A BORDEAUX STEAL

I’ve been on the lookout for something new in the wine world (or in this case, old) to
pique my interest, and luckily a very sultry red decided to show up at our door over here at 1565
King Ave. As many of you know, Bordeaux relies heavily upon terroir and traditional methods to
showcase their fruit and thus is heavily affected by vintage variation. Roger rightfully sang the
praises of the 2010 vintage and it’s fantastic quality (there hasn’t been a very good year since),
but today we are going to go a little further back to when I was barely a 16 year old boy and
wine was nothing more than something I had to take a sip of at church on Sundays. And God,
that stuff was BAD. (No pun intended.) That brings us to the 2005 Chateau Fourcas Hosten
Bordeaux.
Some have argued that 2005 was the best vintage of the 2000’s thus far with its fantastic
climate conditions producing expressive wines full of fruit, tannin, and acidity. So naturally we
were pretty excited to open this one up and see how the wine was doing over a decade later.
The 2005 Fourcas Hosten has matured nicely with the tannin and acidity falling into perfect
place. The wine has the color of a dark red velvet curtain, concentrated aromas of smoke, earth,
and ripe berry, and a silky mouthfeel. The wine hails from the Medoc region and slightly favors
Cabernet in the blend… 53% with the rest of the blend going to Merlot. It is medium bodied and
I believe will prove to be versatile with a wide variety of foods from grilled meats to aged
cheeses. Or perhaps some Roquefort? You decide.
The juice just arrived here in Ohio from another market not up on its wine game, and the
distributor decided to lower the price to get some movement on the product. At release the wine
was going for $49.99, but has just gone down to $29.99 per bottle, which is a steal. It comes in
12 packs so the price for the case with the 10% discount comes to $323.90 plus tax. Also, last
but not least, it should be noted that our very own Joshua Bell guessed region AND vintage
correctly on this wine when blind tasting! Lucky or brilliant? I have not decided yet.