OK, with that out of the way, this bottle was weird. On first sip, it was decidedly sweet. I have been so conditioned to the resolute dryness of Ultramarine wines, that it was quite jarring. Once I got used to it, the sweetness did not bother me nearly so much, and the other folks at the table did not notice it at all, even when I brought it up. Ultimately the wine was a seamless match with some palak chaat and lasooni gobi, so it was all good, but definitely not a typical showing for this wine.
David, I’ve experienced the same. When these bottles are on, they’re incredible. Unfortunately bottle variation is a major issue that I optimistically think will be fixed with each new vintage, but have yet to see improvement.
I posted about my experience and concerns in another UM thread but was quickly shut down. If you smell overwhelming bruised apples when popping one of these, you got a dud (about 30-40% of my bottles have been this way).
The 2013 BdN my first and so far only bottle of Ultramarine that I opened and I had a similar experience: too sweet for my taste. It was not a bad wine, but I wasn’t impressed. Yet, I decided to buy again one more year to see if that was just an off bottle or off vintage…
