2007 Marcel Lapierre Morgon

Frenchy French…that’s the call.

When we were looking for a wine to drink tonight, three candidates came to mind a tempranillo, a super Tuscan, and the frenchy French wine. (2007 Marcel Lapierre Morgon for those of you who demand proper accrediting and naming).

Its always fun to open a French wine, there aren’t usually a lot of details on the label, its not always clear what’s in it and this one had a wax dipped top. Bonus! Now that wax dipped top might look nice and all, but frankly, its just a pain in the ass when you are trying to get the thing open. Don’t get me wrong here…. I’m not calling for a screw top revolution, but hey…a foil covered cork just works. It satisfies the ritual elements of opening the wine, without too much hassle, it’s just a nice balance. Yes, yes…tangents, I know.

After going down to the garage for a sawzall, blowtorch and the Jaws of Life to free the cork from its wax tomb, we were ready to pour. Hi, first shock of the night, this wine was a very very light red.

“Is this a rose?” I asked
“I don’t think so” she replied

It’s a tarp!

Ok…ok.. It’s not a rose, its just so damned light it would make a pinot look like a cab. While light, it’s certainly got the distinct brown hue typical of French wines, ready to get to drinking, I raised the glass and swirled. The nose left a lot to be desired, well…that’s assuming that you don’t find the smell of pure rubbing alcohol a pleasant aroma for a wine. The heavy chemical scent aside, the nose was short, without many of the typical fruit flavors, perhaps a slight smoky and earthy nose.

Time for the drinking. Well, dear readers, for the second week in a row, you have been spared from me writing sonnets. It’s interesting; I’ll give it that. Good? Sure…great? Not really. The nose followed through to the pallet, it’s a bit heavy on the alcohol (Yes, I am aware of the irony of me complaining about that, thanks). Past that is where it starts to get interesting. It has that undeniable French mystique that certain “je ne sais quoi”. We actually crushed the bottle of wine in our effort to take its full measure.

It's smooth, it's pleasant on the palette and it's very light on the tannins. I’m not sure I would go out and order it again, but I don’t feel like this research was in vain. If you want an odd wine, and don’t mind turpentine, I’d say give it a go, but honestly there are better things out there to drink. The only caveat to that I have is this; I would love to find an older version of this wine. I think with maturity it might just have enough going on to move it from nondescript to more please.

Pairing note: Smoked Gouda Grilled cheese sammich and tater tots.