Cote 125

First night of blogging at Kitty G Bistro. It was only a matter of time before we started putting to paper all the ephemeral, free jazz commentary we've been making while drinking wine at the bistro. Appropriately, we poured a little out for Kitty G (the former proprietor).  Her spirit lives on, and she's looking down on us from her sweet bistro in the sky.

We started off with the Domaine de la Soleiade Vacqueyras 2009. After experiencing a little tightness, we decanted and enjoyed the blend of 55% grenache and 45% syrah. Mark thought the finish took a nose-dive and the alcohol was a little out of control (i.e., hot on the mid-palate).  I concurred.  After decanting, however, it opened up and was a good backdrop to our discussion of sherries.  Said discussion led to a tasting of three different sherries...a palomino fino, olosoro dolce, and a pedro ximejez dolce.  All were delicious and warrant their own blogs.

After the sherries we opened up the Cote 125 from Corbieres (2009).  Licorice, black slate...Mark calls it a real 'rough boy'.  Possibly great with lamb or a nice pork chop, but we had it with dark chocolate toffee peanuts.  Lots of dark fruit; blackberries and boysenberry sludge.  Some mud and slate.  Mark keeps going back to the black licorice.  Of course a wine like this wouldn't be complete without the subtle (or not-so) barnyard.  Mark qualifies his barnyard as baby-sheep poop, but he's waffling: it could actually be lamb.

Meanwhile, I have to get off to the Limelight for a band meeting. Shameless plug alert: the new cd is coming out and I'm on my way to discuss artwork.  Until next time...Mark, Kitty G, and I are wishing you great wines and even greater times with friends.  To the best!