did some horrendous cases the end of this week and had these bottles Thursday & Friday night. Thursday i was just smoked so Melinda made spaghetti and wanted something “dry” so i picked out the very last bottle of a really cheap case of Vin de Pays d’Oc i got while living in Florida in the 90’s. this was a Wine Exchange purchase and i think a buddy took 4 bottles so it took me 13 years to kill the other 8. i had one ~ a year ago that was pretty old and tired so i had little hope for this bottle that is mostly Cab Sav with maybe 15-20% Merlot. i was told this wine is only made “Blue Moon” years and i do think 1996 was one. the label’s bottom script says Cuvee de L’Anne des XIII Lunes in case you can’t read it.
wine was really pretty pleasant with bright fruit for its age, red & blue, mixed with some dirt & pine. finish was shortish and body was a touch thin but a very nice end to a long-ago purchase. tons of tartaric acid crystals on the cork. enjoyment-wise it was there for 2 hours and then the double black diamond slide to undrinkable occured.
the next night Mel made Cioppino with a very spicy red sauce so i thought this elegant Chianti Classico would go nicely and it really did. this was old world to the max and blind i’d have said Bordeaux. perfect cork with bottom third saturated circumferentially. some raisins and dry plums without being stewed, tons of dust & leather notes, tremendous mid-palate and finish was long with drying tannins. bottle had gobs of sediment and this wine had real grip still. this is a Bordeaux lovers Chianti with 10% Colorino. San Felici can be proud of how this wine has done over 11 years. no signs this is going S anytime soon. excellent bottle.