Warning: What you will find below are my results for the Stay Rad Interactive Wine Tasting Volume 1. If you would like to participate, please read my previous post and get a hold of the Folie a Deux 2009 Menage a Trois first.
If you have the wine, please decant it for 30 minutes before tasting.
Don’t worry…
I’ll wait…
Ready?
Okay!
Now, feel free to taste and make notes before you read on OR taste along with me as I attempt to guide you through this wine.
C’mon everybody… Let’s have a “Menage a Trois”!
A long time ago, Kara and I were prepping for a day trip to Napa. As I often do, the day before the trip I printed of some coupons from Wine Country this Week and Cheers 2 Wine. One of the coupons was for a free tasting at Folie a Deux, a small tasting room that sits right along Highway 29 on the South end of Oakville. We had driven by that place several times in the past (you really can’t miss it), so we decided to give it a go.
On the way into Napa, we made our regular pit stop at the Napa-Sonoma Visitor Center in American Canyon to have a morning wine tasting and to ask for some recommendations…
“Where are you guys planning on going?” the gentleman behind the counter asked us, as he poured me a taste of Riesling.
“We’ve got a coupon for free tasting at Folie a Deux…” I responded.
“Well… I guess that’s a reason to stop there,” he responded as he shook his head in disapproval.
I’ll never forget those words. I’ll never forget the look on his face. It was all I needed to know. Folie a Deux get’s NO respect in Napa.
No respect.
You can’t call it the Rodney Dangerfield of wine. Although Rodney always claimed that he got none of it… He was, in fact, a well-respected comedian.
So, let’s compare it to punk rock…
Let’s imagine that Napa was the punk rock capital of the planet. Let’s say Napa was home to the Ramones, the Stooges, X, and The Clash.
The Stooges = The Ridge Vineyards of Punk Rock
If the wine of Napa is punk rock, Folie a Deux would be Good Charlotte…
Punk?
Look…
I don’t hate Good Charlotte. They’ve recorded some catchy tunes.
Remember the time they ripped of this Steve Miller song…
and made this steaming pile of crap?
(By the way, if you are wondering where Steve Miller is on the wine spectrum… He’s Two-Buck Chuck.)
What I am saying is this…
No fan of music would ever consider Good Charlotte to be a punk band. They have a lot of fans. A lot! Way more fans than I have on Facebook. But… They are not respected as a punk band. You know… ‘Cause they’re not punk. They’re about as punk as discussing who is punk and who isn’t (which ain’t punk at all… Or is it?).
Did I ever mention to you that I used to work for a record store when I was in college? Well I did…
So, one day I was at the store on an early Sunday morning, filing CD’s in the punk section. As I was organizing the Dickies row, I looked over to my right to see the singer (or the guitar player… They’re twins right?) of Good Charlotte spending a lot of time in the G’s of punk. A lot of time!
At first I was all, “Maybe the guy from Good Charlotte really likes Good Riddance”. But then it came to me… “This fool thinks that we are filing his album in the punk section!” I approached with caution, and asked if he needed any help.
“Nope. Just browsing, bro.” He then quickly ducked his head in shame and walked out the door.
Now look… If the guy from Good Charlotte doesn’t know that his own band isn’t punk, then how can any of us know how do define and classify music… or wine, for that matter.
Anyways…
In spite of the wine guy’s disapproval, we headed over to Folie a Deux to do some free tasting…
The first thing you will notice is that the tasting room is home to two wineries… Folie a Deux and Napa Cellars. On top of that, Folie a Deux has a side label called Menage a Trois. So if you think about it, there are THREE wineries in one tasting room! And if you want to add to the confusion, all of these wines are owned by Trinchero Family Estates. So really, in spite of all the different labels, it is all just ONE winery.
To be honest, I don’t remember much of the wines we tasted. It was a long time ago, and I didn’t take any notes. The one thing that did stick in my mind was that they did have a red blend that they were pushing pretty hard… and it had a pretty cute name…
Menage a Trois!
The Folie a Deux 2009 Menage a Trois is a blend of three red grapes; Zinfandel, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Get it? It’s called Menage a Trois ’cause there are three grapes in it! As you read in my last post, I got this wine for $7.97 at Wal-Mart.
Now…
Let’s give her a taste!
Folie a Deux 2009 Menage a Trois in the decanter.
Don’t Forget: This wine was decanted for half of an hour. You should do this too.
Color: This is a dark red. When you hold your glass up to the light, you’ll see a red brick color around the edge of the rim. Do you see it?
Nose: As far as fruit goes, there are some tart cherries and raspberries on the nose. This wine is a little tight, so if you really want to smell what’s going down, jam your nose right in the glass. After a bit, you will pick up some blueberry fruit. There is a minerality to this nose. Think of green tea and chalk (I love chalk!). Do you smell it?
Taste: When you give this wine a whirl, swish this baby around in your mouth for a good thirty seconds. There is a medium weight to this wine that may remind you of milk in its density… You should get some strawberry and cherry fruit. There is a tart acidity on the mid-palate that reminds Kara of a cheap sort of wine. I tend to agree with her, but it is quite pleasant overall. There is a little bit of smokey ham and bell pepper on the back end.
Score: Look… This is a gimmicky wine. It’s like Weird Al and the Offspring did a guest spot on The Simpsons. But… For what it is… At eight bucks a bottle, it works. Give it an 87+. Bring it to a party. You may not get rave reviews, but you may not get dissed either.
So, there it is…
What did you think about the wine?
How would you make this better?
Leave a comment, and let me know.
You have the power…
Raw Power!
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Stay Rad 