Sarget de GruadLarose 2001

Call me a crbutt colonial or even an unsophisticated Philistine, but I've really had a hard time ever appreciated Bordeaux. It's probably because my sparsely populated wallet has never been able to support a selection of clbuttified first-growths.

But, I continue to try. Last year the Wall Street Journal (see, even Philistines can name-drop), ran an item about '01 Bordeaux that listed some great values in the release. Armed with someone's opinion who gets paid for such things, I bought a couple of cases of theem from Sam's in Chicago and two days ago got around to pulling the cork on an '01 Sarget de Gruad-Larose.

The wine was a dark brown and appeared unfiltered. The nose was a rich cocoa, chocolate, dark cherry promise that I've seldom encountered in French wines. It was more reminiscent of one of those full-blown Oz Shiraz or a California Merlot. Taste was very fruit forward with the chocolate, vanilla (over-oaked?) and Bing cherry very prominent. Tannins still a bit puckerish on the finish.

In short, it sure didn't taste like my past experiences with Bdx and was a lot more like the wines I prefer. Had another bottle with Porterhouse steak last night and it followed the same impressions as the first.

I might get into this Bordeaux thing yet. Oh, yeah, the price was $18 US. The other case I bought on the WSJ recommendation was '01 Lascombes--it was a bit more pricey, at $44-bottle. Will wait a little longer for that one to develop--unless curiousity gets the better of me next week.

Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret) "When Thunder Rolled" www.thunderchief.org www.thundertales.blogspot.com