Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Most Beautiful Bottle


Last night we were treated to a fantastic dinner. Out with friends, we had dinner more the way the Italians do. Things came in courses; I was full before my dinner got to the table, so I brought almost all of it home as leftovers. The restaurant, Bugatti's in West Linn, had a nice atmosphere and was packed---an affirmation that the food there is good. And it is.

The real surprise, I must admit, was the wine, however. We tasted several and I had saved the corks so I could remember what they were called. (Unfortunately, the waiter took them as he cleared the table and I didn't realize until it was too late.) Having not brought a pen, I had no way of writing down the information on the wine, so thinking smartly, I took a picture of the last bottle (which I liked the best) with my cell phone so I could at least remember the name.

2000 Altamura Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley)
This vintage is basically unobtainable with the oldest on their website being 2003. I have never tasted wine this expensive before. The waiter poured me a taste because (stupidly) I wasn't planning on drinking and since I had to get up very early, I didn't want to get tipsy. Had I been smarter, I would have demanded a full pour and then hoarded the bottle. Curse my sensibilities!

I like wine, and especially Cabernet Sauvignon. But I don't know the first thing about it. My palate is probably the most underdeveloped of anyone I know. I swirled the glass, I checked the density of the color, I breathed it in. When I tasted it, I found it to be the most beautiful and pleasant wine I've had thus far, and at this time I didn't know it was a Cab because the bottle was on the other side of the table. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn't pick out one definitive flavor---it was just...really good. It had a full flavor that didn't taper off into tannins as I swallowed it. It didn't make my tongue feel "squeaky clean" (like those old Tupperwear ads) as some other wines tend to do. Finally, I asked them to pass me the bottle whereupon I immediately knew why I liked it---my favorite varietal, Cab. Also I found the bottle itself to be appealing to the eye. Taller than I'm used to and slender, it seemed suited to the contents.

After this experience, I am definitely going to start a wine blog. I will let you know when it comes out and what the URL is.

5 comments:

Beer Aficionado said...

Good, I am glad you have decided to start doing what I am doing in my newly created blog, only with wine instead of beer.

And that squeaky clean feeling is, in my experience, caused by acidity.

la petite chou chou said...

Aah, the acid makes sense. I'm going to have to research a lot for the wine blog.

redreviews.blogspot.com

Kent W. said...

I want to see reviews on the finest boxes of wines that Greece has to offer.

la petite chou chou said...

The closest to boxed wine I'll review will be Charles Shaw. Heh.

la petite chou chou said...

Oh, and my sister just left for Denmark and later Cyprus. I did ask her to bring back some wine.