Noswaith dda, croeso i BWR. Mae'n dda gen i gwrdd â chi! Welcome to the world of Welsh wineblogging. May vowels be damned. I'm excited to write about... wait a second, this wine is from California and just has a Welsh name and theme. Mae'n ddrwg gennyf...My first exposure to anything Welsh (aside from whatever Cymry blood flows through my veins) was in the form of Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, about the heroic ascent of a pig-keeper. (Granted, the pig was magical, and there were villains and monsters and other neat things, not the least of which was the bard Fflewddur Fflam, whose name always caused me regret during Scrabble games.) I chose to read some of the original source material in the form of the dense Mabinogion legends. There I was introduced to a lot of obscure mythology that hasn't really made it into English literature, song, or popular culture. And one of those figures was Rhiannon, a queen or a goddess that might be a reflection of the earlier Gaulish horse goddess Epona, which is why she's depicted as a fetching copper-maned hybrid on the wine label.
Speaking of which, let's get our heads out of the 11th century and talk about the wine.
2010 Rhiannon Red WineCalifornia
Proprietary blend of Syrah, Zinfandel and Barbera
$15, 13.5% abv.
15,000 cases made
This is made by the Rutherford Wine Company, whose products I've reviewed recently. It's a ripe and fruity red blend with a lot of red cherry elements and a bright, clear mouthfeel. Low acidity and medium tannins, with an aftertaste of blackberries and black cherries. It's an interesting blend of grapes, and while I think that the Zinfandel carries most of the tune, the supporting players are definitely present.
I find it to be a fruity and pleasant afternoon sipper, good with weekend lunch fare and also one of those wines that's not going to be too aggressive for those just getting into red wines. It's a good example of the great power wine has: fruit flavors without sweetness, which is something so dearly lacking in American beverages. So throw a few burgers on the grill, maybe braise a few leeks in honor of the Welsh, pop the cork on this darling and shout a cheerful Iechyd da!
Note: This wine was received as a sample.
6 comments:
Benito,
My understanding is that, like many of the proprietary reds, Rhiannon contains residual sugar. I have not tasted the one you write about, so I can't say that I know for sure--it's what I've been told.
Incidentally, if you want to read the complete text of your present blog entry, go here: http://winetoday.info/
The agregators are thieves, plain and simple.
Thomas,
It's got a slightly sweet edge to it but it's not crazy like some that are out there. I've found such wines to be real crowd pleasers at family functions where the participants aren't regular wine drinkers.
As for the aggregators, there's tons of them out there. Not really much I can do about it, so I just ignore it and continue on my own ethical path.
Cheers,
Ben
Benito,
Those of us who are paid to write have a more, shall we say, strident view of copyright theft...
Thomas,
It's not that I don't care, and I used to teach copyright compliance classes. I work in printing and it's a major issue for us. But I don't have the time or resources to track down anonymous aggregators, their ISPs, etc. On top of that are the sites in countries that don't enforce the Berne Convention. Early on I used to hunt down stolen posts and fight to get them removed, but I was never successful and just got frustrated.
It is annoying, but for my own sanity I have had to learn to ignore it. I can try to wage a war against a server sitting in a closet in Russia that's littering my work with ads for Caribbean online gambling sites or I can focus my energies elsewhere.
Cheers,
Ben
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