Yes, you read correctly. Bull's Blood. And just for extra fun, I'll tell you up front that it's from Hungary. So, yes, I am drinking a Hungarian wine called Bull's Blood. What of it?
Actually, it's quite an ancient wine. Legend has it that the name originates from the 16th Century when the Turks laid siege to the town of Eger in Hungary. The inhabitants of Eger are said to have put up unexpected resistance, to the point that the Turks eventually gave up their siege. Rumors abounded that the reasons for the locals' strength was that they mixed the blood of bulls into their red wine. And the name stuck.
The grapes used to make it are many, and mostly unpronounceable. Traditionally the main grape was kadarka, although it is notoriously difficult to grow and is therefore in decline in Hungarian vineyards, being replaced by other varieties such as kekfrankos and portugieser, also ingredients in Bull's Blood (along with 7 other possible varieties).
The color does not particularly look like blood - bull's or otherwise - it's a medium ruby with violet towards the rim. Nor does it smell like blood (happily), but strongly of black pepper, fallen leaves, and dark fruits, like ripe plum. Not a fresh-smelling wine, but actually quite appealing.
On the palate, it's a little thin in flavor and...well, weird in texture. The acid is high enough - perhaps a little too high - that the wine is not flabby, but it has a rather strange mouth-coating property that I can't quite explain. It doesn't appear to be due to high alcohol or sugar content, the two usual suspects. There are some pleasant pepper and plum notes, but all in all it's hollow midpalate in terms of concentration of flavor, and there's a lack of freshness that almost tastes like the old oak barrel the wine was probably matured in.
Not a wine I would drink every night, but passable for $9 and not an unworthy companion for the cheeseburger I'm about to eat for dinner. But I wouldn't waste a nice steak on it.
Vintage: 2008
Grapes: Kadarka, etc.
Region: Egri, Hungary
Price: $9
No comments:
Post a Comment