Monday, December 7, 2009

TN: Chateau Nenine 2006 Cotes de Bordeaux

The Chateau Nenine 2006 Cotes de Bordeaux is a blend of 40% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. It's also inexpensive and available at Trader Joe's.

It's not terrible, but not interesting, either. The nose is tight, with only Bretty band-aid and some metallic cherry aromas. I don't often call a wine thin, but this wine qualifies. There's just not much intensity to the flavor. It's mostly a medicinal cherry flavor anyway, so maybe that's a good thing. On the finish there are drying tannins and little else.

On one hand, this isn't over-extracted and over-oaked in the way a cheap California wine would be. But it's equally boring. An unstructured fruity wine from Spain or Southern France would be far better at this price point.

Pros: Not Offensive
Cons: Thin, Dull, No Finish, Hollow mid-palate
Decant: No
Price: $8 from Trader Joe's
QPR: Mediocre (out of Poor, Mediocre, Fair, Good or Excellent with Fair denoting expectations were met for the price point)

3 comments:

Jeff said...

I've officially given up on any wine from Trader Joes that contains the word "Bordeaux" in any part of the label...too many disappointing experiences. Just for what it's worth, I've also given up on: Barolo, Barbaresco, any Barbera from Italy, California Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Chateauneuf du Pape, and various other wines...

Cabfrancophile said...

I picked this one up since I figured I could get a glass or two from it and if it was lame, turn it into cooking wine. Success!

Yeah, I don't even know why I bother looking at TJ's half the time. My good recent find was an '05 Domaine Alfred Syrah which was really good for $15. I didn't blog it since it's a typical mild/cool climate CA Syrah with extract and some oak. But it was good for its style, a real licorice bomb.

I'll leave it to Jason to do the heavy lifting!

Matt Mauldin said...

You can also Vino Nobile di Montepulciano to bad things to try from Trader Joes.