What a treat I have in store for you folks today. I am sure you have all heard of a little place named Trader Joe's (http://www.traderjoes.com/). If you have not and you are a wine drinker or even a Beer drinker for that matter, you should make yourself aware of Trader Joe's. For those of you who do know about the hidden wine gem named Trader Joe's than I am sure I don't have to tell you about their wine selection, it is pretty substantial in comparison to the actual size of the store and actually worthy of a review in and of itself. I actually also like the store myself because they seem to sell quality products that I have never seen anywhere before and i think are worth a try. I also buy my yearly Basil plants there for my garden. Well anyway back to this wine. The other day Mrs. Desert Wine Girl wanted to do a little shopping and since it was so beautiful here in Vegas (75 degrees) and I needed a break from the Vineyards I decided to tag along on this particular day......plus did I forget to mention that they have a nice wine section as well :) So there is The Desert Wine Guy looking in the wine section for some new and interesting wines to taste and share with you guys and one of the wines that I happened to came across was the 2012 Revelation Cabernet-Merlot. This wine is from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of Northern France. This is an area that spans the Mediterranean coastline from the French border with Spain to the region of Provence. This area in general has around 700,000 acres of vines and is the single biggest wine producing region in the world. I'm sorry but there isn't any other information available about this wine, Vineyard or producer to learn or tell you about, I wish there was.
I
guess the first thing that drew me to this wine was the price of $4.99
that was on the shelf. Maybe it was because it also looked, label wise like a
serious bottle of wine or it could have been simply the combination of
Cabernet Sauvignon (55%) and Merlot (45%). I am sorry guys but a wine
that wants to be taken seriously should at least LOOK as if it wants to
be taken seriously. I know what you are going to say here, "it's $4.99
Desert Wine Guy, how serious could it take itself or be taken". Yes ,
you are correct and I agree but in this case I was looking for a serious
wine and the label I think convinced me to give it a try. Whatever the
reason(s) was I decided that this was going to be one of the wines I was
going to taste. There were a few other varietals of wine that I picked
out that day as well and eventually I will get to do a review on all of those but for now sit back and enjoy this review. Oh, one other thing.
There is a way to make this wine even more spectacular than it already
is, do you want to know what that way is? Go out and buy a case and
drink a bottle while reading this review. I am curious as well as to
whether your opinion matches mine as well. Let's begin by talking about the nose on this wine. The wine opens up with Blackberry & Black Currants. These are simply beautiful together and in the amounts and manner they are put together with one another. The bouquet also lends itself to a very mineral/Oak aroma that is sure to please a rich Cabernet drinker. Deep spice is also apparent on the nose. Topping it off is a small amount of Cocoa and a ripe Dark Blackberry combo. While I am smelling the bouquet on this wine I am in amazement at how a $4.99 bottle of wine could offer all of this simply in the bouquet alone. I am thinking at this time that I might have possibly found a "sleeper".
All right here we go. If you do have a bottle of this wine start enjoying it as you read now. The taste of Green Pepper is the first thing to hit your palete here and is sort of dominant but blended together, especially with the Blackberry and with everything else it does not overpower. I decanted this wine for about two hours (I would give it one more hour) in my new Wine & Spirits Decanter prior to this tasting and I think it's really cool how you can actually taste the combination of the Cab & Merlot as they on one hand are spicy because of the Cab but are quickly softened to an extent by the Merlot. You can almost sense the toning down but it isn't a distraction to your enjoyment by any means. It is almost as if the Cab is about to come on strong but it doesn't and is toned down but almost in a way where it is unnoticeable. While the Merlot does soften the Cab it does not kill it. Let me warn those of you who prefer a shy or soft Cab, this wine is not for the faint of heart. The Black Pepper in here insists on ensuring that the wine is very confident in where it is headed and toward which end of the spectrum of the Cab scale it is going. There is a feeling, or sense of earthiness as well in this wine that brings on a feeling of richness here. Tannins? you want Tannins? Have we got Tannins for you :) Very, very nice, medium bodied Tannins are wonderfully presented in this wine. While not soft by any means they do sit nicely in this wine and add to the spicy tasting. Folks, I am very impressed here. There is also a sufficient amount of Green Pepper here that will welcomed on the Palate
In finishing this article up here I can say without question that the wine could sell for a lot more that it does. I would pay $20 for this wine, easily. How Trader Joe's pulls it off at $4.99 a bottle is beyond me but I do have plans to head back and buy more. I know that the holidays are over folks but if you are interested in a nice bottle of wine for friends or as a thank you for someone look no further because here is what you are looking for, just hope they don't shop at Trader Joe's and see the price. As for Decanting this wine I am going to tell you something that I have discovered in my experiences. I have come to the conclusion that ALL serious or semi-serious Red wines should be given at least three (3) hours to Decant and have a chance to open up. You might disagree but that is just my experience. This wine opened up and became a continued to excel from a nice wine to a very nice wine. I have reviewed much higher priced wine as well as wine that has been reviewed and rated 92 points (Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon H3) by Wine Spectator Magazine (http://www.winespectator.com/) that have paled in comparison to this wine. I highly recommend this wine and I am going to put this wine at an 90 on The Desert Wine Guy point rating scale. I am going to place a bottle of this wine will be placed in my Cellar, as should you.
The Desert Wine Guy
www.desertwineguy.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy
https://twitter.com/DesertWineGuyLV
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgCUb3w1n2S_UGU2yYRkFYQ/videos
No comments:
Post a Comment