January 14, 2009

13th Street 2004 Cabernet-Merlot


(Re-Tasted January 2009) ... In and amongst the reviews of 13th Street's new wines and old favourites that I have been doing of late, it just so happened that a couple of bottles of their wine has also come up for re-taste from the 2004 vintage (this one and a soon to be open Cabernet Franc). Not sure what sparked me to lay down some wines from 2004, which was a pretty mediocre vintage, but I wanted to see what would happen to a wine from a quality driven house over time from this vintage; and there is no doubt that 13th Street Winery is a quality house here in Ontario. Unfortunately, if I was trying to prove that to an outsider with this wine, I would not have won over a convert. The wine right from the bottle was green and vegetal, "reedy and weedy" as I have heard it called on occasion. I attempting decanting, which got rid of some of the tastes and smells of the weedy/reedy nature, but not enough. There is very little by way of fruit here, maybe a bit of cedar now that the air has gotten to it. 20-minutes in and the best thing I can say is that it's defintely a smooth wine, tannins are almost non-existent; it's wet and can refresh if that is what you are looking for in a wine (and doesn't do poorly with cheese, and cracker) - heck it's still drinkable, but not 13th Street's most shining moment under cork.

No comments: