People are always debating about saving nice bottles of wine, keeping them around or opening them. I think, instead of hunting for reasons why certain bottles in our collection should not be opened, we should be hunting for any good reason they should.
I am not a rich man. My cellar is not stocked with Cristal, Screaming Eagle, or Chateau Margaux. The 2006 Le Fer Saint-Emilion Grand Cru may not be a “special bottle” in everyone’s cellar, but it certainly was in mine.
Until we cracked that sucker open on Valentine’s Day, and drank it while eating some dynamite filets mignon.
My wife doesn’t tend to drink. When she does, very little. But her little half-glass of this stuff had her smiling. It really paired immensely well with the steaks. The 2006 Le Fer is a 100% Merlot wine from Saint-Emilion in Bordeaux, France.
In the glass, the wine is a deep, dark purple, with red edges. On the nose are notes of blackberry, supple leather, and earth and soil. The wine is medium-bodied, with soft tannins and a long, lustrous finish. Dominant notes on the palate are of raspberry and blackberry, but everything here is decidedly French, from the relatively-low alcohol content (12.5% ABV) to the subtlety of all the fruit notes. The tannins were soft but present, and there was enough structure to stand up to—and complement—balsamic-glazed steak. Not bad.
I’ll tell you one thing: if California Merlot were anything like this, Miles would never have had a problem with anyone ordering it.
Verdict: 89/100