Diary of a Dilettante

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Friday, December 22

Wine of the Week

 

Holiday Edition

While I don't want to seem repetitive, I feel the need to recommend the latest vintage of a wine I profiled last year, as it is much improved and worthy of note. Additionally, it makes a great, reasonably priced holiday gift (okay, I'm a little late in the game to be recommending anything for the holidays) as well as a lovely fireside swill.

So here it is, the 2005 Orin Swift "Prisoner". I was skeptical, as last year (though still recommended) was a little flabby in the mouth and definitely fell apart sooner than it should have. But I tasted the new vintage and was happy to find a bit more tannin and acid to ground the wine with a nice backbone. Okay, I'm starting to sound like one of those wine snobs, so let me rephrase that. This year's "Prisoner" tastes more like adult wine and less like it should have come out of a juice box. It has less Zin in it, and the fruit is less ripe with more tempered extraction.

As usual, the bottle is very handsome, with the label featuring the Goya painting after which the blend is named. Available at many retailers for $32.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes, but does it last more than 4 hours before it turns tasteless?

Thursday, December 28, 2006 11:25:00 AM  
Blogger The Dabbler said...

the tannin and acid should allow this to oxidize at a much slower pace, if I have my chemistry correct. But you are the scientist, so tell me if that sounds accurate. As I said, it has more structure -- which loosely translates as 'it will live longer' both in bottle and once opened. But this is an assumption I'm making. I'll get a bottle, open it, and tell you how it tastes the next night if you do the same.

Thursday, December 28, 2006 9:16:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hmmm, I don't remember much covered about plant chemistry in O Chem. Mainly we just made stuff that smelled funny and fizzed a lot. I did come across this statement about tannins while poking around on the net: "Tannins may be employed medicinally in antidiarrheal, hemostatic, and antihemorrhoidal compounds". So if the extra tannins don't help hold up The Prisoner, they should prove handy with some other things!

Wednesday, January 03, 2007 8:14:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You can always use the bottle as a suppository! It's got that natural shape that fits in the butt so well.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007 4:45:00 PM  

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