after dinner sneeze

t says: Oof. What a long day! g and I needed a little something special after that week (little did we know that it was about to get a bit more hectic, as p was about to get hand-foot-mouth … again). We ordered up some pizza from We the Pizza, one of our favorites for delivery in DC, put p to bed, and cracked open the bottle on the left:

I don’t know much about Poesia. I have no romantic stories to go with it. No personal history. It popped up one day on LastBottle.com and I pounced on it based on the vinous.com review that gushed with phrases like:
– “pure, vibrant aromas of black cherry, black raspberry, cocoa powder, graphite and woodsmoke” with a “subtle floral note”.
– “dark fruit flavors are accented by minerals, licorice, fresh herbs and flowers … a fine dusting of tannins and echoing juicy length.”
– “not the most opulent [Poesia] … but may be the most suave and best balanced.”
With words like those how can I resist? Especially because historically, for g and me, Argentinian malbecs come across a bit one-dimensional, so I was thrilled at the idea of a leaner malbec with some bottle age.

It was … not as good as that reviewer’s vocubulary. It was indeed a well-balanced wine – far from the $20 juicy, plump malbecs of our past. Raspberry/framboise with black pepper, cedar, herbaceous tones. However, it ran a bit hot on the finish, and the flavors were a bit awkward – not quite melded together for a seamless experience. Perhaps it’ll integrate with years to come, but I worry about the alcohol, which doesn’t really “settle down” like tannins and fruit do. It was a good to see a not-as-fleshy side of Malbec, and it wasn’t “bad”, but it wasn’t so enthralling that I’d bother to pick up another bottle. We live, we learn [not to trust reviewers].

As now it’s two bottles that haven’t quite gone as we’ve planned, I decided to include an extra bottle with this one. You can see it in the pic above! But it doesn’t count as #3 for our challenge because it’s one of our usual weekday wines. This Sauvignon Blanc (that’s classified as a “Vin de France”, meaning it is an amalgation of grapes from all over the country – which basically means it’s “table wine”) is an example of the kind of wine that I/we like, but would never bring to a party. What the meager 85-point review misses about this wine is the very striking note of petrol (fancy-talk for “gasoline”). It’s such a pronounced note that it’s guaranteed to turn off quite a few people … unless you’re one of those that like it. We like this wine quite a bit, and year-in, year-out, it’s reliable. It’s bright and mouth-watering, and features some combination of citrus and petrol that’s short-lived on the palate – so it’s a great palate cleanser while you’re eating. Seek it out for the experience – we usually have it twice a year because it’s that good. And if you prefer this style of wine to the fat, buttery, rich, vanilla/oaky chardonnays out there, then welcome to the club!