I see a wine with a “Fitou” appellation please forgive me but I think of a clown. I am not sure why? Perhaps it is my Montreal background where I recall a Quebecois clown Bobino that had a popular television show years ago. But Fitou has no similarity to “Bobino”. Should I report this to a neurologist as a reportable event?
While I ruminate over my mental state perhaps a focus on the wine that prompts the bizarre analogy should be tried. It is a blend of Grenache and Carignan. The Carignan was fermented separately via carbonic maceration and then blended with the Grenache and aged for one year in oak.
On the nose a juicy explosion of blackberry and black cherry embraced in a root beer and cactus pear perimeter. On the palate again blackberry rules the roost and not the “chickens have come home to roost” comment made by Malcom X after the assassination of President Kennedy.
Not a wine to titillate about but a hard worker that would be a great bistro wine with steak and frites or with a Bucky Burger at Deux Amis in New York City at 356 East 51st where you will encounter more locals than tourists from Idaho.
The wine is no clown but neither is it royalty. Given economic conditions these days I think I might feel more comfortable with a bistro winner than with a G 7 reception wine.
(Gérard Bertrand AN 990 2019 Fitou Grenache/Carignan, AOP Fitou, Gérard Bertrand, Narbonne, France, Liquor Control Board Of Ontario # 403683,$17.95, 750 mL, 14.5%, RKS Wine Rating 88/100).
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