Concha y Toro 2002 Marques de Casa Concha Merlot (Chile)
24 Aug 2015- Details
- Category: Uncorked Tonight
(April 29, 2015) ... Ever go to a tasting or dinner and the winemaker or winery owner pulls out an older bottle and it tastes amazing? You later get home and wonder if it was all an illusion: were you under the influence of the booze previously poured? The magic of the night, the spell of the winemaker/owner? There are so many reasons not to believe what you tasted was so very good. I have had that myself, especially when tasting Concha y Toro's Marques de Casa Concha wines ... How in the world can something under $20 be so reliably age-able? I recently had another one of these sit downs with winemakers and thought to myself, "I have some of these wines in my cellar, I should see how they really perform." So I pulled a bottle of 2002 Marques Merlot out and tried my very own bottle. Nose was licorice and mocha with hints of vanilla smoke. Palate followed the nose but added spice, balancing acidity and a little grit from the still-present tannins. So my wow factor for these wines is still high ... They perform well even with my bottles. Mystery solved? Maybe not completely but for now I'm satiated.
(April 26, 2015) ... Lord knows I did not want to go to a game 7, so this game was crucial and as it turned out I opened this bottle at the start of the third period (my buddy, Joe, and I were too on the edge of our seats to be able to deal with a glass beforehand). I'm a Thorn Clarke fan and so I thought this wine would bring us an element of luck. Nose turned out to be more expressive than the palate: mocha, raspberry and blueberry with a palate that was a little more muted than I would have expected. Slight hints of raspberry with touches of mocha and a little white pepper on the finish ... But still quite smooth and supple. Even in its mutedness it showed some real elegance. Thankfully Montreal did beat Ottawa on this night, so game 7 did not happen ... phew. (And for those not in the know, I'm talking NHL playoffs)
