2001 Rainbow Ridge Alicante Bouschet

[dananne]

My wife and I wanted a change-of-pace last night, so we had our first taste of this varietal, which I confess to not seeing very often.

Wonderfully dense, inky, purple-black color -- kinda like a tannat -- and a very fragrant nose of black plums and grapes. A mouth-filling, full-bodied wine, with the entry flavors following the nose, but adding a real spicy/earthy quality that reminded me of a N. Rhone. The acidity seemed balanced. Very loooong, mouth-smacking finish. Good tannic structure -- this could likely age, and I plan on picking up a couple more to find out. Improved through the evening while in the decanter. 14.6% alc., but it didn't taste hot and wasn't noticable (except when the bottle was finished and I was trying to locate the TV remote). Paid $22 at Whole Foods.

FWIW, it was written about favorably in a recent Wine Enthusiast, which gave it a 91. Also, FWIW, it's a gay-themed winery.

At any rate, a nice first-exposure to that grape for us. Yummy stuff.

[winoweenie]

A strange grape that I believe was in Martinis' stabel in the early 60s/70s'. Tried it a couple of times and found it way too rustic for my palate.( Or mite have been Concannon or some other Jasper ). WW

[quijote]

Had some of this tonight with plain old spaghetti with tomato-sausage sauce. Not an ideal combo given the pronounced fruit of the Alicante, but worked well anyway. The wine is delicious, but furtively intoxicating. It wasn't as tannic (bitter and puckery) as I thought it would be; just thick and plummy. I paid about $22 at Grapes and Grain in Mequon. Thanks for the rec, Dananne.

[Kcwhippet]

Haven't had one in about ten years. I don't recall who made it, but we got one back in 1993 from the wine shop that was in the 1870 place in Yountville.

[dananne]

Yeah, I really liked it and I'm glad you enjoyed it, as well. Tons of fruit and character -- just really yummy stuff.

I picked up a few more bottles of this from my local Whole Foods to drink over the next several years.

[dananne]

Until Friday night, we hadn't opened a bottle of this since the fall of '03. I had thought it would be a good idea to allow this to mellow out a bit, and while I still find it a really nice wine, I confess to being a bit disappointed in how it has turned out. It's sort of like listening to heavy metal music with the volume turned down to 4 -- it's just not the same.