2003 Cabernet\Merlot

$16

Many wine collectors treat their wines like investments hoping that they will appreciate in value by becoming more complex and better tasting.  I pulled this wine from my cellar and would have made a fortune if I was liquidating.  They don't make this wine anymore as the grapes go into their Bordeaux blend called Tempest. But at $16 this wine was meant for quick easy consumption and expecting it to be past its prime, tasted better than most $40 wines intended for five plus years.  Soft complexity on the nose with plum and blackberry jam on toast notes.  Sweet leather and earth tones rounded out the palate with soft fine tannins on a lingering finish.  This wine went perfect with the game of bocci we had before dinner.

Score  

Visual

3/3

Nose    

10/14

Palate

21/27

Overall

5/6

Add  

+50

Total

89/100

No winemaker has the intention of making bad wine.  Therefore 50 points are awarded to the wine for all winemaking efforts.