There is an episode of Star Trek TNG where Data reads a poem about his cat, Ode to Spot. I watched it as a kid but had completely forgotten about it till last night. The episode came on and when Data began reading his poetry it really brought me back. The first line:
Felis Cattus, is your taxonomic nomenclature,
an endothermic quadruped carnivorous by nature?
If you haven’t read the whole thing, it’s worth checking out here. Data knows how to jam. Speaking of jam, lets talk wine. Red wine. Bordeaux red wine. Ok so Bordeaux is not jammy, but I couldn’t hold back from using that sweet transitional word play. I got the Dourth Grande Cuvée 2014; it’s a red Bordeaux from the right bank, so primarily Merlot with some Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot.
Nerd Alert: Cuvée seems like a fancy word, it even has that accented e. Must be fancy wine? Not always the case, adding the word Cuvée to a wine bottle is not regulated. It usually means something along the lines of a special blend, but it’s not always anything special. Trust the word if it comes from a vineyard that also produces lower tier wine, because then it’s usually special. Or at least more special than their low tier.
The wine is a deep purple and looks thick in the glass with an aroma of red fruit, vanilla, oak, and earth. You taste the fresh fruit up front with some acid and oak at the end, everything is well balanced. The body is a little thin for my taste, I wanted it to be a little heavier feeling. It has a nice grippy finish with medium high tannin. If Data wrote a poem for this wine it might go:
To assimilate the fermentate of vitas vinifera,
be cognizant the variation from unique terroir.
Winemaker: Dourthe
Wine: La Grande Cuvée
Year: 2014
Region: Bordeaux
Grape: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot
Price: $15
Rating: 7/10