Then two of the three couples canceled, with less than two hours before “go” time. We tried scaring up other people to come, but on such short notice, no one could. The result was us and one other couple with six, count ’em six, anonymous carafes of five-year-old red wine. We had our tasting anyway, and had a very nice evening visiting with our friends.
With the result that we had nearly two and a half liters of red wine left over because really, how much are only four people going to drink? So I took one of the containers I use for infusing liquor and dumped the remains of all six carafes in it, intermingling the grape juice in a combination never before or again to ever be replicated by anyone, anywhere.
The result: vino intercontinentale. Some of that wound up in tonight’s spaghetti sauce. Some of it is in glasses being drunk right now. The truth of the matter is, it’s quite good. I need to let it warm up — we stored it in the fridge for some reason that made sense to us when we were inebriated — but even a bit on the cool side, it’s quite enjoyable. I don’t think I’d attach a high price tag to it, but I’m drinking it and pretty happy.
Do you feel any of the wines could have been left out of the blend? Any sort of wine you think could have been added to improve matters?
What a great question. It's hard to answer because we wound up with a really complex cocktail of wines. The critical add, I think, was the Bordeaux. Everything else was full of big, bright, acidic tastes. The thinner, sweeter flavors from France mellowed out the tannins and its earthiness helped keep the final product smooth and drinkable.If I were going to add anything to it, it would be a touch of Grenache, for the same reasons. A Zinfandel or a Cabernet would dominate the mix, which as it is has more syrah than anything else. So maybe less of that.