Mile High's Wine of the Week: May 17th
Chateau Plaisance Bordeaux 2006
Regular Price: $27.99
Sale Price: $15.99
Sale End: 5/20/2012
When’s the last time you had a great aged Bordeaux? If the answer is anything other than, “Why I just had one last night” then you owe it to yourself to come by the shop and grab a few bottles of the 2006 Chateau Plaisance. This beautiful red is such a departure from all of the overwhelmingly fruity wines that are so prevalent in the market today. The nose is a study in aromatic character as it displays deep and brooding notes of cocoa nibs, cigar box, and baked plums. The palate is just begging for food with nice fresh acidity and beautifully integrated tannins to compliment a core of ripe black currants and dusty red cherries. We’re proud to be able to offer this solid bottle at such a reasonable price this weekend. We hope that you will take this opportunity to reacquaint yourself with the kind of depth and style that nicely aged Bordeaux can bring to the dinner table. Please pass by the shop tonight to taste the Chateau Plaisance for free. You’ll be glad you did!On to the Tasting Notes:
There’s a lot to be said for a nice simple fruity wine on a warm spring evening. I do my fare share of sipping simple reds out on the back deck after work like so many of you do. But then there are other times when I’m putting a great meal together and I really want to drink a wine that will have some serious depth and character. This week’s special, Chateau Plaisance, is just the sort of wine that I love to serve when I’m making great food. It is just now hitting its evolutionary peak, displaying a healthy core of fruit that is framed by fine grained tannins and mouthwatering acidity. It is just perfect for pairing with a wide range of rustic, full flavored dishes.
I opened a bottle of Chateau Plaisance late in the afternoon and poured myself a nice large tasting glass of it so that it could breathe for a while. It was definitely the sort of wine that needed to be decanted since it was initially rather closed and tannic. After about an hour and a half it started to really open up on the nose and become more generous on the palate. I got a whole host of classic Bordeaux aromas on the nose ranging from cocoa to tobacco and cedar to creosote to freshly baked pie crust and fennel. It seemed to keep going on and on as new aromas presented themselves and then slowly fell into the background. The cool part was that the majority of those scents were non-fruit oriented and that just made it even more interesting. The first sip was somewhat bracing and quickly lead me to the conclusion that decanting would be virtually mandatory. When I went back in for a second sip I noticed that the entry was focused and powerful. There were flavors of black currants, cherries, raspberry preserves, and plums up front. Then I swallowed and all the fruit faded giving way to notes of underbrush, crushed granite, bittersweet chocolate, and just a touch of vanilla. It was surprisingly complete for a Bordeaux at such a modest price. It really seemed to be hitting its stride in terms of bottle age too. The tannins were clear and precise and the fruit had faded enough to allow quite a lot of secondary flavor to come through. It struck me as being the sort of wine that should probably be consumed over the next year or so since there appeared to be some risk of the fruit falling too far into the background. That said, it made my mouth water and my heart yearn for a bowl of slow simmered beef stew.Food Pairing:
The 2006 Chateau Plaisance is not a cocktail wine. Let’s be totally clear about that. It needs to be served with a nice hearty meal to be properly enjoyed. So I suggest a great, made from scratch, beef and barley stew. The humble earthy flavors of the softened root vegetables and braised beef will make a perfect companion for the wine’s mouthwatering acidity and powerful structure. Just be sure to give it a minimum of an hour in a decanter before service to allow it a chance to fully wake up from its long rest in the bottle.
You MUST mention this special or print it out to receive the price on the above wine.
This price expires 5/20/2012 at 6pm and is limited to in-store quantities.
No rain checks given. Call (303) 936-0272 to reserve bottles with a credit card.