Sunday, September 27, 2009

J. Bookwalter Foreshadow Cabernet

J. Bookwalter
Foreshadow
Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Syrah
Columbia Valley
Richland, Washington, USA
2006
14.8%
$23.89 -- COSTCO, Austin, TX

Color: Medium to dark garnet
Nose: Burned fruit pie
Body: Full
Front: French fruit soup, espresso
Middle: Vanilla, soft tannins, mesquite
Back: Cinnamon, thyme
Burns clean?: Yes, mostly
Cap: Cork

A lush wine, for a lush evening, with bats flying around and a steak on the grill; avocadoes and tomatoes resting lazily on romaine and walnut oil and aged balsamic. I've been picky about the Washington wines I've been drinking, and it's paying off bigtime.

This is a whopper of a wine in all ways, with so many flavor things happening that I can't quite figure it out (as is no doubt evident from the lame-ass descriptions above). It doesn't have a clear structure, but like some good Australian shirazes with that trait, it doesn't suffer from it much. Warning: if you have something else to focus on tonight, don't start into this Realist novel of a wine!

Speaking of caveats, this wine usually goes for closer to $40, so I've tagged it accordingly. Long live CostCo.