This is a tragic wine ... Lately I have been touting my love for the Bonarda grape; mark my words it will become popular one day and it'll been for it's fresh, juicy nature. So I went looking in my cellar to see what I had in the Bonarda department, putting my money where my mouth was ... and I found this 2003 wine, a 10 year old Syrah / Bonarda blend (equal parts of each). So needless to say I just had to try it. The nose should have been the tip off to how this wine was going to be: old leather, white pepper, burnt cherry, with an under-current of green bin (for those of you not in Ontario, the 'green bin' is basically a compost container that gets picked up weekly from your home ... it's organic matter). The palate gave me some hope: starting off fairly juicy but it ended funky and odd ... this wine is in the throes of a personality dilemma, it's not sure where it wants to be and if it should be there. So with all this happening I wrote a note to myself that I will share with you now: "These are the days I wonder if I'm an alcoholic ... I keep sipping on this wine although I know its bad - I keep hoping it will come around, but deep inside I know it won't. I am sitting at the dining room table with the glass of wine on the other side of the table and I can smell it - and it is pungent and not very appealing ... and it's not getting any better." With time in glass it still stinks and the palate has actually turned into nothing organically recognizable mixed with booze. Sad part is you could tell it was a well made wine and it was fighting to be heard from, but a mix of the closure and time let it down. I still believe in Bonarda, but aging it might be another issue.
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