Lebanese wine, a rather interesting thought this now. You have this little tucked away country in the rather turbulent area these days that is the middle east, happily pottering away at wine. No matter whose being kicked out of office or which neighbour is bombing the holy bejesus out of who, they always seem to batter out a few bottles. One I managed to grab happened to be inhabiting the shelves of the Mill Wine Cellar Maynooth, and was sitting quite happily at €14.95 too.
Now the tasting of the wine was an all round interesting affair. Firstly I was rather unsure of what to expect from this region- they're a pretty odd bunch in a sense. For example if we get down to grapes, just for a moment I promise, but this has as much cab franc as cab sauv, now, I challenge you to find somewhere messing about in the same way with their mixes. Cab Franc is a rather neglected grape, especially in Ireland where it hasn't been taken too rather well. It's a bigger fruit, similar to cab sauv, not as complex but in my opinion much bigger favours.
Now why is this wine is an interesting one? You have Syrah, Cab Sauv and Franc all battling it out at the one time on the palate.
Important question who wins. Once the bottles opened, you get smacked by every conceivable favour a wine can embody, cherries , plum, raisins, you name it it's there. However, the notes that are there in hints, say blackcurrant and tobacco leaf that's where it starts to get interesting as these in a sense hijack the wine. What's more interesting is the notes I associate with Syrah, pepper per say, has it's head kicked in in no uncertain way. Now again you throw me a why, now in the form why is this interesting? Look at the picture above, note the numbers, syrah is 40%, and it's letting the side down to be polite about it. Revisiting the notes that you associate with the two other bad boys. Blackcurrant and Tobacco. Now the latter is cab franc territory, and while Cab Sauv can do it to I have yet to encounter one who does it quite as well. For a while it feels like the Sauv is gone and dusted with. However, never one to open straight away, Cab Sauv begins throwing out blackcurrant and berry notes on the nose and more on the palate, however the plate is still dominated by tobacco and various other fruits overpowering each other. 1 hour later and you stick your nose in, and you are welcomed by a tremendous slap of blackcurrant and blackberry, not too mention the undertone of tobacco which lingers. Now This means I must reluctantly proclaim that the finish of the wine is Cab Sauv in nature. However consider the notes of pepper, tobacco and the fading red berries and other red fruits. These keep the wine interesting and a bit of a journey.
Final verdict? A rather nice wine by the by and one definitely not to be ignored, a must try even if only for seeing it open up! Hey, and if you don't believe me just look at the top label.
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