Sunday night ... time to pick something that will end the weekend right. While the wife went for some Riesling (Between the Lines 2009 from Ontario - soon to be reviewed in a Newsletter), I decided to go off the Ontario reservation and see what happened to a Folie a Deux 2002 Manage a Trois ... I like this wine when it's young, it's fresh and fruity, a real quaffer. A blend of three grapes Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon (obviously where it gets its playful name from "blend of three"), you would hope something in that bottle would help it age. Unfortunately the Folie was just an Un (One) (not a deux (two)) this time, as the "blage" (joke) was on me. It just didn't taste right, not bad, just not good enough to be drinkable. So back to the drawing board (known as the wine cellar) I went to find something else.
Now I know that a lot of people make fun of Gallo these days, but how can you make fun of an empire that built itself on quality, when it wanted to make quality that is. I found a bottle of Gallo 2004 Sonoma Reseve Cabernet Sauvignon, and I must say I was really impressed. The nose was rich with raspberry-chocolate along with hints of spiced dried fruit. The palate was more dried than fresh, in the fruit department, with tart blackberry and chocolate also coming through. Vanilla soaked dried cherries were also prevalent amongst a mild woodiness. The only problem I could taste was the medium-short finish, cause I wanted the cocoa-raspberries to last a little longer.
