Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, med lemon
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, youthful, mineral, pink grapefruit, citrus, nuances of stone fruit, slight grassiness
Mouth: dry, med+ acid, med bodied, med- length, med alcohol, med+ intensity, tart citrus explosion, mineral
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

Unpopular opinion, but I mostly hate Halloween. I mean, it’s nice to hang out with friends, eat candy, carve pumpkins, and eat pumpkin-flavoured things, but seeing drunk-ass half-dressed teenagers à la Mean Girls gets tiring, annoying, and mind-grating, and all I want to do on Halloween is lock myself in my room and do homework. Of course that all changes when you go on Facebook seeing everyone have fun but you, and you wish you weren’t such a bitter old man stuck in a college-boy’s body. I’m glad it’s raining this weekend. ALL YOUR FACE PAINT IS MELTING OFF. Of course, I’m working on actual Halloween. I’m going to see if work will let me wear bloody things and carry around a bloody prop-hammer-axe-not-really-a-prop.

So I thought I’d have my co-workers blind me with a wine after having been inspired by the amazing WineAlign blind tasting competition videos as well has not having done it in a while. Geez – it’s such a seemingly pretentious and obscure talent, but being able to identify a wine by smell and taste is so cool. It’s also something I love about wine – the fact that it’s a liquid expression of where it’s from; a drinkable gustatory and olfactory stamp of an area, whether that be climate, grape, terroir, or particular winemaking. It’s like taking a picture with a camera that records aromas and flavours.

This wine in particular was quite Old World in style. Minerality was quite evident on the nose, and funnily enough, I first noticed a nuance of stone fruit. I let the wine warm up a bit to release some aromas, which were more citrus and grassy – but not pungent in that New World style. I really did enjoy the nose more than the palate. The palate was an explosion of tart lemons and mineral, and the acidity was med to med+ at most, the length was average if not below, and the alcohol was a little bit hot and disjointed which was weird considering the alcohol content (12% ABV).

The mineral characteristics screamed Old World, the supposed hot alcohol brought me to the south, and the Sauvignon characteristics brought me to something of a white Bordeaux (Gascogne – close enough),  but I recall having a fleeting thought of Albariño or Macabeo before I put it in my mouth. Quite young so the vintage was a no-brainer (2010), and I guessed a wine around 20 dollars. Needless to say, I beamed when I guessed the wine correctly. It’s slightly easier because we’re all familiar with the wines in the store. Gros Manseng is a bit obscure though. Can’t say I or many of my colleagues or wine geek friends have ever had any if not one, ever.

The citrus in this wine pops so much that it’s almost a replacement for squeezing lemon over your food (or matching it with food that has lemon). I can’t help but think that this would go well with seafood, or in particular, a Filipino dish called “pancit” – it would be a cool calamansi/lemon replacement, and this wine gave me that tart kick (I’m probably just excited because pairing Filipino food with wine is so tough – stay tuned for an article). That being said, the wine without food is a bit sassy. Loses points for balance, but it’s definitely not a bad wine.

Producer: Alain Brumont
Designation: Sec
Region: France
Sub-Region: Gascogne
Variety: Gros Manseng, Sauvignon Blanc
ABV: 12%
Vintage: 2010
Tasted: October 27, 2012
Price: 18$ (Liberty)