sybaritesauvage   Uncorking a Mind Twisted by Wine, Food, Love & Remembrance

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Back in the 1960’s, if you were a boy, you wanted to be Jonny Quest.  OK, maybe I am the only one– NOT!  Cool adventures, knockin’ off bad guys, getting around on hover crafts and jet packs, and doing it all in my PF Flyers– the Vans of the 1960’s.  Jonny was not alone– he had an awesome friend from the subcontinent, Hadji, the orphaned Calcutta kid who could summon up the secrets of Eastern mysticism to levitate and Bandit, dog, co-star and ham actor.  There were no protagonist females in this adventure cartoon series.  (Hey, it was the 60’s).  Jonny’s mother died from some unspecified illness that may or may not have been caused by the evil deeds of some miscreant international bad boy like Dr. Zin.  But there was the Brain, Jonny’s father, Dr. Benton Quest and the Muscle, Race Bannon.  Need a Bad Ass to come swinging in on a conveniently located rope to kick some Lizardman-Bad-Guy butt?  Race is your man.  Never one to panic, he’s all about Black ops and he’s always alert for trouble lurking round the next bend.  These days, I would like to be like Race Bannon.  But that’s not happening either.  Still this wine reminds me a bit of Mssr. Bannon.  And with a name like Camaraderie, the shoe fits that much better.

Camaraderie Washington State Cabernet Franc 2006 ($16) 12.5%.  A whiff of Kiwi shoe polish and dark earth.  Shoe polish?  Yes, kind of like when you get kicked in the teeth– “”Hey, what is that sme– OOOOOF!!”  I could stop right now and that would be enough.  Next comes an explosion of dark berries and savory herbs finishing candy like with a little green bell pepper on the finish.  On retasting the open bottle on the second day, the wine took on another more polished dimension, the green bell pepper, now replaced with a little black pepper and the whole package perfectly balanced with nuanced tannins and acidity that underscored the fruit on the lengthy finish.  At almost 6 years of age, this is drinking just fine right now, but it will still be good 2-3 years from now if you can stand to let it sit unopened.  It’s a knock out.  Rated ***