The fourth vintage of this wine for me and served on Valentine’s Day, how appropriate!  I really enjoyed the previous three and was slightly hesitant about opening such a young wine but in the interest of keeping the momentum going on my vertical tasting I delved right in.

I ran the first glass through my Vinturi to give it some much needed air and then I performed the ‘shake’ on the bottle to open it up some.  The telltale inky purple color was ever present and the nose was quite alive after I shook the bottle.  I got a brambly nose of blackberry and cassis with some plums.  On the palate it became much more interesting with dark chocolate, oak, blackberry and more cassis.  I did not get the same blueberry core as the 2011 vintage, this one being more brooding with the black fruits in prominence.  I did get a good dose of the really tidy tannins which were ever present yet unobtrusive.  A fine grained dryness on my gums and teeth rather than a full blown case of tannins was quite tasty.  My son told me he could smell the wine when I poured another glass, he was sitting more than 2 feet away from me.  I asked him to describe what he could smell-  “Dark red grape”.  Pretty much sums it up from an 11 year old’s point of view.  This wine is delicious, with complex fruit structures and fine tannins.  I did get a whiff of the 16% alcohol initially, but it soon subsided.  The last glass contained a bit of sludge which surprised me a bit, so you may want to decant or at least keep an eye out when nearing the bottom.  I don’t know what the pro’s gave it but I am going with 94 points and for $75 this is a 4 star wine in my books.

Recapping my last four nights of Love….  The 2009 was amazing, getting 94 points and 4 stars from me for it’s concentration, balance and complexity.  The 2010 could best be described with a picture of a bowl full of black and blue berries.  The wine was open, opulent and refreshing with its lively acidity.  I gave it 92 points and 3 stars.  The 2011 was the most aromatic and complex so far and had an incredible concentration of blueberry that had me reeling.  It got 93 points and 4 stars from me. The 2012 is the baby of the group but I reckon it may be the best one yet, giving the ’09 a run for the money.  I believe it will evolve and gain complexity like the others have, and the tannic structure will hold it in good stead.  It too got 94 points and 4 stars.

The one main factor that I have noticed with all of the Mollydooker wines that I have tasted thus far is their level of concentration and their relative ease of drinking at such young bottle age.  The wines all share some of the telltale signs of the house style and I really like it.  Very rich, focused and balanced.  The more reasonably priced wines are delicious for everyday drinking while the upper echelon have proven to me that they can hold their own on any festive occasion against a variety of foods.  Most of them are relatively high in alcohol but this has been very cleverly disguised by the excellent wine making.  You cannot get such concentration and complexity without pushing the boundaries but they have done so in a great fashion.  I will continue to drink my way through the current vintages of Mollydooker and look forward to what the 2013 vintage brings.  Salut….

The Sludge