Materne Haegelin, Alcase, Pinot Noir 2009

Being the resident Pinot nut, Power and Smullen's tweet "Do have a tasty Alcase Pinot Noir fom Haegelin" sparked a unusual thirst in me, while my response was tame via the tweet machine, in reality, I was bouncing off the walls of the student gaf here in Maynooth. Having used all my muck-man skills I mastered the treacherous Dublin Bus timetables and pottered in after college one evening. Christ was I glad I bought two. This was wonderful and insanely, too young.

Appearance:

Clear, surprising intensity medium at least, wait till you realise the bottle is actually clear and you'll see what I mean.

Nose:
Clean, medium nose of cranberry, frugal almost game quality on the nose, blackcurrant and strawberries, the nose was a little closed at first, but given time continued to open, and as time continued the wine began to reveal itself. A flintish quality to the nose that you'd expect from something from Alsace. All in all a really interesting nose. Watch the fruit as it begins to evolve on the nose, this is really aluring, it's pronounced but not out of control. 

Palate: 

Medium acidity on the palate, with soft tannins. A light bodied wine with pronounced notes of strawberry and cranberry, a refreshing streak of minerality to the wine. Juicy wine, but doesn't lose any structure at all. Top quality and beefed up Pinot, very surprising for an Alsacian red.

Comments: 

Now the score and the value may not seem to match my enthusiasm for the wine now there is a very simple reason as to why? I am a self confessed Pinot Nut. I love the stuff, and the chance to keep creeping north this year has had me doing twists. Germany has shown some outstanding examples, and to finally get my hands on one of these is a bit more of a personal thing, now this said if you are a Pinot head too this wine could be rated way higher for value and for score, however we are trying to give a neutral view of the wines we throw up here.

So onto the important stuff age worthy? Yes, maybe 2-3 years on this could be a controlled explosion of fruits and teraitry flavours real a world of a difference. Having read up on this from the big man OZ, apparently well made pinot (Check) will age in three step,m vibrant youth, clams and almost becomes boring in middle age and then.... well then things go a little mad and the reason for pinots literally descriptions is revealed. Despite our slow start but fruit gently crashes in, this is one to wait on. Food, here starts the debate, it's medium bodied and has good flavours just waiting for food to bring them out. But what? I'd go with something in the line of turkey, or other lean meat, something to wake this up a little. Overall a very good wine as it stands, given a year or two, this is going to be something else.

(We'll be opening a second one of these again, and putting it up against some big contenders)

Score:

(B+) 87

Price:

€16.95 (Power & Smullen)

Value (Out of 5):

4

Also Reviewed today is Quinta De Fata Reserva 2003 here's a snippet from the article 

While perusing the shelves of a local shop (under the pretence of going to the shop for some coffee and milk), not even a wine shop I was not expecting much. However, all was not as it would seem. Normally I am used to going into a supermarket and seeing overpriced banal branded wines staring back at me, today this was not the case.