Madroña Syrah 2006: C

Two nights ago the whole greatjuice gang gathered at chez wilson/hale for a pre-oscar wine and dine experience. paola and i were in charge of salad and the hosts whipped up a spectacular Moroccan lemon chicken with couscous. when we arrived beck and josh were already half way through this bottle of Madroña syrah that they had received through their wine club. so here's the thing about wine club wines - i feel like they often send you wines that they know most people will like. i would join a wine club, not because i expect to like every wine, but because i want my palate to be expanded and would even expect to receive some bottles that I downright hate. Unfortunately, in my experience this is not the case. It seems like lots of clubs say that they give you a wide variety, and by that they mean they send you all sorts of varietals, but if they all taste like something that i could get at my local grocery store, i am not sure what good that does me.

but i digress... so we hopped in on the drinking of the Madroña and really had very few complaints, but i don't think anyone was blown away either. Becky seemed to think that it tasted moldy and sharp, then realized that she had chased her sip with a chunk of blue cheese and recanted her characterization. she did detect a slightly floral nose. josh concurred and added that he liked the deep purply color (i agree) and thought that this was a rather well rounded and balanced wine.

as for me, i thought there was a subtle spice to this one that was rather pleasant and a bit of blueberry on the nose. In terms of tannins, both paola and i agreed that there was a minor bit of tannic cotton tackiness in the mouth, but it wasn't at the back of the mouth where we usually feel it, rather near the front. overall not an unpleasant experience, but i am not sure we will be ordering a case anytime in the near future.

as a last note/questions, josh notices that this wine, like a couple others he has tasted, induced in him a trance-like state. as weird as this sounds, i think i know what he is talking about. i would like to think that something in certain wines makes me stare off into space, or at the kitchen counter for unacceptably long periods of time, but I suspect it may have more to do with the amount of wine consumed as opposed to some magic ingredient that certain wines have. then again, i have heard something about sulfites giving people headaches and such. any thoughts?

Clos la Chance Syrah 2005: B

last night paola and i decided it was time to pull out the decanter and give this syrah (which coincidentally was a christmas present from my sister and brother in law - they correctly assume that wine is always a safe gift for me) a try. We had wanted to get a table at bistrot du coin, the french spot two blocks from chez moi, two nights earlier, but it was full and i think both of us were left with the urge, even two days later, to wash food down with wine. granted, had we gone to B du C, the food being washed down would have most likely been an onglet á l'échalotte, not the safeway pepperoni oven pizza that i was able to whip up last night in less than 14 minutes time, and far from the Roasted Pork with Molé Sauce, Grilled Lamb with Blackberry Sauce recommended on the back of the bottle.

upon first taste, paola's reaction was that it tasted sort of woody, even oaky, something that seemed sort of a funny to me. i certainly didn't taste any oak, but i also wasn't bowled over by big dark fruit. this wine is rather inky in color so i expected it to have a bit bigger taste. it was definitely good, and i would drink it again without hesitation, but it didn't have the bold flavors or aromas that i expected it to based on it's color. i would say that i tasted a pleasant mix of red and dark fruit - maybe heavier on red, with soft tannins. as for Paola's woody characterization, on the clos la chance website for this particular wine it says that "barrel allocation consisted of 28% new french oak and 7% new american oak" - so i guess we know who has the keener palette of the two.

I think that a second tasting of this wine is in order, paired with something different than crappy pepperoni pizza. aside from the fact that the aforementioned cuisine choice has a pretty overpowering taste, we were so hungry that i think we ate it too soon after it came out of the oven and kind of burnt our mouths - not conducive to fair tasting judgements. i will keep you informed as to how tasting #2 goes when/if i can get my hands on another bottle of this juice.

ps. i wicked love Bistrot du Coin and highly recommend it to anyone who is in DC and hasn't already been. you gotta love a place that in true western european social democrat style is open 364 days a year....every day except???...christmas? NOPE......new years?? NOPE....Bastille Day?? NOPE.....Labor Day?? Mais oui!!!