REVIEW: 2003 Antonin Rodet "Bourgogne" Pinot Noir

Well, first off, let me admit some ignorance. I'll guess Bourgogne is the type/name/something that distinguished this Pino from Antonin Rodet from others. Beats me! If you know, educate me!

Anyway, this was the bottle I was blabbing about that went from yuk to yum with the decanting.

At first, it was very, very earthy and tasted exactly what I remember French wines tasting like (quick segue: apparently back then I didn't drink any that were opened up). To call it tight at first is like calling me squeezing my fat rear in to an old pair of pants tight. Just work with me here!

So at first I was like "oh, this is going to blow". But again, an hour later and it was very, very good.

It wasn't quite as fruit forward as you'll get from a California Pinot Noir, but the fruit was there. Nice body, a lighter red color, but didn't melt off my tongue like I'm used to Pinot's usually doing, which was fine by me. The flavor, which was filled with a lot of berries, some earthiness, and subtle tannins, hung around quite a while on my tongue. Goood stuff and a good intro to French vino! I got this guy for $20

...Can I put an Italian word next to "French"?

Swigs: 3.5 Bang 3