Sunday, January 31, 2010

La Concepcion 2006 Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon (Bolivia)

After spending my whole day tasting Chardonnay I came home wanting just to relax and put my feet up. But a call got my attention: "I'm dropping over a few wines for you to sample and evaluate," I am told. I quickly learn that some of these wines are already opened (popped the previous night) and should be looked at immediately. Turns out I'm sipping, sampling and spitting another 14 wines before I get to relax (mostly from Chile and Argentina). In my final leg of this additional wine tasting journey I come across this Bolivian beauty. Now I don't know how many times I've had the opportunity to try a Bolivian wine (none comes to mind), so I was rightly intrigued by it; though I don't think it's a wine that'll set the world on fire by any stretch of the imagination. What started out as a mere curiosity to me turned into something quite lovely to sip on after a long day. The alcohol was a respectable 12.2%, not overwhelming by any stretch; the nose smelled of red raspberries and cherries, with the palate full of muted red fruits , vanilla and a dash of spice. There were also a bit of tannins that were felt mainly on the finish. I must keep in mind, before rhapsodizing about how nice this wine was, that this wine was open 24 hours prior to me trying it, so it might have been a pretty powerful, tannin laden wine in its youth and the air would have calmed it down over the time it was opened, which means this wine would have needed to be decanted to enjoy its full effect ... but right now, 24 hours from opening, it was quite pleasant.

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