Welcome to binNotes latest foray into #MWWC7: Devotion
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by L.M. Archer, FWS
- Yes, folks…it’s time for another bloody Monthly Wine Writing Challenge, thanks to thedrunkencyclist.
- Kudos to SAHMmelier for her winning topic: Devotion and for The ArmChair Sommelier’s winning logo. See all MWWC posts here.
- Devotion: A Love Story
- ‘Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken…’ - - Wm. Shakespeare, Sonnet 116
- It started innocently enough. The odd sighting on a wine list in a restaurant. My first close encounter with Pinot Noir. I shudder when I think about it now. Okay, so let’s just call it blind ignorance. Until that moment, I huddled among the other cave dwellers, staring at the shadows in my little cave, unable to step out into the light beyond…red blends. But step out into the light I did.
- I won’t give the year. Or the wine maker. Nor the restaurant. It doesn’t matter. What matters is what followed.
- After the ritual of the pour. The sibilant sound of the wine chosen. The presentation of the bottle, a deep green not unlike a forest, cool and sheltering. The label, artfully arranged, conjuring up images of medieval multi-colored windows. The pierce of the foil, the pull of the cork, the soft whoosh from the bottle neck, the carnelian-stained cork pondered, and then, the pour.
- The pour. First sight – revealing ruby. A translucent ruby reminiscent of the stained windows of Ste. Chapelle, haunting in precision and grace. The swirl – revealing soft tears along the curve of the glass, not unlike my tears of joy at that moment. The smell - of earth, fog and red fruit. The sip - slipping across my tongue like satin smooth, flavors flickering discretely. The finish – languorous, like the company of a welcome dinner guest lingering.
- So this is Pinot Noir. Ever-fixed, yet ever-changing. A wine worthy of devotion.
- Sante!
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The famed cross marking Domaine Romanee Conti, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy.
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Filed under: Wine Tasting Tagged: Burgundy, monthly wine writing contest, wine, wine writing
