I was exceptionally exited to receive my first “bottles” for sample from Concannon Vineyards and had high hopes to review and enjoy their offering. In addition, while I was volunteering at the Russian River Valley Single Night I met Andrew and Marshall from Wine Soiree an in-bottle decanting system and they hooked me up with one of there decanting devices. So I figured this would be the perfect time to give it a test.
Here we go, I poured myself one glass from the bottle then hooked up the Soiree decanter and poured another so I could do side-by-side comparison
The Nose: Potent character of alcohol, some suggestions of fruit but very faint
The Nose (Soiree): Oh my god… Well, there is no doubt this thing works, or at least does something. Unfortunately, in this case, it doesn’t help this wine much. I get strong cooked vegetables, probably green beans and band-aids, the alcohol is diminished on this nose in comparison.
The Taste: Taste of dark red fruit, black cherry and toasted oak wood, not vanilla but woody.
The Taste (Soiree): The taste here is similar to the glass without the Soiree but the harsh edges are rounded (seems a bit better, if that nose wasn’t wafting up my nostrils too)
The Mouth Feel: This wine asserts itself with a sharp tartness, it’s a bit thin and overly hot, there is some acidity but it’s a bit unbalanced, the finish is long and is probably this wine’s best quality
The Mouth Feel (Soiree): The Soiree definitely makes this wine show differently in mouth feel. The harshness is gone and makes the wine more smoothed out.
The Color: A ruby red and garnet color, clear and pretty, thin to pale pink at the edges
The Color (Soiree): Nothing different here
The Nitty Gritty:
ABV 13.5%
Residual Sugar: 0.10 g/100ml
pH: 3.61
Released: 2010
Retail Price: $10
Available anywhere
The Verdict: Well, not a good showing for a $10 wine, even at the value price point, I could think of a few other wines I’d rather be drinking. While I don’t think there were any major flaws this wine just did not suit me at all.
65 Pts, D
As for the Soiree decanter. It certainly opens up the wine and shakes things up. I will use it in some of my future reviews, it certainly didn’t do this wine any favors, which I think goes to show that not all wines should be decanted.
Cheers,
Brian
norcalwingman
Disclosure: The wine in this review was provided as a sample with the intention of being reviewed. The Soiree Wine decanter was swindled by me at #RRVSN from the Wine Soiree crew.
Norcal Wingman 
Brian – I liked your format here. Too bad the wine wasn’t really worthy of consumption. I’ve had a few of them myself. You did a great job of balancing objectivity with being polite…I like that!
Josh
Brian,
I’d argue that this wine probably needed to be chilled a bit. What temp were you drinking this big boy at?
As for the Soiree not doing any favors for this wine, well I leave that to your palate. But if you were drinking this bottle for rest of your life, it seems to me I know how you’d be serving it, with a Soiree.
And no product will/should be able to transform wine in to a 92pt gem. And based on the price, well, you need to know what to expect. But aerating a BIG wine that is higher alcohol, big in extraction (skin tannin and probably a good dose of oak), I’d have to imagine this wine can use all the taming you can afford.
Look forward to your further comments & thanks for pimping the Soiree.
-Andrew
Andrew,
Thanks for the comments. Probably drinking at 60F, not quite cellar temp but close. Definitely amazed at how well a little swirl in your decanter aerates the wine! I wasn’t expecting magic Robert Parker infusions but it certainly changed the wine’s character.
You will see more Soiree comparisons in the future!
Cheers
Brian
norcalwingman
Thanks for the review, forgot to say that! 🙂
But also appreciate the reply. Sometimes people neglect to serve wine at a proper temp, so I just wanted to check on that, as I was hoping the ConCannon would show better.
As for wine aeration, I always encourage people to trust their palate on any wine, and sometimes wines just don’t budge with aeration, which can be a lack of ripeness or bracing acidity. Yet, other times a wine can jump out of its skin (pun intended).
Either way, looking forward to further comparisons and thanks again!
Cheers!
I really like your side-by-side review with the Soiree and look forward to reading more of them!
Cheers,
Mike