Apothic Red [Blend]
After mining through all the sections by countries of the
world at my most frequented wine store, I hit on the blend area. Blends can be an excellent way to obtain value
wines (the vast majority are under $10, even without being on SPA), if you’re
not tied into wanting one particular grape. While I think single grape wines
certainly have their place, I’m unabashedly a big fan of blends and no trip to an
actual wine store is complete without a trip to that aisle.
This is a good case in point where it tempers the heaviness
of Zinfandel and the boldness of Cabernet Sauvignon with Syrah and Merlot,
which loses none of the boldness and retains enough of a heavy mouth feel to
really appeal to my wife. The dominant flavor here is deep, dark, rich cherry, no
matter what else you may read and it can be very intense. To my mind, while the
flavor varies, both it and the mouth feel are right up tight against the border
of too much for me…yet it never quite makes it over and this is a well-crafted
and skillfully done wine.
This is one I have also recommended a lot as it has a good
tinge of sweetness, but is not overboard and several friends have picked up
bottles. All of them have enjoyed it, one so much that he now keeps it on hand,
which I will sometimes do as well. It is very accessible overall, as long as
one can handle the prominence and heaviness of this wine and should go well
with a variety of foods. Some of them will take it straight from the bottle,
which is possible, but this really does better with about a 15 – 20 minute sit
and is one of the few that I like closer to room temperature than the usual
very slight chill.
For $14 a bottle off-SPA, I usually will wait until it goes
on SPA and then pick up a few bottles. It is a very good compromise wine as my wife enjoys it thoroughly (far and away her favorite) and while I’m not quite as enthralled with it, I do
find it to be a very worthy addition to the list and to drink, of course. I
would call this one SPA Only, for the simple fact that I probably wouldn’t
consider it off-SPA.
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