Wednesday, May 27, 2009

1999 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière

Vintage: 1999
Type: Red
Producer: Château Canon-la-Gaffelière
Variety: Red Bordeaux Blend
Country: France
Region: Bordeaux
SubRegion: Libournais
Appellation: St. Émilion Grand Cru



The Wooden Guys are running to see if their store has any more of this wine.

Night One

The nose starts with blackcurrants and mulberry, pencil lead and green olives. This is a real snoot-full, the sort of wine you can forget to drink, it's so easy to get lost in the different layers of the nose.

Deep dark brooding fruit leads the palate, mulberry, blackberry and blackcurrant. A little bit of redcurrant brings some bright acidity to balance the silky sweet tannins. Pencil lead, a bit of dark earth, and a touch of cedar show up on the mid-palate. The finish is mid-length.

Night Two

On Night Two the fruit, on the nose, seems lighter. Some red fruit has joined the black, a little black cherry and raspberry dancing with blackcurrant and mulberry. Pencil lead, some dark loam, and some cedar round out the nose.

The palate, on the other hand, is still dark, brooding, silky, and wonderfully smooth. Blackcurrants and mulberry, a little bit of blackberry, pencil lead, and a bit of the crispy end of a prime rib. Tannins are silky smooth, bringing just a bit of leather to coat the sides of your cheeks and coat your teeth. The finish is long.

This is good wine, very good wine. I think I'm going to go buy some more.

Other ratings include a 92 from Robert Parker, 88 from Wine Spectator, and 90 from Stephen Tanzer, all in 2002. Of them all, I would have to say Parker, who noticed the graphite, meat and sweet tannins (isn't the definition of genius "anybody who agrees with me"?), gave the best prediction of long-term quality.



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