Thinking back, I didn't know what it was that I was tasting. I was uneducated when it came to wine and the terms that went into the description of a quality wines. Frankly, I was disinterested. My buddy, Todd, and I drank because we were in college and that's what you do in college when you're sitting around shooting the breeze with your best pal.
This was our Junior year at Buffalo and Todd was working at a local liquor store. We were literature majors so we'd sit around and talk about our latest reads and listen to cool music and play chess because we were young intellectuals in the 90's. So, when Todd showed up with a bottle of Franciscan Estates Cabernet Sauvignon 1992 I had no clue as to what I was drinking. Up until that point the only wine that I had was concord Manischewitz. The Franciscan altered my reality and to this very day I am indebted to my dear friend for introducing me to something that has become such a tremendous and lasting influence on my life.
Drink wine.
Wine blogs tend to go one of two ways. Either the writer follows the more traditional method of taste and describe or the writer can lead himself to believe that he is doing something truly unique by offering a new vision and insight to the wine world. The latter is an unrealistic and romantic notion.
All of the wines have been shared and sipped and critiqued and all of the adjectives have been utilized in describing all of the wines. Why not start off by saying "this wine is good"? Straight shooting and to the point and then continue from there...
Breca 2010. This is good. Jorge Ordonez has produced a killer Garnacha from 100 year old vines in the hills of the Calatayud region of Zaragoza, Spain. There is a spice component to this wine that works all over the palate. A little clove and pepper rises up and greets you on the nose eventually finding its way from the glass and into the mouth of a fortunate consumer. As for the finish? Wow. The finish carries on for miles with long, beautiful legs that wrap around the glass. Breca is a sexy wine.
Is there anything new to be found in that description that has not been written before? Don't know. But, what I do know is that, for me, it was honest and true.
