Saturday, October 22, 2016

Issue XLVIII: Chateau Giscours Petite Sirene Edition

Chateau Giscours Petite Sirene [Blend]


As I more fully populate the HSC column with entries for the various wines on the list, I note a lack of the white spaces in my Excel file that denotes which are still awaiting entries for the blog. Some of the names on that list won’t ever be getting HSC articles, unless I change the dollar criteria, as several are over $20/bottle and seemingly never go on SPA. Some I can no longer find, meaning those winds are now lost to time and live on only in memory. It seems ill-fitting to memorialize them in a way promoting their value and goodness when most of the populace will find it difficult at best to experience it themselves. No, we once more into the fray to find every increasing names for the list and where else to turn but dear old beloved France, where it all started, more or less, for the HSC and where most of the 40s for the HSC have been spent.

Here we have a relative newcomer to the shelves in that section - as a side note, Petite Sirene is the French translation of “Little Mermaid” - though here, it is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, done in the Bordeaux style, one of my historical favorites. Prior to the HSC, I probably consumed more of that than any other type and maybe more than the other types combined. With this as a blend, there is a very nice amalgamation of the bold and assertive taste of the Cab, tempered with the more fruity, bouncy and lighter aspect of the Merlot. There is little to no astringency here, yet the balance is fantastic on all fronts, no heavy mouth feel, yet it is solid enough to be just the right amount of heft. Truly remarkable job mixing these and with the heavy dose of Cab, could probably take being stored for a bit.

This immediately catapulted to one of my favorite wines and if you’re not familiar with French wines and want a safe entry point for not a lot of money, this is a very good bet as it shows at once both the very strong points of that world, the Bordeaux style and what blends can be capable of. With this kind of a value, even though this is on the higher side of the price point for this list, this really couldn’t be anything other than a Standard.