Clos d'Agon

[Florida Jim]

With meat loaf, mashed potatoes and succotash:

1999 Clos D’Agon, Tinto:

This vintage is 50% cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot and 20% syrah; the recently tasted 2001 vintage was 70% cabernet sauvignon and 30% syrah. It spent 18 months in new French oak and has 13.5% alcohol. It reminds me of a model (male or female), utterly unblemished, the epitome of current fashion and beauty; polished and perfect with no reason to dislike it . . . and no reason to remember it. Smells like CA cabernet without too heavy a hand on the wood, tastes much the same, has some spice, almost unbelievably fine grained tannins, glossy textures in the mouth, plenty of grip and a long, balanced finish. In a decade or two, I may be completely wrong about this wine; it is certainly well made, well stuffed and balanced – my only hope is that the swan will turn into a duckling. But I’m not spending another $30 to find out. Imported by Eric Solomon.

Best, Jim