A blog about tasting wine, from someone who has tasted that wine. Or at least looked at it. Or copied a picture of it from the internet.
Or got someone else to.
What we have here is one of my favourite wines yet. I can't explain why it stands out so much - it has more than one aspect in its flavour, some intrigue, that I've not quite tasted in any other wine. OK so it costs only a fraction short of £20 a bottle for this vintage, and I know what you're going to say - I could get four bottles of Black Tower's finest red for the same price. Surely only a madman would suggest that a single bottle of wine, which will only get you quite pissed, could possibly be as good as four bottles of wine, each of which will get you quite pissed. Or, if you drank them all in one go, hospitalised? I agree, it's hard to make the argument. But I have to.
Firstly, let's acknowledge that quality of wine affects your hangover. Drinking four bottles of Black Tower won't give you a four times worse hangover than drinking one decent bottle of wine, it'll be about nineteen times worse. You'll be convinced Apocalypse Now is reality, silently murmuring 'the horror, the horror' while images of the black tower of Mordor circle in your crumpled waterless brain. Secondly, if you've ever had wine that's impossible to drink without making the face of a dying antelope, you'll probably not want to consume utter shite anyway - afterall, Tenants Super is even cheaper, but for some reason twenty cans of that was out of the question before we started. Finally, until you've drunk what I think is the better one, you'll not be able to call me a pompous tosser for thinking it's so amazing. Surely £20 isn't too high a price to pay to be able to insult me to my face when you realise I'm utterly wrong?
Well, if that's not persuaded you, how about this picture of a nice chap in the cellar of Chateau Musar. Imagine, you could be drinking with him - that'd be really special.
I'm starting to rather like McGuigan as a producer. The last McGuigan was one of the best value wines I've had, and this is in the same league. It's nowhere near as exciting and different as the red version, but it's still punching above its price and proving that some mass produced wine can be pretty good. Try the Black Label Shiraz first though, unless merlot is your preferred red tipple - this is good but the other is a proper surprise for something well under £10, and mixes a treat with spicy asian food, something few reds achieve. In fact I'm wondering if I should've just reviewed that one again. Balls.
