in pursuit of the juiciest wine: day 100 (Altamura Cabernet Sauvignon 2007)

Hurray. Finally, it’s Day 100 in the Pursuit of the Juiciest Wine Tour. I’ve been saving the Altamura Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 for quite some time and for quite some occasion. While tonight is a quiet night, here’s what’s been going in the last couple of weeks. Hmm. How to order them. I thought of listing by order of importance or magnitude, but, hmm, they are all pretty big. So randomly.

Finally, I got new job! Yay. Thanks Gerry Fish. I’m going to be an editor, which is something I love to do. The job begins Monday in St. Louis. I’ll stay there for a week. Then the rest of the gig is working from home.

Working from home on my new laptop. A Toshiba Satellite P705D with an AMD A6-3400M APU with Radeon HD Graphics 1.40 GHz processor, 8 GB of RAM (thank goodness. that’s really what I wanted most), Windows 7 Home 64-bit, and 640 GB hard drive.

What else. Oh, Redactions: Poetry & Poetics issue 14 – The I-90 Poetry Revolution with guest editor, Sean Thomas Dougherty came out and we had a release party reading for it. It was a great reading held at the Alumni House at SUNY Brockport. (Thank English Department for hooking me up with space!)

SUNY Brockport is new thing. I’m teaching Introduction to Creative Writing there one night per week. I just started a few weeks ago. What fun.

I got that job thanks to Ralph Black, Steve Fellner, and Anne Panning and because I’ve a number of published books, including one that just came out two weeks ago. The book is Poems for an Empty Church from Palettes & Quills.

I’ve hired The Critic to speak on my behalf for this book.

The only way to shut him up is to BUY MY BOOK.

So I’ve had a lot going, and I’m not listing some other items, too. That’s enough. So tonight some good wine for the 100th day in pursuit of the juiciest wine.

Tonight’s wine is Altamura Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 from Napa Valley. It was number 5 on the The Wine Spectator Top 100 wines of 2010. So the wine should be perfect for tonight.

I got the wine on hearing its name and its rank. I did not know how it was spelled. I thought it was going to be a Spanish wine from Altamira. I was hooked because I love Spanish wines and I love the Altamira Cave with all the paleolithic cave art of which I’ve been writing poems about.

Enough of this. Let’s get to this 96-point wine.

The is an inky wine that’s dark purple in color and 90% opaque. It also has a tall meniscus. Is this wine even ready?

Thinking of tall, the bottle is tall and skinny. Odd.

The nose is smoky with dark berries, cassis, and black pepper. Yet with all that going on, it’s mild. My girlfriend says it smells inky. I get a hint of that, too.

Wow, that’s weird. It almost vanishes on the finish but then resurfaces.

It’s smooth going in like liquid air. And thinner than you’d expect from a cab. It’s actually kinda flowery when it gets in the mouth. But there’s also the counter of the inkiness and cassis. The cassis is on the beginning of the finish.

When you first taste it, it’s kinda like grapes. Like grape jelly but not as sweet but with the same wobbly texture.

My girlfriend picks up mushrooms. She also thinks its weird, but she thinks it’s weird because “It’s juicy, but I can’t define any of the berries.” After some time, she gets blackberries. I agree. That is, I think I can feel and taste those little blackberry hairs that poke out from in between the little blackberry bubbles.

This is a really mild wine. I quit enjoy. I give it an A.

The longer it sits, the juicier it gets and spicier, too. It gets more and more delicious. I can’t believe how much better it has become in the last 15 minutes. This bottle has been open for about an hour now, and it’s blossoming. It’s slowly becoming an A+. It’s coming alive with juiciness and youthful vitality. I feel like Dr. Frankenstein watching his monster come alive or, more specifically, Young Frankenstein watching his monster come alive.

The Altamura Cabernet Sauvignong 2007 is engaging. It’s flirting with me. It’s seducing me. Mmmmmmmm. I have been seduced.//

21.5 Bottles of Red Wine

Right now I have Twenty-one-and-a-half bottles of red wine plus a few bottles of port, a few bottles of whites, and a bottle of champagne. This isn’t alot but it’s a lot for me. I have no place to store much more than this or even this much, and the summer is too hot for proper storage. But what’s unique about this selection is that they are all good wines and many are real good. Here’s what I have in reds.

Twenty-One-and-a-Half Red Wines (Click me to see zoom in.)

Chateau de Lascaux Coteaux du Languedoc 2008 (2x). This one is number 85 on The Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2010.

Nine Stones Shiraz 2008 (Barossa). I love this wine. Everyone should try this wine, especially for $11. It also won The Battle of Barossa Shiraz.

Codice Vino de la Tierra de Castilla 2008 (2x). Another wine everyone should try. I opened it one night with someone who really doesn’t like, but she couldn’t stop drinking it. Yes, and only for $9 or $10.

Ergo Tempranillo 2008 (Rioja). I’m just assuming this one is good, but I can’t remember what led me to think that. I’ll try it in a few days and let you know.

Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (D. O. Colchagua Valley, Chile). I’ve had previous Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignons, and they were wonderful.

Cycle Buff Beauty A Date with M. Fitts 2008 (Malbec-Shiraz blend). Actually, I don’t know if this will be good, especially since it’s 80% Malbec, and I don’t really like Malbec. But it has an awesome retro label. It’s like a 1950 B-movie poster.

Two Hands Angels’ Share Shiraz 2008. I had another Two Hands Shiraz, the one that is number two on The Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2010. I’m assuming this one will be good, too. Plus it’s got Angel’s Share in the title. Angels’ Share is “The wine in oak barrels that disappears due to evaporation.” That’s from the epigraph of Joseph Mills’ poem “Some Questions about the Drinking Habits of Angels,” which appears in the wonderful book of wine poems Angels, Thieves, and Winemakers.

What if the angels don't drink
their shares at all,
but instead save them,
so that later,
when we check in,
or perhaps at judgement day,
we'll find samples
of all the wines and all
the days, all the lost
friendships, everything
we thought had evaporated away,
lined up and displayed,
not as an appreciation
or a rebuke,
but simple a testament,
to what we tried to make
with our lives.

Perrin & Fils La Gille 2007 (Gigondas). This one is number 78 on The Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2010. Plus, it’s from Gigondas. (Gigondas is pronounced gee gohn dahs. Where the first two syllables are said rather quick so that the n is almost not pronounced and slips into the das, which is a longer syllable. This guy gets close to the pronunciation: hear it pronounced.)

Signargues Cotes du Rhones Villages Granacha 2007. A Grancha from the Rhone, yea boy.

Borsao Garnacha 2009 (2.5x). Borsao tends to make delicious wines, and this one is no different, plus it’s only $8. Go get some . . . now.

Monte Antico Toscana 2007. I raved about this one before. Plus, it won The Battle of Toscanas.

Columbia Crest Grand Estates 2007 (Columbia Valley). This is a good everyday wine. It’s a solid 88-point wine, and I say it’s 89. Plus, it’s only $8 or $9.

Jade Mountain La Provencale 1999 (St. Helen, CA). I don’t remember why I picked this one up, but I have had it for a while. It’s the dusty bottle on the left. I know it’s good. I wonder if I should save it. You know, what if I have a kid. This might be his or her only way to experience the previous millennium. I actually did this for my friends with their first baby. I picked up a bottle of a 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon. I wanted their child to experience the millennium in which their parents met.

Domain Les Grands Bois Côtes Du Rhone Cuvee Les Trois Sœurs 2009. I had this before. It pushes 90 points.

Ryan Vineyard Calera Thirtieth Anniversary Vintage Pinot Noir 2005. I remember this being a real good Pinot Noir. It’s normally $50, but I got it for $25.

Castell del Remei Gotim Bru Costers del Segre 2006. I read something good about this somewhere, plus it looks like something I’ve never tried before.

Lan Rioja Reserva 2005. This isn’t on The Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2010, but the Bodegas LAN Rioja Crianza 2006 is at spot 90. I’ve heard the 2005 Reserva is even better or just as good as the Crianza 2006.

Altamura Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 (Napa Valley). This one is number five on The Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2010. When I heard Mahan’s Liquor and Wines was getting some, I got in on the order because I thought it was Altamira, where all the cave paintings are. This would have been a special joy because I’m studying and writing about Paleolithic cave art. When I got it, I saw that it was spelled different and was from California. Sigh. But, hey, it’s number five, plus I have the Lascaux which is number 85, so yay.

I’ve got some good times ahead. Stay tuned. I’ll share them with you.//