Special - Last weekend....part 2

So now the 2nd part of the special....getting right to the point:

Me, smelling a special wine
and in the typical French
outfit

The special bottle. Well my dad actually gave me 2 of those, next to some others. However these 2 bottles were very special. The first one I opened up on Christmas last year and shared it with my mother. Je crois au Dieu! (French expression of something phenomenal: I blieve in God) This bottle was awesome. The first impression was overwhelming. The smell was so intensive and also so nice and not too strong, but I was having quite difficulties to taste anything in the beginning. Finally after 2h I tasted something, but also then the alcohol of the wine (14,5%) kicked in. I was having during that time my second glass and had to withdraw....withdraw....withdraw?? "What am I talking about here?" you might think. Yes I had to leave the rest of the wine in the glass and couldn't enjoy it much longer. Why? Well the wine was just too good to be true and also not ready. Okay I might have the feeling you might be now more confused or can't followed me at all. 

So what I am actually talking about? Well its somehow difficult to explain and also because you might have never encountered such kind of wine before. Nor you might face one without guidance or someone who is showing it to you. I am actually talking about a wine that is special. So special that you should buy like 12 bottles and stores it for the next decades, at least one or two decades. 

I would like to explain it to you by asking from another point of view: "What are actually the requirements for a wine that can be stored for many years, decades, if not centuries?" As simple as it might seem here the answer to this particular question it is even more difficult than to find one of these wines. The right balance. The right balance of what? The right balance of tannins, aroma compounds and alcohol percentage. I think you might get now an idea of what I am talking about. So if that is true what I keep writing here than that would actually mean the more tannins, the more aroma compounds and the more alcohol the better and longer I might can stored the bottle and let it develop itself? Yes you are absolutely right! But for only one type of wine. 

To keep now the confusing to a minimum and also the frustration. I am sorry this is a complicated question and let me remind you of one thing I mentioned in my earlier posts: Wine is a mystery and as it is also its making. So to be honest, you will never 100% know what are the ingredients for a wine that can be stored for decades. The problem of all of it is the balance and no one can describe the perfect balance of every compound in the wine to have a special wine. Every wine has different kind of grape(s) and also the percentage of different grapes might differ. Also how much sun did the vintage had? What was the weather conditions. These are just a few things which influence the outcome of the wine.

My Italian coworker checking if
I do a good decanting. Also he
smelled the wine!

Making it short from here on by asking: How do you recognize a special wine? 

1) It should have a lot of tannins - no doubt, the more the better.

2) The aroma compounds should be high and rich. 

3) The alcohol, well that is not such a crucial point. Of course if you have a decent amount you might have less "contamination" problems during the fermentation. 

4) It all depends on the balance of the 3 before mentioned points. 

5) When you open up the bottle it will take much time (at least 1-2h) until you might taste something specific.

6) The smell is overwhelming when opening up the bottle or decanting it. 

7) You buy 12 bottles of wine and taste the first now. The second in 5 years, re-evaluate it and then taste the 3rd after 10 years. You either keep trying to consume the remain one's if you realize you can't store them any longer. Or if you are lucky - you can store them even longer.

Especially point No. 7 is important. Even the most sophisticated wine sommeliers or wine taster might not be able to predict the future of a wine. They might be able to assume that a certain wine is going to be great in decades and also how long you should store it. But still, everything is up to the conditions where and how the wine is stored, if the wine maker did a good job, if nature was grateful and created a piece of outstanding quality and - actually my favor - how lucky you are! 

I hope I made it somehow a little bit more clearer to you. So lets get to the interesting point: "Which wine was I actually opening up?" Curious? Here it is:

Name: Château L'Hospitalet - La Reserve

Vintage: 2009

Region: France - Coteaux Du Langedoc

Mis en bouteille au Château

Proprietaire: Gérard Bertrand 

Grape(s): Syrah - Mourvèdre - Grenache 

Alc: 14,5 %

Shop: Unknown (was a present)

Price: Unknown

Personal rank: 9.1 of 10 points

Color: A deep Bordeaux red

Smell: Very intensive smell, overwhelming. Even while decanting it the fruity smell was - wow - impressive (normally when you decant you rarely have an intensive smell). Even tho there was a lot of alcohol (14,5%) which normally covers the smells I was able to smell cranberries, blackberries, some cherry and elderberry.  

Taste: Within the first 10-15 min no taste at all. Even after 1-2h still not the whole tasting sensation available but what I was able to taste... you have to experience it by yourself.

Tannin(s): A lot of it!

Food: - so far not possible to say, have to wait until its ready to drink (so in 10 years maybe).

Résumé: A wine made for decades. Excellent. To simply put it like me Spanish coworker said: "It's awesome! Amazing and special. You have to taste it!" Well there is nothing more to say from my side. She is absolutely right!  

That's been my last weekend. Very busy and many impression. I really enjoyed it.

Anyway I hope you enjoy reading this and going to get somehow one bottle of this wine and maybe taste it.

À bientôt mes amis!