On The Wine Front

I want to tell you about a scrappy little wine. A wine that coulda been a contender. A wine that coulda been something. But, no. What did it get? A one-way ticket to palooka-ville.

The wine in question playing the Terry Malloy character from On The Waterfront is Abbaye de Saint-Ferme from Bordeaux. Its sad-but-true story started a few weeks ago when I had two dozen inexpensive Bordeaux wines in my wine tasting parlor, otherwise known as my kitchen. As I was taking the bags off the wine bottles after my blind tasting and recording their names, I noticed that this wine was from the 2004 vintage. “Sorry, kid, this ain’t your night. This tasting was supposed to be only for 2005 Bordeaux wines.”

For drama’s sake, I’d like to say this $10 wine, which was mistakenly put in with the 2005s, came out of nowhere to knock out all the others in the first round but lost on a technicality. But this ain’t Hollywood. It was, however, quite good, definitely impressive and well made. A Rocky Balboa of a wine that almost beat Apollo Creed.

2004 Abbaye de Saint-Ferme,
Les Vignes du Soir, Bordeaux, France

• $10

• Two Thumbs Up

• Lots of ripe berry fruit aromas with a touch of smoke and earthiness. Nicely balanced flavors of black berry, plum, blueberry and a light dash of oak. Enjoyable but not simple.

(Wines are rated on a scale ranging up from thumbs down, one thumb mostly up, one thumb up, two thumbs up, two thumbs way up and Golden Thumb Award. Prices are suggested retail prices as provided by the winery, one of its agents, a local distributor or retailer.)

Originally published Jan. 15, 2009 in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Open That Bottle Night Number 10

This year Open That Bottle Night falls on Feb. 28. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the annual holiday dedicated to rescuing dying wines or popping the cork on those “special” bottles. The celebration was conceived by Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, wine columnists for The Wall Street Journal, and I’ve always supported the spirit with which the holiday was conceived.

Why I bring this up is that I want to hear about your bottle opening stories. I can’t promise you money, fame or immortality, but I might use it for an article in The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Send your letter to gil.kulers@winekulers.com with the name of your wine and why it’s so darn special. I’ll be looking for stories that capture the spiritual essence of OTBN.

The spiritual essence of OTBN? That is definitely an unknown quantity. It doesn’t necessarily mean the oldest bottle or the most expensive bottle, but it might. As long as you feel you’re opening it for the “right” reasons, you are heading in the right direction.

Deadline for submissions is Feb. 17.