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| Coho Red Blend |
Some people feel intimidated by wine that’s over the thirty dollar mark. Just as well, you obviously know that other people are somewhat unflinching in their pursuit of the “expensive.” Even if you’re purchasing one bottle, or levying an entire case for your daily pleasure, you have to buy according to your own margins. Don’t get me wrong, I receive a lot of free wine on occasion and I do happen to engage in a fair amount of scheduled tastings, but there’s nothing like having full access to one, fairly artisanal product. After all, a case can get you through your per diem needs, that is, for dinner, or after hard work-a-days, but if you really want to pursue the memorable, buy within a certain parameter.
You know, I actually enjoyed something well enough that I decided to dedicate a single post to it. However, when I say “Coho” does it bring-on visions of incarnadine fish, leaping gratuitously through brackish waters, fanning their airborne bodies with lips agape? Probably not, but you can have every comfort in knowing there’s no fishy taste to this atypical Claret blend made in California. What’s more interesting, is this Cab, Merlot, Petit Verdot blend that stands as an unwavering tribute to the ecology that gargantuan producers have ignored for some time. The namesake is based on the most recognizable, yet somewhat pink, inhabitants of the sea and neighboring watersheds; which by right, naturally invokes the practice of sustainable agriculture utilized by the winemakers. Already recognized by the wine press (not in the figurative sense) and amongst those who dabble in the trade, Coho has the right idea in their mind despite those who feel they’re undecidedly forced into the “goody-goody” system of guru-style marketing where human brains appear more “green” than any of the thumbs they use to plant their own vines.
But what about taste? Yes there’s plenty of that to go around, but before you start thinking about how life-changing it’s going to be after it’s poured into your wineglass, there’s a catch...there’s only about 2400 cases produced. There’s not enough for everybody, but if you had your chance like I did, you have to realize something...It’s truly finessed. Rhone fanatics and pugnacious Bordeaux nuts are in for a surprise when they find the austerity in the bottle. It needs about fifteen minutes to aerate, but the purity of the currant fruit, mineral and wildflower notes flow onto the back-palate with symphonic proclivity. Wow, my words might mean a mouthful, but the wine sure doesn’t act with it. What’s remarkable is the long, traceable finish that does not come off in gobs, but finishes with a temperate manifold of dark fruit liqueur. For around forty-something bucks, the sprinkling of tannins on my gums made me giggle like a nymph.
They’ve been around since 2002, and I can’t wait to see what their portfolio has in store for me, but I am very willing to buy another bottle of their “Headwaters” entry any time in the next month or two. I could certainly go back to a bottle that’s rated '95 by Wine Spectator for the 2007, '88 for the 2008 but I did not even remember the well-deserved scores until now. Did it really matter? Maybe not, but there’s a whole lot of interested parties who feel that a '98 is worth somewhere around one-hundred bucks, or substantially more. They may be right, but as usual, my money is better spent on the one thing I can truly enjoy, rather than 12 bottles I might forget half of the time. With as many wines for the taking, or buying, I have always been remorseful about the wine I’ve gone fishing for, but could not catch in the end.
It all makes me wonder who among us casts the hook and grasps the bait...
Brian Maniotis
Westchester Wine Warehouse Team
Visit us @: westchesterwine.com
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