Mediocre Label

Il Bastardo, Italy

This is my first attempt at 'Curb Appeal'. I chose this for the label but let me be clear: I do not like the label. B33phd1p was with me and said he has been avoiding this one for weeks because of the label, fair enough. Back at b33phd1p's ninth floor pad the air was fresh, the lap dog was excitable, the jack-o-lanterns glowing and the glasses clean. We set up a cheese board with figs and dates for later (we had three bottles and a date with wango apres work). Sitting on the patio we commenced aggressive sniffing. Amazing! The smell of vanilla was impossibly strong (which turned out to be true as there was a vanilla scented candle steadily burning a heavy corruption of our olfactories). B33phd1p put the candle out but the smell lingered. With our noses deep in our glasses and with very raucous laughter we both reported two very distinct stinks: wine and vanilla. I could definitely smell grapes, and not fresh ones either. This wine is way too acidic to have without food and it dried the tongue out like way oversteeped black tea. It also gets worse with breathing. One glass down and we recorked it with a loud: "NEXT!"

Rating: 1.2865 of 5

-J. Floorburn

P.S. Is that a bottle of Efes in the photo? I would greatly welcome a turkish beer at this point.