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.