it has been a long week since last Wednesday. i’m decidely in some kind of prolonged funk that was totally unfazed by our weekend catch-up with old friends and family in Richmond. i’ve been so funked i couldn’t even write about the weekend, which i’d sincerely planned on doing. my brain just literally locked up and couldn’t think of a single thing to say about a weekend i’d looked forward to for weeks. i mean, just broken.
so now, back to the grind and for real at this point, i cannot even believe it is not the weekend yet. i also can’t believe that Miss Girl has her first homework. homework, y’all! i mean, it’s just practice stuff and not mandatory, but it was so fun to come home and help her work out a few math problems and patterns . . . over a glass of wine, of course. then i had to wonder after how many glasses of wine do i cease to be proficient at pre-K math? but the occasionally-present adult in me promptly decided not to try and find out. at least not on a Wednesday.
instead, i did a little studying, myself, reading up on the bottle (from the box) that i’d cracked open: the Jonathan Maltus Garagiste.
my first question was what kind of wine is this? self-described as a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvingnon with flavors of black cherries, damsons (okaaaay), dark chocolate and oak spice, the label also alludes to its 90s roots (of which i wholeheartedly approve).
so, of course, my second question was what the hell is a garagiste? well, TYVM Wikipedia. during the mid-90s, the garagistes were a group of Bordeaux winemakers, who developed wines “in reaction to” the traditional style of Bordeaux wines. radicals. i love it. this apparently meant a suite of reds that were bigger, bolder, fruitier wines, often with sometimes a higher alcohol content. all sounding good so far. honestly, though, i couldn’t pick a traditional Bordeaux out of a lineup to save my life, so i couldn’t tell you if this particular one holds true to the garagiste style and vision or not.
what i can say is that . . . well, if you read any of these posts, you have probably realized there’s nary a glass of wine i’d throw out of my kitchen. this one’s no different. the black cherry is definitely dominant for me in this medium-bodied blend. and as it’s sat uncorked for the past couple hours, the flavors are definitely coming out more from what did seem, at first, a little flat. definitely one to decante (or, i’m reading, save another 6 months+) and totally worth a little wait. delish with my single girl dinner of crackers and Gouda, for sure. and while not at the tippy-top on my list of recent reds, i’m definitely enjoying my time with it tonight.
cheers!