- Price: $17
- Purchased at: REAL CANADIAN LIQUOR STORE, BABY!
- Could Richard have designed this label: Too pretty for me to design - or want to design
As I grow up, I'm learning about the things you should trust, and things you shouldn't - and drinking ever more wine, come to think of it.
You should trust your lawyer, because my favourite cases to watch involve self-representation. You should not trust online ads that use the word "free". You should trust that McDonald's will titillate your taste buds, but torture your intestines (I tell myself this as I stare at the Golden Arches with a mean late-night hunger coming on). Apparently, you shouldn't always trust a winery.
Bonterra, and organic cabernet sauvignon out of Mendocino County and Lake County in California. Wine Access scored the 2009 vintage at 89:
This is well-priced for such an elegant and well-balanced cabernet. Expect cassis and black cherry jello notes, with pencil shavings plus some floral and leathery complexity. It seems light on the palate due to a seam of fresh acidity. It is velvety smooth with good length. Very pretty. Drinking best 2011 to 2014.
While I cruised my favourite liquid lunch supermarket, Bonterra stuck out. I grabbed it. It was the 2010 vintage. But I mean, same winery, same grapes, one year apart.
I'm sure fellow wineophytes can sympathize with me. With most consumer brands, except investments, past performance is usually indicative of future results.
But Bonterra 2010 was ... how to put it gently ... repulsive on first taste. Lifeless. No fruit, lots of mineral, little structure. It didn't get a lot better over time. It was dry without being crisp. I felt continually disappointed. When drinking starts to feel like a task, it's time to leave the nightclub immediately; or time for a new bottle.
Wine Access knows much more than me. So I'm going to chalk this little error up to learning what to trust in life. Should we trust wine bloggers?
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