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| Chateau/Producer: | Gruaud Larose | | Wine Name: | St. Julien | | Country: | France | | State: | Bordeaux | | AOC: | Saint-Julien | | Wine Score: | 80 | | Notes: | Okay, my review can be summed up in two words: baby diaper.
We had this at a wine dinner, and other people had opened up the bottle and were sharing their initial impressions. I couldn't help overhearing the term "baby diaper." Now, I don't know about you, but that's not really a term I want to hear about a wine I'm about to drink. I understand that it may be one of those terms used to describe wine that sounds bad, but isn't necessarily a bad thing, like sweaty leather or "barnyard" (translation: manure) or asparagus, but somehow I can imagine all of those things smelling okay, at least in small doses. But baby diaper? I tried to keep an open mind while tasting, and to score without considering my personal reaction to the wine.
But come on. This wine smelled like a dirty baby diaper. At first, that's ALL it smelled like. Just try to get past that and focus on the taste. I couldn't really do it. On to the specifics....
The color was a dark garnet, maybe a light beet-red. The initial nose was pure baby diaper. It did fade with time, but it never went away completely. Other people detected smoke, evergreen, and herbal scents, but I couldn't smell anything but baby diaper. On first taste, the tannins were noticeable, but subdued. The fruit was a little like sour cherry, and a bit acidic, with a bit of gameyness. This was so not my personal favorite, but others seemed to think it was okay, so I'll conclude that I have an irrational dislike of baby-diaper wine and say that if you like baby-diapery wine, you'll love this one. | | Tasting Date: | 2005-07-18 | | Varietal: | Cab Sauvignon,Merlot,CabFranc,Pet Verdot,Malbec | | Production Notes: | Vineyard is planted with 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 6.5% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec. | | Source: | wine dinner |
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