Sunday, May 3, 2009

Columbia Crest 2006 Two Vines Cabernet Sauvignon (Washington)

Being in the good old US of A means that I can find wines from other states pretty readily (I mean stuff other than California). I've seen wines from Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin as well as the usual suspects from California and stuff I never knew existed. I have a whole town worth of wine to explore. I have spent a some time shooting the proverbial shit with Dave at Pull More Corks and I have killed time wondering through the aisles of Walmart looking over their limited selection of my favourite grape juice. Of course all is done in the search for a good bottle of vino at an affordable price. Tonight's wine was an $8 deal from Washington I picked up at the Walmart. Now in the past I have enjoyed Columbia Crest wines but this one seemed overly woody to me. Right from the get go there was lots of smoky-woodsy notes; they almost seemed to overpower the plums and black berries. Even with time to open in the glass the only other smell I was able to distinguish was black licorice. On the palate I found the wine a little more pleasant, but far from terrific. The smoky was still there but instead of being all wood there was also coffee and bittersweet chocolate - but theses are all flavours that are derived from barrel ... there was also quite a bit of tannins here. I found that no matter how much stirring and swirling I did this wine was just too tannic to be enjoyable on its own or with a light supper. Give it time, give it a decanter or give it away, I feel the over-wooding can not compensate for lack of fruit in the mouth - I expected more from Washington and Columbia Crest.

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