Welcome to Second Ferment! Wine pairs well with life ... and food, travel, people, work and play. Grab a glass and join me as I explore the wine scene in Ottawa, Canada, and beyond. Love hearing from my readers, so please leave a comment. Cheers! - Bethany

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

$100 Challenge: All the Way from Bulgaria

I suppose in an experiment like the 100-dollar Challenge, at least one of the test subjects is bound to be a dud.

Said "dud" was the Trakia Estate 2006 Bassara Mavrud, from Bulgaria. Bought as one of the "unlikeliest wine region" contenders, I was eager to see how an Eastern European wine would hold up against the others. In the end, it fell short. Quite short.

It was a rough ride from the start - nose full of clashing, artificial aromas, which ranged from chemical (acetone) to herbal (peppermint). Somewhere in the mix, little notes of cherry and cinnamon came through, but they were woefully overpowered. After that assault on the olfactory nerves, a quick mouthful left me feeling like my tongue just went off-roading. Gritty, unbalanced, too much sweet, too little structure.

Maybe it needed more time in the bottle, maybe it was a bad batch, but I couldn't finish my glass. Hubby did, though. His take? "Meh." Like TV and pizza, sometimes it doesn't have to be good ... it just has to be wine.

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