Columbia Crest Horse Heaven Hills 2010 Red Wine, $11.99-$14.99, 86 points (Varietals are 80% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Syrah), is dark red in color with violet tones.
The aroma is very floral and carries its floral dominance to the flavor profile; I've had $40 bottles of wine like this, and this one has as much elegance as any of them, but florality beyond the nuanced subtleties are to me like Chamomile, Jasmine, and Hibiscus teas and have never had a strong appeal to me unless I'm sick. Take this as a caveat, and if I did have an affinity for those teas, I would probably score this wine nearer 88 points.
Other aromas are hints of leather and horse-hair (psychological? maybe).
A medium to medium-plus body has fair acidity and light tannin, but carries these with all that floral-flavor with some plum into a rather weak finish.
Les Chevaux is French for "The horses".
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I've found the H3 wines to be solid values, but can appreciate that a wine with aromas and flavors that only appeal to you when you're sick might be more difficult to enjoy :).
ReplyDeleteNick, now, now! This was not a bad wine, and I think I made that clear with an expression like "elegance" to prove it, but too much of a good thing, flowery wine is not my "cup of tea" :-)
DeleteLet me know if you try this and what you think. I should go to CT and see if others got that too.
Well strike me dead Nick, I visited a couple of wine blogs to get their impressions, and not a single word about violets, geraniums, lazy susans or any other floral notes at all.
DeleteI'll stick to my post, as I drank the whole bottle over two days and could never escape the flower garden.
Only one of the blogs gave it a score, and for all their ranting and raving as to how good this wine was, their score was only 88 points, and that's right about were I ended up.