January 3, 2008

Cave Spring 2002 Cabernet-Merlot


(Re-Tasted - November 2007) ... A few years back this wine won Best Red at the 2005 Ontario Cuvee Awards. Now, some five years later, it's time to try it again. I was so looking forward to this wine because it showed such promise a few years back. Today, I opened it and poured it into my usual tasting-review glass (an IKEA Svelka red). To my dismay the telltale smells of cork wafted up from the glass even before I put it to my nose ... damp basement. I stirred and swirled in the hopes that maybe it was just my surroundings, but alas my efforts only managed to dissipate it slightly; that stink quickly came back. Just because I am a glutton for punishment, I decided to try it. On the fore-palette, it had some black fruit and cherry smoothness, but by mid-palette that was gone, replaced by a dumbed down version of what was once a beautiful wine. Finally, the finish was completely unpalatable - loaded with taint: moldy, wet nasty basement and old newspaper tastes - it was like chewing on cardboard. I wept silently to myself – what a shame.


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