Three Reds from the Weekend

2002 Bordeaux, Yvecourt
2002 Hawk Crest Cabernet Sauvignon
2003 Red Bicyclette, Syrah, Vin de Pays d’Oc
February 14, 2005
Jen’s notes

Saturday

Shane and I went to BevMo in San Francisco for wine to take to dinner at my mom’s. We were on a bit of a budget and figured that our best bets were from France. We found the 2002 Yvecourt Bordeaux for, shall we say, less than $10.00. This wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc; according to the "shelf talker," it boasted sumptuous fruit. Unfortunately, the shelf talker has a lead palate. While there was a bit of fruit upfront, it was, as I have said about other wines, "generic," lacking anything suggestive of a specific fruit, such as cherries, berries, or cassis. There was nothing to follow that initial, tentative fruit; it just dropped off and finished without so much as a wave goodbye.

The wine also lacked complexity and structure. Shane pointed out that the addition of Cabernet Franc (which he loathes, incidentally) is no substitute for structure, and he is exactly right. It is certainly common in Bordeaux to shore up a blend with CF when the Cabernet Sauvignon in that particular vintage year didn’t fare so well, but CF is not going to make up for lack of winemaking skill.

After we polished off the Yvecourt (there were four of us at dinner, so we didn’t have to endure much of it), we moved on to a similarly unstructured, but otherwise totally different wine from California, the 2002 Hawk Crest Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Hawk Crest, while not exactly enjoyable, was definitely interesting. It hit me immediately with gobs of fruit, unfortunately still generic, but better than the alternative, I suppose. It was kind of like a poor man’s Silver Oak, if only for that sweet, intense-ish fruit burst. I say intense-ish, not to describe a depth or complexity of flavor, but the fact that it was so attention-getting, like that girl who really shouldn’t be wearing quite so much make-up. Shane noticed that the wine had loads of vanilla, too, which was rather pasted on and not integrated into the wine.

There weren’t any balancing acts in this wine – very little acidity and no tannins to speak of. It wasn’t undrinkable, but it was disappointing, given the fact that (1) this is Stag’s Leap’s little brother (same winemaker), and (2) the Hawk Crest Chardonnay is pretty good, if memory serves.

Sunday

To make up for drinking one of our "house" reds on his own, Shane bought us the 2003 Red Bicyclette Syrah. Finally, finally, a good wine. We were actually quite pleasantly surprised at how good this was. Interestingly enough, Red Bicyclette is produced by Gallo (hence the surprise).

I took my first sip and looked and Shane, not saying anything. He sipped his. We looked at each other until one of us had the guts to break the silence, perhaps fearing that our palates had been deceived. "I like it," he said. Relieved, I burst out, "I do, too! It’s good!"

The first sip floods the palate with lush, jammy fruit, not too in-your-face or obvious, but most assuredly there. This was deep, brambly, blackberry tart, accented with toasty, just-enough oak and cedar. The mid-palate mixed it up a bit with spicy notes and supporting tannins, leading smoothly into a satisfying finish. We were very pleased.

We have discovered that the second glass of wine is usually better than the first. We think that this is due to a combination of the wine opening up a bit with aeration and our palate adjusting to the flavors of the wine. With the Red Bicyclette, the second glass definitely showed more complexity in the fruit (as if someone added currants to that tart, and baked it in a gorgeous butter pastry) and spice notes.