First, this is a well-made wine. I can see how it received 98 points. But I hated it.
I think that, as wines are made from grapes, and as grapes are a fruit, wines should taste like fruit. There is no fruit in this wine. But it is a fascinating cornucopia of aromas: Bitter coffee; bitter chocolate; blood; spam. Problem is, I don't like any of those things. That's why I don't like this wine.
California wine buyers must agree-I couldn't sell this profitably at auction, so we opened one to drink, instead of selling it. Man, was it painful. I could not drink it. I know Christophe is an artiste, but I wish he would allow his wines to taste like winegrapes.
My grade on this wine: The bouquet is A+ but the palate is D-. Not a very good use of $140.
Update 2 days later: The wine is marginally better--I can even sense a faint hint of some slight bit of purple fruit--but it is so bitter on the palate that it's not drinkable. This winemaker has made many supremely wonderful wines, but this one is a failure in the mouth, where the bouquet is so wonderful that perhaps this product's best use is as perfume, not for drinking?
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