Good Morning Gentle Readers,
I hadn't seen her since we moved her into Claremont McKenna dorms in August so I was happy to have lunch with The House Blond at The Host Bar and Grill, which is an Asian/Fusion place located in the old citrus packing house in Claremont. Love the creaky old wooden floors and the faint aroma of Watco.
When my glass of Bogel Old Vine Zinfandel appeared, it was apparent that the bottle had been stored next to the portal to hell for several days. I don't mean warm or even ordinary summer room temperature. It was hot enough that a handful of ice from my water glass immediately melted. I'm easy going and if the ice would have helped I'da been okay with that. But, the wine was definitely going off. Turned. Meaning: turning to vinegar or worse.
The server, Maryanne, returned and the conversation went something like this:
TWC: Can I please have something different? TWC gestures toward the wine glass
Server: pleasantly Do you not like it?
TWC: I think it is beginning to turn
Server: Oh, would you like me to open a fresh bottle?
TWC: If you don't mind, that would be great.
She returned shortly and the conversation continued
Server: The wine was opened on the 23rd, it shouldn't have gone bad yet.
At first this didn't register because all I really wanted was a fresh glass of wine.
TWC: Smiling and nodding. OK, well, maybe the problem was that the other wine was too hot
She wants me to taste the newly poured wine and I do. It is proper serving temperature and it's pretty good. And then I realize, with a little help from the missus, what she has actually told me. The wine was opened on the 23rd of August and today is the 9th of September. I'm doing the math in my head, which I'm not good at anymore, and all I can come up with is that the wine has been open almost since the House Blond moved into the dorms. Cheesus Chrysler. Almost three weeks. No wonder it was spoiled. Even if I heard it wrong and she meant the third of September, that was still almost a week.
I wanted her to know that red wine has a very short shelf life and that heat hastens the process of breaking down. Especially if you leave it on the shelf for three weeks. But I am sometimes kind and diplomatic.
The service was excellent as was the food. I had this awesome spicy grilled shrimp served over sticky rice with freshly baked nan bread to mop up the delectable sauce. Did I say fusion? And yes, I know......red wine and sea food. As Jim would say, Were you raised by wolves? It's Just Not Done.
The Wine
There are a lot of entries in the $7.00-$10.00 price niche and, unfortunately, many of them are not good. Too many wineries are looking to dazzle with schtick, hoping to attract novice buyers with clever labeling and funky branding. Some of them are just okay, others are just plonk, still others offer up cloying cough syrup with a fumey alcohol aroma. Pass. Not so with Bogel wines.
The tasteful label, clear description, and good looking bottle give us a good idea of what's inside. Nice aroma of black fruits, a little raspberry and strawberry on the palate, nice finish, structured tannins.....what's not to like? This is a very good wine at a very good price, which garners a 42% rating on TWC's Standardized Wine Price/Value Ratio®.
Head-trained, dry farmed vines are prized for their production of small, concentrated clusters of grapes that are vinted into incredibly rich and intense wines. For years, Bogle has sought out these gnarly old vines to create our Old Vine Zinfandel.
Scents of sun-warmed, wild raspberries bubble up to the surface in your first impression of the Zinfandel. Notes of ripe berries and nutmeg follow, while touches of black pepper and subtle spicy oak compliment the fruit. Full-bodied, the mouthfeel is rounded out and finished with earthy notes and soft tannins.
As Always,
Photo Credit (unless otherwise noted): ©TWC, all rights reserved
