Had an interesting day today. I got a callback from Beringer, where I’d applied for a public relations manager job overseeing media outreach for two of their brands. While they are still considering me as a candidate, they’re continuing their search to look for someone with a more traditional PR background. I’ve heard this one before. Prior to working as an editor for a dot-com and then Pottery Barn, I was a newspaper reporter. My experience is in having story ideas pitched to me, not pitching to others, which gives me a unique perspective on what works (and more importantly, what doesn’t). Still, when something like this happens, you get the feeling they’re saying to you, “We think we can do better. But if not, we’ll get back to you.” Such is life in this industry (and in most industries, really). There are projects moving forward with my freelance clients, and one of my recruiters called. In addition to giving me a job lead, she mentioned that hiring is way up in the wine industry, and she’s never seen so many quality job openings before. That’s good news. So it works out at the end of the day. You deal with it and move on.
Anyway, on to the wine. Thought I’d jump across the pond tonight with a Bordeaux and a Spanish red. I tried the Bordeaux first, but it was a little muted, so I let it breathe a bit and moved to the garnacha (Spanish for “grenache”). Here’s how they fared:
Las Rocas Vinas Viejas de San Alejandro 2001 Garnacha
I bought a case of this last year at $8 or $9 a bottle, and each time it’s shown me something different. Tonight it’s all cigar box, no doubt about it. I’ve been sitting here with it for a few hours, and that’s just all I’m getting. Some tannins and maybe a little dill vying for attention in the background. I do like it; it’s really pure and sweet, like smelling a humidor filled with fresh Cohibas, but it’s a bit one-dimensional. I remember more fruit in this wine last time I had it. It’s a 100% old-vine grenache cuvee from 100-year old vines, aged 10% in new French oak and 90% in old barrels.
Chateau Tour de Loirac 2000
I know nothing about this estate, but the wine was recommended to me by the excellent folks at K&L Wines in San Francisco (www.klwines.com). I have a small selection of 2000 classified-growth Bordeaux resting comfortably in my closet, but I wanted something that I could drink in the near term to try and gauge what all the fuss was about with the 2000 Bordeaux vintage.
This wine is intriguing. I like it. I want to like it more, but it lacks some stuffing, some “guts.” I recommend decanting it if you want to drink it now. It’s not tannic, but I opened this wine at 8:30 pm, and here we are at 3:30 (I have insomnia issues) and it’s just been giving me a peek at what it has to offer within the last two hours. But Bordeaux is all about the anticipation, the buildup of pleasures to come. In that sense, this wine delivers.
There are interesting aromas of exotic spice and earth. I’m literally sniffing, then typing. Wet earth, menthol. Sniff. Taste. Low tannins and some acidity that deliver what I often see described as a Band-Aid quality. Sniff. Taste. Cranberry/licorice? Flowers. You really do have to do more digging with Bordeaux than you do with California wines. It’s somewhat like one of my favorite Southern treats, boiled crabs – you have to work to get your reward, peeling and prying, but it’s so worth it.
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