Saturday, December 24, 2016

Issue L: Menage A Trois Midnight Edition

Menage A Trois Midnight [Blend]


Somewhat of a milestone in a couple respects here. This is the 50th entry on the HSC blog, itself now about 3 years strong and this is one of the few wines that I’ve found out of state and wasn’t available in Utah at the time I bought it (shhhh), though I expect by the time this is posted, it will be. In many ways, it is probably fitting that a variation of the wine I buy the most (Menaga A Trois, barely edging out Dark Horse), of a type I buy the most (blend), from the region I buy from the most (California), should be the 50th entry. Perhaps I make too much of this, but I find it to be a kind of cool touch.

Often a wine will introduce a darker version, which we anticipate to be a similar, but a lot more robust blend, but in actuality, will turn out to be nearly undrinkable (looking at you in particular, Apothic – as an aside, I guess another sort of milestone is me both referencing and calling out other wines in the context of an entry for a different wine – ok, I’ll stop now), but here, the blend is exactly right. This is a deeper, much richer, much more vivid and weighty version of the much beloved Menage A Trois. In many ways, this is the ultimate, as it is different, but equal in terms of quality.

The blend itself, Merlot, Cab, Petite Syrah and Petite Verdot (should be Menage a Quatre, technically and if this stops being a limited edition wine, perhaps they’ll switch the name to that, though the inverse of the regular label works very nicely with the “midnight” motif), works very well together. A ton of rich, heavy varietals in the Syrah and Cabs, as well as the usual concentrated punch from the Verdot, also contributes nicely to the darkness of the actual wine. Darker fruit is in heavy abundance here, so blackberries, dark plums and a touch of currant, yet the presence of Merlot keeps things from getting too clunky. Despite the largely astringent nature of the various grapes here, this mellows out quickly and becomes both smooth and flavorful, with a very nice mouth heft to it, another similarity it shares with the Original MAT blend.

A wine this good, like the Original, particularly at the very soft price point, can’t be anything but a Standard, so this one shares that same facet with the Original. Both of these are among the strongest offerings this list has to offer and it wouldn’t be the worst idea to get a bottle of each to compare…

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