Feb

Power Couple

Jacob Gaffney in Red Wines, Pinot Noir, Shiraz/Syrah, Zinfandel Meditrina Sokol Blosser, Oregon

Just thought we’d play along with yesterday’s blackout with today’s title.

But the title is actually topical to today’s review. (Health news tomorrow, we’re a day behind, see yesterday’s post.) See, with normal blends, the objective is to smooth the wine down. To take some fire out it’s belly, if you will, and place a cool rag on its forehead.

In the Old World, for example, the stronger grape would make up the lion’s share of the wine — 90 percent Tempranillo, 10 percent Cabernet Sauvignon — but the Meditrina Sokol Blosser Non-Vintage is primarily a light, elegant Pinot Noir from Oregon (!) that has been blended with Syrah and Zinfandel to give it somme extra OOMPH!

First thing though, the (!) at the end of ‘Oregon’ up there is an indication of InterWined’s boundless surprise to find a decent bottle of wine from the excellent Pinot Noir winemaking region in the United States sitting on a wine shop shelf in England. In this case, the bottle was purchased for £13 from Zelas (link on the right) in North London.

Now, back to the OOMPH! The wine is medium in body, thanks to the two minders put at the entrance of this Pinot Noir’s door. The aroma heaves with some charcoal and mint. The wine is super ripe and berry, berry, berry…really a combination of raspberry (Pinot Noir) and blackberry (Zinfandel), that’s end surprisingly dry. By using the Syrah and Zinfandel wisely, the winemakers have really created a wine with some added juice. The finish is pleasing and nice, but since the wine crosses the £10 threshold set by InterWined.com for a decent bottle of wine…the wine cannot be rated and, therefore, not officially recommended.

So no points. We can’t even think of a ’special’ reason to include a rating, an extenuating circumstance, but know this: if the Meditrina sold for £10, the rating would be in the 90s…and maybe really up there.

Like what you've read? Why not subscribe to InterWined.com and get the lastest posts delivered fresh to your feeder.

Tasting Notes