Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Delaroche 2003 Pinot Noir - Bolla 2008 Valpolicella (France / Italy)

Tonight I was making a Panko encrusted Mahi-Mahi with saffron mustard glaze ... seems that I have been watching too much Food Network of late ... anyway, I thought I needed a light red wine for the occasion, Pinot Noir seemed the right way to go.  So off to the cellar I went and found an Anne Delaroche 2003 Pinot Noir from Corsica ("L'ile de Beaute"), popped the cork and poured the wine.  Not sure what is going on with me of late but I am finding all the corked wines in my collection at the same time.  The level of corkiness on the nose was subtle at first, and the wine itself was bland on the palate; I opened something else (see below) and revisited the wine an hour later - as I have long discovered a corked wine will get worse when exposed to air and this one was absolutely nasty, with a capital 'N' by the time the hour was up (ed. note: By the next morning it was downright foul).  So it was on to something else, a light, fruity and enjoyable Bolla 2008 Valpolicella - this one had the goods.  The nose was raspberry, cherry and cranberry cocktail, while the palate delivered a raspberry-cranberry kick with good acidity and a lovely lingering finish.  From bad to way better in two corks or less ... usually if I find three bad bottles in one night I defer to beer, thankfully it didn't get to that tonight because the pairing proved to be delicious.

1 comment:

Karl@MyWinePal said...

Too bad about the corked Pinot Noir. Hopefully more wineries will move to the screw cap closure. Was the cork a single piece of cork, or was it composite cork?