Taste it Again : Henry of Pelham 2012 Cabernet-Merlot Estate
23 Mar 2020- Details
- Category: Lost & Found / Taste it Again
October 27, 2019 ... So I decided to experiment with this wine. I am getting a lot of questions about decanting lately either by the glass or a full bottle so I decided to split this bottle into two. Half I decanted the other half I left in bottle. I also started with just one glass, or a splash in the glass, to see how a single-pour decanter would also work with this wine and give me a baseline.
Bottle: there were smoky, peppery, dark berry fruit (cassis / blackberry) cinnamon and spice with a touch of cedar; which I thought might blow off in a couple of hours, but then I made the decision to rush it a bit.
Decanted: fruit character is gone, coffee grounds and cedar dominate - I found this very unappealing.
After 2 hours: poured from bottle there is still life with dark berry / spiced blueberry, mocha, coffee but that cedary finish remains prominent - the decanted version seems lifeless and failing.
Advice ... don't decant / by the glass or the full bottle, you're wasting a good wine ... allow bottle to open up on its own naturally and you'll enjoy the experience over the course of the night.
October 26, 2019 ... I don't usually look back at a review until after I have written the new one, keeps me from being enthused or jaded (as the case may be), but this Equuleus caused me a little bit of trouble so I wanted to see where it was all those years ago. Back in 2011 I had to taste this wine a number of times before it finally "spoke to me" and then I rated it pretty high thinking it was finally on its way to mellow and settle down - I'm not quite sure it's ever going to get there now: lots of rough and rugged tannins from the get-go here ... there is some dark fruit skins that seem to cause a gritty texture to the wine, think tannic-blueberries but there is also a ton of wood notes. Will this resolve? At an hour or more opened it's still having problems shaking those rugged tannins. Continuing this experiment further into the night I continued to sniff and sip ... I finally pulled the plug at the 3.5 hours mark ... tannins still had not mellowed but the dark / blue fruit was showing much better - I have one bottle left, for shits and giggles let's see what happens in a few more years.
