Dear Alleigh:
The Bitch 2008, unless it was a bad batch, was the worst wine I have sampled in my life. We had a hidden wine tasting night with a wine with a cool name but had never been tasted. The wine barley got past the nose let alone the tasting. All glasses were poured out. I’ve seen that there are some issues with bankruptcy and I’m wondering if this could be a reason for the poor taste. Please contact me, because the marketing ( re; Bitch  2008 } is an eye catcher and deserves an answer to the bad taste. Thanks, and hope to here some positive information. 

Hi, and thanks for your email.

Back in March 2010, I reviewed the 2008 vintage, which is the one you tasted, although my experience with it was a little different.  It wasn’t the best Grenache I’ve ever tasted, but at the time I thought it was a decent everyday wine.

I doubt that the quality of the wine is related to Grateful Palate Imports financial demise because they no longer distribute the wines, which means that they have long since been bottled, warehoused, and shipped, and any additional movement is coming from people who are not associated with Grateful Palate Imports or R Wines.

Instead, I’d be interested to know when your tasting night was held.  Was it a recent event?  If so, that may explain why it was such a bad tasting experience.  Most wines are released when they are ready to drink, and this is particularly true of wines that are on the lower end of the price scale or that are bottled with stelvin closures (screw tops).  The 2008 Bitch Grenache falls into both of those categories, so I would expect that the 4-year-old vintage is long passed its prime drinking age.

It may be worth looking for a more recent vintage to see what you think of the wine. You should be aware, though, that the Bitch wines are now Spanish made, where the 2008 and earlier vintages were Australian wines.

As a side note, I think I’ve mentioned this before, but the Google Analytics for “A Glass After Work” shows that there is a lot of interest in this wine.  I’ve even had a couple of other Mailbag Mondays about the wine—one asking if the 2008 vintage was past its prime and the other searching for a bottle of the Bitch 2009 vintage.  So, if others have tasted this wine or seen more recent vintages of it for sale, I would definitely be interested in your thoughts.

Question of the Day: Have you tasted the Bitch Grenache?  Do you remember what you thought of it?

Cheers!
Alleigh

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