Holiday Roundup, Part Two

Off to the races on Christmas day with two old world wines - First up was a Burgundy, the Francois Charles, La Combolte, Hautes Cotes de Beaune, 2001. Stinky nose on this one, it is almost transparent in the glass. Light bodied with tangy red berries, quite elegant. This is a "white meat" wine. I rate it "OK", mainly because I am not a big fan of Burgundy. If you are, you'd probably call it "good". No clue how much it costs, but I'm sure it's overpriced like most Burgundies.




On to the Rhone. The Paul Jaboulet Aine, Les Cedres, Chateauneuf du Pape 2003 is from a very hot vintage. I expected big things from it. Instead, we got a pale coloured, light bodied wine that tasted of warm licorice. Disappointing as a sipper but in the context, it went well with turkey; that earned it an "OK" rating. I'm definite this was overpriced.

Okay, enough with the disappointments? I hoped not so I cracked a bottle of a multi-award winning wine (ho-hum....), the DeBortoli, Vat 4, Petit Verdot, 2005 from Australia. I usually love petit verdot. Big mistake. This has a blackberry nose with a heavy dose of white chalk. On the palate is blackberry hard candy, but not too sweet, mixed with that same chalkiness evident on the nose. Still, it tastes fake. Short finish too. Oh well - what do you expect to get for $17 you say? more than this!!! My rating: "OK". Value - poor.
Cheers!!