2004 Casa Lapostolle Merlot “Cuvee Alexandre”

[Drew]

Eileen and I went to Liquid Assets wine bar, restaurant and wine store for dinner last night. Liquid Assets is a very unique place in that it's a liquor/wine store with a bar in the middle with lounging areas throughout so you can relax and have a drink with finger food or simply shop for wine/beer/liquor if you're on the run. As an addition they added a large room, decorated in the Mediterranean style, where you can enjoy lunch or dinner. One of the great ideas of this establishment, at least in these parts, is that you can select your wine from the store and give it to your server and you're charged the retail plus $10 corkage. They have a large selection of wines from $8 to a 2003, $565 Harlan Cab that was displayed on a shelve at shoulder level. Every restaurant in this town charges, at minimum, twice retail and most triple. So paid $26 + $10 for this really nice bottle of merlot that Eileen paired with their signature burger and steak fries and I with their bistro steak, medium rare...food was terrific. Oh, the wine.

Deep, rich, ripe black fruits, cassis, black raspberry, black cherry, integrated with bitter earthy notes, leather, black pepper, dark chocolate, and a hint of tobacco. Plenty of tannins but they don't overwhelm the fruit. This is not your "typical" soft, merlot but a full bodied, complex merlot that shouts value in the price range of $20 to $27 per. 14.5%Alc/vol.

Drew

[winoweenie]

Sounds very much like the jernt I affectionately call the club. The main difference is our hangout serves only sandwiches, salads, and cheese and cured meat platters. They also charge 8 per clatter corkage. WW