December 17, 2013

Calamus Estate 2007 Meritage



(Re-Tasted December 2013) ...  It's time for another Taste it Again wine and this time I've got a bottle of Calamus 2007 Meritage to put through the rigors of re-tasting.  6 years from Vintage date and long ago sold out, this wine was incredibly popular and one of the best wines made at this young winery up to that time.  I came across this wine resting in my sideboard as one I had set aside to drink soon and see how it was showing, I have another bottle lying down in the cellar for a few more years to see the ageablility of the 2007 vintage.  So this is a wine we will revisit in years to come.  It's important to note this wine is sealed with a screwcap, does that play a part in what is to come?  We'll see.  The wine seemed to 'open' in a variety stages:  at first the nose was black licorice and cocoa with some earthy, black raspberry, mocha and black cherry - very appealing and enticing, definitely a good sign, now if only the flavours will be that complex.  The palate started out with coffee, cocoa, and hints of smoke ... but as the nose continued with those great aromas the palate seemed to grow thinner.  Sure there's a smooth spicy note to the finish but the middle seems kinda hollow, it's a donut of a wine at this point: nice beginning pleasant finish but nothing in the middle to hold it up.  After an hour the wine lost it's earthiness but still remains a little hollow down the middle and a woodiness is starting to come through.  Half-an-hour after that things are finally coming into balance, that wood finish is still dominating but the front palate says mocha and cassis ... As I mentioned, I still have another bottle and it should be interesting to open this wine up again in a few years.  At the moment you need to decant or give it time in glass.


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