المغرب‎: L'Excellence de Bonassia 2009, Beni M'Tir + 010654 of 30216 from Sainte-Foy-Bordeaux and a Greenhorn Margaux

There I am, at last! North Africa! Took a while, I guess! Besides today’s Maghrebian red blend I monitored a charming simpleton ;-) from Entre-Deux-Mers and a juvenile best-price(???) Margaux!

L'Excellence de Bonassia 2009, Beni M'Tir

Bonassia’s excellence was made of Cabernet Sauvignon (approx. 70%) and Merlot (approx. 30%) grapes which were cultivated in Beni M'Tir appellation in the foothills of the Atlas Montains, near the city of Meknes.

Its colour showed a murky garnet hue with not all too juvenile reflexes. At first the nose seemed to be dusty, mildly sultana’ish (expectedly, for such a hot climate wine), full of brown gravy associations and some fresh light red fruits. This impression continued. The actual dried fruit character, other heat stressed features and some down-to-earth country life associations evolved to a rather typical nose pattern for this or comparable regions in North Africa or the Middle East. Well, I guess the nose could not really impress me that much. Rather simple, a bit repulsive and boring. The taste however seem far more interesting and multi-layered. At first it showed far earthier, dustier, desert’ier flavours without a lot of fruit and a surprising weak tannin structure. Later this earth-dust-desert combination was joined by more and more evolving fruit flavours of rasins, some figs other dried fruits, maybe some liquory Maraschino cherries and definitely a nice undertone of fresh tobacco. The concentration was more from the lighter side and the finish could have been more impressive as well. Despite these disadvantages, still a respectable low price wine without any real aspirations to copy Bordeaux Boredom. At least I hope so. Evidently the origin of this wine was very HOT!

Château Martet Réserve de Famille 2000, Sainte-Foy-Bordeaux

Well, I am not a diehard Bordeaux devotee (voluntary decision), so I suppose it is better to neglect my notes or read them with a respectable amount of forbearance ;-)
The Reserve de Famille is the top blend of the house. Like the name may imply. For a E-d-M wine a rather complex and with approx. 20 Euros a even “high-priced” wine. As I mentioned earlier it was made of 100% Merlot from the parcels “les Brugues L B 154” and “les Graves L B 28”. The vendange took place on October 4^th and 5^th 2000 and it was bottled on June 10^th and 11^th 2002. Why this information? No real reason! Only availability from the unusually informative front label. Check out the photo. It will contribute to the solving of the ridicule headline ;-).

The colour of the Reserve was dark red and still rather adolescent looking. No clear discolouration on the rim. In the first hours the bouquet showed typical fragrances of plums, coffee, earth, a bit spicy herbs and not so typical ones of cola and jamón serrano. After three to four hours the nose calmed and presented itself more and more very typical, to my knowledge a bit astoundingly autumnish, refined and decently perfumed. Very Merlot'ish. Right from the start the taste seemed interesting and at least for me appealing! Not really sublime or aristocratic. It appeared chiseled, earthy, solid, perhaps a bit coarse, a bit tannic, decent bodied and well tuned. A rather robust, with time - more and more juicy, pretty autumn earthy, medium long and a bit modern appearing Merlot! Complexity without real challenging complexity. Nice and joyful wine with a really good QPR!

 

Château des Eyrins 2007, Margaux

I think I should not write a lot about this producer. Would be totally redundant! There is plenty to discover on the net. Only one thing: Really cheap resp. reasonable Margaux!

The colour was babyishly dark and showed a cold purple red with some transparency. The nose seemed juvenile, lean and a bit aggressive. I got plenty of lean and nervous cassis scents, other dark fruits, unfortunately quite a lot of (green) greenery and maybe some very reserved earthiness. On the second day it appeared a bit more tamed and eventually a bit elegant. Some more subtle mineral fragrances and violets joined the dark fruit. Anyway, not an overwhelming impression! The taste was even more reserved. The pretty light and lean 2007dish character was totally obvious and won’t change (only integrate) in the future. I got tingling and green, but not super austere, tannin. Some lean and unobtrusive dark fruit, too. I monitored this over three days. I think I underwent a limited fascination! Nice and juvenile wine with too much green and an indefinable future (maybe a bit thin to last for ages). Even some nice Margaux’ish elegance on the second and third day! Admittedly a rather simple one! I guess a vintage thing, but probably not just that ;-)! I really can't decide whether cheap or resaonable ...