This is one in a series of shameless plugs for New Times' Pairings event this Thursday, but luckily this shameless plug includes alcohol. Namely it's the Casa Lapostolle's 2006 merlot, one of the wines that will be paired with food from about 30 restaurants at the event and one of two bottles that I managed to snag from our marketing department to produce this shameless plug.
Now I'm no wine expert, and I'm an even worse than a wine expert when I've begun to drink it after a two-martini happy hour. So I'll spare you the descriptions I scribbled down while tasting this merlot (mostly they talked about it being spicy) and instead offer up this review from thewineclub.com, which gives the bottle a score of 90:
Muscular, with broad cocoa and plum
sauce notes leading the way for an ample core of currant confiture and
licorice. The rock-solid finish will need some cellaring to stretch
out. Best from 2009 through 2011.
Now that sounds written by someone who hasn't had two martinis. For more, here's a review from The Wine Cask Blog that refers to how this wine does in your mouth, which is better than my method, which involved having it on your shirt.
This value wine is heavily pigmented of black cherry and cranberry rim with cracked pepper aroma, ripe black cherries and blackberry. In the mouth this wine has big flavors of rich dark fruit with solid but smooth tannins and a nice finish. All around well done and at $12 (the sale price and case discount) a real value although I have seen this wine as high as $21! Raise a glass.
So there you have it: One drunk tester says it's spicy, while two experts say you should put it in your mouth, which you can do by buying this bottle online or by, well you know, going to Pairings.
