A first taste of Bull's Blood

In my early days of learning about wine, I used to frequent Trader Joe's wine shop at Union Square. I was initially wowed by the low price tags on most of their selections. (Although looking back, I realized I would have purchased better quality of wines by spending not much more at either Astor Wines or Wine Warehouse). It was at Trader Joe's where I picked up this bottle of 2003 Egervin Egri Bikavér which I have much forgotten until recently.

The Egri Bikavér(Bull's Blood of Eger) is Hungary's most famous red wine. It is produced in the wine region around the town of Eger. Egri Bikavér has always been a wine of the field blends with Kadarka or Kékfrankos as the anchoring varietal. However, since 1997, straighter DHC(Districtus Hungariucus Controllatus) regulation was put in place stating that Egri Bikavér must contain at least three of the following varieties:

Kadarka, Kékfrankos(Blaufränkisch), Kékoportó(Blauer Portugieser), Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Menoire (known as Kékmedoc, or Médoc Noir before), Pinot Noir, Syrah, and the modern Austrian hybrids, Blauburger and Zweigelt.

In 2004, Egri Bikavér Superior (a higher cuvée) was also introduced. In this case, 4 out of the 11 recommanded varieties must be included. Currently, there are more than 40 producers in Hungary bottling Egri Bikavér. Unfortunately, retail exposure of this wine is still very limited in the U.S.

2003 Egervin Egri Bikavér is a blend of Kékfrankos, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zweigelt. It comes with a real cork and carries a 12.9% ABV. At 2006, It was $5.99 at Trader Joe's. Importer: Monsieur Henri Wine Co., New Orleans.

Another interesting fact about this bottle worth noting. It actually comes with the following instruction at the back label: "To appreciate Egri Bikavér at the best, open at least one hour before drinking and serve at room temperature". According to Egervin's website, room temperature means 16-18°C.

Tasting notes:

Color: Clear Ruby.

Nose: Yielding nothing upon opening. After 1 hour (as per instruction), aroma of cherry pie started to emerge. Notes of oak peeks out as wine opens more. There is also a hint of green leaves in the background.

Palate: Slightly unbalanced. Not much fruit. Flavor of tart or unriped cherry. Not much structure or tannins. It is actually fairly one dimensional.

Body: Light (lighter than most Beaujolais).

Finish: Medium at best. Notes of cherry fruit but not much else. As wine warms, the finish turns a bit alcoholic.

Comments:

Clearly this bottle is not the best example of the best known wine from Hungary. Egri Bikavé can be a fun wine. For example, Bert at Wineterroirs gave a thumbs-up to a 2003 St Andrea Egri Bikaver Superior here. Unfortunately, Bert's example is not imported to the U.S. I must re-taste Egri Bikavé from other producers in the future to give this wine a better evaluation.

If you can recommend a good Egri Bikavé, please let me know.

WBW #42: Round Up

Andrew Barrow wasted no time in posting the round-up of WBW #42.

Participation of Wine Blogging Wednesday, started by Lenn Thompson has seen linear growth since its inception. For this installment, 54 wine bloggers from around the world have accepted the challange.

From reading all the entries, I am amazed how talented our fellow wine bloggers are. The titles are so creative. You know, everybody can describe a wine, but to painting a visual picture in just seven word requires a lot of thinking. Compare to the others, my description is just plain lousy! Oh well! I wish there will be more mind-tweaking exercises like this for the wine blogging community in the future.

WBW #42: An Italian Red in Just Seven Words

The 42nd installment of Wine Blogging Wednesday is hosted by Andrew Barrow of Spitton. His challenge for us is to describe an Italian red wine in JUST SEVEN WORDS.

Well, I have to admit this exercise is really fun but also very difficult, especially for folks like myself whose first language is not even English. Fortunately, Super Bowl XLII bailed me out in helping me to find the appropriate description for the Sicilian red I tasted. (It is a coincidence that this is also the 42nd installment of WBW)

The wine : 2005 Planeta Cerasuolo di Vittoria

The description : The Patriots' Collapse in Super Bowl XLII

I have to apologize here that my phrase will not make any sense to folks who are not familiar with American football or NFL. So, I provide a a little background on Super Bowl XLII and why I choose this phrase to describe the 2005 Cerasuolo di Vittoria:

The New England Patriots and the New York Giants played on Feb 3rd, 2008 for the 42nd championship game of National Football League (NFL). The game is called Super Bowl XLII. The Patriots had touted an explosive offense and a strong defense throughout the entire football season. They had won every single game coming to the Super Bowl with an 18-0 record. However, during the game of Super Bowl, their offensive performance did not exhibit the expected explosiveness. Instead, it was actually quite light weight and one dimensional throughout. Their defense also fell flat and fizzled in strength. Ultimately, the Patriots collapased and lost to the Giants by a score of 14-17 thereby falling short in finish; abruptly ending a dream of 'the perfect season'.

If my short summary of Super Bowl XLII is confusing, NFL.COM provides a much better coverage on this event.

Now to the wine, Cerasuolo di Vittoria is produced by the Planeta family in Sicily. They have a very nice website in English. This wine is composed of two indigenous varieties: 60% Nero d’Avola and 40% Frappato. All the grapes of this wine are harvested from the Dorilli vineyard.

This wine has ABV of 13.5% and I paid $19 for it. (Sadly, with the weak US/Euro exchange rate, the 2006 vintage is selling for $22 - $25).

Tasting notes:

Nose: Explosive aroma of raspberry.
[ Analogy: the initial showing of the Patriots’ explosive appearance ]

Color: Clear ruby.

Palate: Fairly one dimensional with flavor of mostly strawberry and raspberry. Very fruit forward with notes of pepper. Good acidity but not particularly mouth coating.
[ Analogy: appearance of the Patriots’ one dimensional performance during the game ]

Body: Light to medium
[ Analogy: Patriots showing up as a light weight team ]

Finish: Mostly red fruits. Clean but short finish.
[ Analogy: abrupt finish to the Patriot’s season, falling short of expectation ]

Comments:
Planeta Cerasuolo di Vittoria reminds me of a mid-level Beaujolais. It is actually a good food wine to pair with for light fares such as roasted chicken or roast beef sandwich. However, for $20+, the QPR value on this wine is just barely ok.

Wow! the Giants won the Super Bowl!

February 3, 2008 would go down in history as one of the biggest upset in NFL history. The New York Giants stunned the heavy favorite, the New England Patriots, in Glendale Arizona to capture the title of the Super Bowl XLII Champion.

So many historic moments were made on that day, but the following are the most notable:

- NY Giants became the FIRST team to win 11 consecutive games on the road.

- FIRST Super Bowl with 4 lead changes between the 2 teams played.

- FIRST time in NFL history for two brothers (Peyton and Eli Manning) to win back to back Super Bowl titles and MVP titles.

- FIRST time in NFL history where a father-son combination to win Super Bowl championships with the same team in the same capacity of linebacker and long snapper. (Steve DeOssie - XXV, Zak DeOssie - XLII).

- FIRST time in in NFL history for a team (Patriots) winning all 16 regular season games and all the playoff games ONLY to lose in the Super Bowl.

Photo: New York Giants linebacker Zak DeOssie held up a newspaper after the Giants beat the New England Patriots 17-14 in the Super Bowl XLII football game on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) ( David J. Phillip )