I’ve written before about the State of the Union address being a big event in DC.  When I worked on Capitol Hill, I either watched the speech at a bar with other staffers or I watched from home while emailing coworkers.  We always had copies of the speech several hours beforehand, so responses were prepared before leaving work.  Watching the speech was really about the event itself…and I’ve always loved it, regardless of who is President.

This year was the second year watching the speech from “off the Hill,” and it’s a very different experience.  Most of my coworkers don’t watch and feel it’s anticlimactic.  The fact that we all had the text beforehand meant the little bit of chatter about the speech happened before we left work, and that was the end of their interest.  So, I came home, opened a bottle of wine, and grabbed my iPad so I could email friends who were still on the Hill and read all the Twitter commentary.  Just because my coworkers are jaded about the event, didn’t mean I was going to lose my enthusiasm for it.

The 2007 Michel-Schlumberger “Le Sage” Merlot (winery) is from Dry Creek Valley, California.  The wine was a dark ruby with a brownish tint.  On the nose, there was leather and earth with hints of dark berries and dried roses.  In the mouth, thee were blackberries and pomegranates with hints of smoked meat, dust, and dried roses. The wine had a medium-to-full body and medium-to-high tannins and acidity.

Is this worth a glass after work? Sure…you won’t be drinking anything out of the ordinary, but you’ll have a decent, reliable glass of wine.  At $28, this wine was delicious when I drank it about a year and a half ago and well-worth the splurge in cost.  Now, though, I think the 2007 vintage is a little passed its prime.  That’s not a comment on the quality of the wine, but rather on my miscalculation of when to drink it.  That said, it’s held up nicely—having more savory aging characteristics and a nice, long finish.    It just seems to have lost a little of the something special that I enjoyed the first time I tasted it.

Question of the Day: Have you ever held onto a wine that you were “saving” only to realize when you opened it that you waited too long?

 

Price: $28
Purchased at Michel-Schlumberger Winery
Overall: 3 Corks