM |
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