May 6, 2010

Stoney Ridge 2004 Founder's Signature Collection Meritage

 
 

(Re-Tasted May 2010) ... The first sniff of this wine did not give me very much faith that I would be consuming a glass, let alone a sip or two - but sometimes you just have to dive in and give it a try.  The first smell of this wine was like smell a mild turpentine or paint thinner ... not something I really wanted to put in my mouth ... but then I gave it a few more swirls and let it rest on my desk while I did a few other things.  Then I came back to it about 20 minutes later.  The turpentine smell had faded and it was now a sweet dried fruit smell, imagine sticking your nose into a bag of raisins and cranberries, maybe even some prunes, and snorting deeply and you would have the smell of this particular glass of wine.  Not everybody's cup of tea.  Flavours should give one pause also.  Not that fresh lively fruit that has become all the rage, this one is more dried fruit, but there is a sweet element that is rather pleasing, but there is a fine line here - give the wine too much air and the taste is pruney (okay if you like prunes I guess), too little and it like sucking on wet tobacco leaves, but a few quick suck-ins of air and a swish about the mouth brings out sweet dried cherries and a touch of vanilla-cinnamon along with some tobacco notes ... in this case, the complete package is better than the sum of its parts.  

I don't recommend holding onto this wine much longer (especially if you like a lot of fruit in your wine), but it is a very interesting wine to drink now and one I would not shy away from if offered again.  I have one bottle left, might be interesting to take this week and see if those at the Artevino judging agree.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Although I'm sure Frederick has some inkling that it is against
internet etiquette to post in a language many Canadian users may not understand, here is a translation of his message;

"Discouragment is the beginning of shaking, Shaking is the close neighbour of failure."
Insightful to some, but not insightful or useful to a discussion on the Stoney Ridge meritage which supposedly is the subject of the post.