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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

2008 Shady Lane Cellars Blue Franc (Blaufrankish)

This wine goes for $22 through the winery. We tried this comped bottle as part of the Tweet and Taste Michigan - search #ttmi on Twitter and check out all the tweets! During the Tweet and Taste I was not on my A game due to an array of reasons, so by all means check that out, but you may be better off ignoring the comments from @thewineauxs.

On first pour I got barnyard, but now I think it's more the precursor to barnyard, which is of course, bacon. Bacon, mint, basil, all quite mellow.

Very smooth. Black cherry, blueberry, soft tannins, soft acid, soft everything really. I can see this working with a bit of a chill on it, but it's going nicely at cellar temp. I hate to even suggest bastardizing a good bottle, but this would be perfect for warming up and mulling some spices...don't do it, but I think it would work, but really, don't do it. The balance is almost too good on this...everything falls right into place. The sort of wine I describe as dangerous because it's so easy drinking and so seemingly "simple" that you don't even think about what a pain in the ass it must be to get a wine so perfectly integrated.

Cola hits me right away on the finish. As do cherries. Cherry cola? I suppose so.

Recently I was asked for a good red wine that's not sweet, but not too big or harsh. This is it. This is probably the finest red wine of that style I can think of. Exceptionally drinkable, quite mellow, with some nice subtleties.

Though this review was not done blind and the bottle was comped, my opinion has not been consciously swayed.

Score: 90* *not blind

1 comment:

Adam Satchwell said...

Glad you could join us for Tweet & Taste and I appreciate your comments on this wine. I'm finding many of my customers view this wine in exactly the same fashion as you do, "Exceptionally drinkable". I would say that is a good thing, a very good thing. Thanks again!

Adam Satchwell
Shady Lane Cellars