WTN: The end of pain and Suffrene

[Jenise]

So two days after the amazing Swan 99 Mouvedre, a large sip of the 2001 Domaine La Suffrene sits in my mouth and wonders what I'm going to do next. I wonder too. It's not a Swan or even a duck pretending to be one. It's just a big, alcoholic wine made out of mouvedre. I get: burnt nose, restrained berry fruit on pretty full body, garrique, and a finish that burns all the way down once I decide to swallow.

We've poured this wine to sip as an aperitif while we do some cellar maintenance before dinner. Half an hour into our task, we realize neither of us is touching our wine so we pour it back in the bottle to see if food helps it later, and we open something that turns out to be barely more compelling to sip in the cellar. Idiot move on my part--I expected the second wine to be less than smashing and my stated reason for choosing that bottle was that it's best to find the dogs now and get them out of the cellar. Good idea, but heck, I can do that on a Tuesday. This is Friday and Fridays deserve something special. Oh well, it's the 13th, maybe I'll get it right next week.

So dinnertime comes and we're having an Italianish baked ham in chestnut honey over polenta with fresh porcinis and parmesan. The Suffrene was certainly more palatable with food, but eventually we finish the meal and realize that neither one of us had really touched our wine. Too much alcohol and too little anything else in the balance, so we both switch to water.

It's just as well; tomorrow's a big day.

[Bob Ross]

Ugh!!

Well, one less wine to look for, Jenise. Thanks so much.

[Marc D]

Thanks for the warning, with the tiny local selection I could have easily stuck a bottle of this in the shopping cart.

BTW, was your big bottle of chianti the San felice Il Grigio? I remember seeing it there and admiring the bottle. Nice label too.

[Bill Buitenhuys]

too bad about the Suffrene..

Great title, btw, and the ham dinner sounds quite intriguing.

[Jenise]

Thanks for the compliment on the title, but it pales in comparison to David's "In the corner stands a Boxler." That one set the bar pretty high.

Yeah, too bad about the wine, but that's what happens when you buy unfamiliar bottles and forget to check the alcohol on the bottle. It was, btw, 15% though it seemed hotter. Oh, another important factoid: $28 is what I wasted on this wine.

[Gary Delligatti]

That's freakin hilarious! Nice review!

[Jenise]

Gary thanks, and welcome to the group. Pull up a stool and set awhile, this bar's open all night.

[Jenise]

Thanks for the warning, with the tiny local selection I could have easily stuck a bottle of this in the shopping cart.

BTW, was your big bottle of chianti the San felice Il Grigio? I remember seeing it there and admiring the bottle. Nice label too.

Marc, so sorry, I didn't see your note before. It's nice to have someone local read notes like this and actually find news they can use--I feel better about warning people away from bad wines than I do helping them find good ones (especially since good is relative). And yes, that's the bottle of Chianti I bought. We're going to have to form a committee just to figure out how to open and pour the thing.