Bodegas Trapiche
Mendoza, Argentina
14% abv
Oak Cask for 9 months
$13.99 from a grocery store
The first time I had this wine was wine I went to a
restaurant, here in Michigan, and they just started the ‘cork the bottle’
law. This is when you order a bottle of
wine at a restaurant and you don’t finish it you can have them cork it and you
can take in home. That was a few years
ago (I’ll look it up when that went into effect).
This is an easy wine to drink. A nice ‘restaurant’ wine. Maybe, even a nice everyday wine. Nothing big, nothing special, just pleasing
to drink.
I am finally doing a review on this wine for I don’t think I
have ever reviewed it – once again – I’ll have to look that up too. No I have not reviewed this wine.
Now, dealing with wine laws, I stated the first time I had
this wine was when they made a new law regarding ‘carry out’ wine. Today, I just heard the State of Michigan
passed a law that you can now bring your own bottle of wine into a restaurant ‘if
they don’t have that wine’. The person
told me that the establishment will charge an ‘opening fee.’ And, once again I’ll have to look this wine
up. Damn, I have a lot of research to
do!
Really, there is a big demand for this. And, doesn’t this hurt the restaurant. Let’s say that mister cheap skate comes in
with this wine – a $14.00 bottle – and then he pays, I don’t know, let’s say a
$5.00 opening fee. That would bring the
bottle cost to 19 buck for the consumer.
Yes, it would probably would have cost them $29.00 for the same bottle –
saving the person ten dollars. But, the
restaurant owner is losing out. And NO,
mister cheap skate is not going to order ten more dollars’ worth of food.
Just looked up the new wine law. It is called, House
Bill 5046 and it was signed in December of 2013 according to
Mlive.com. It sounds like the big
thinkers up there in Lansing Michigan think that it will help the Michigan wine
industry. REALLY! What is there fifty wine drinkers, in the
whole state, out there with their Michigan bottle of wine saying, ‘let me bring
my bottle of Michigan wine into this restaurant?’ How about passing something really important
to the people of Michigan. Click here
to read more about the new law.
Let me get to the review.
Appearance: deep purple (not the music group from my time);
purple edge; nice legs
Aroma: a pleasing nose; big dark berries reminding me of
black berry; nice cedar spice; oak;
Flavors/Mouthfeel: juicy dark berries follow the nose; nice
peppery spice; oak; good touch of tannins and good acidity;
To the Point: a very nice wine; like I said, a nice everyday
wine; pleasing body, pleasing flavors; yes I would buy this again.
Back to the new law.
Restaurants are encouraged to participate but, do not have to follow the
new law. It sounds like they can make
their own ‘opening’ cost but, it cannot be the cost to cover the ‘difference’
of what they would charge.
Personally, I can think of only one or two places I would do
this. The one place is up north in Port
Austin where I like the food at the restaurant but, damn they have the cheapest
wine a place can serve. This law would
help this place because I would go there more frequently.
This law also hurts the server – you know the waiter or the
waitress. I bring in my $50 bottle of
wine – do I tip them on that or the uncorking fee? Answer: the uncorking fee. I would tip on the cost of the bottle I
brought in but, I would put money on it that the majority of people would
not.
Here is the side of me who likes this idea. I like to go to a restaurant in Plymouth
Michigan called La Bistecca. The price of a bottle that I usually buy
there would be in the 60 to 100 dollar range.
That would mean that the price of that bottle is really 25 to maybe 50
or 55. I could now bring in a real 75
dollar bottle of wine that I really love at that price and I would be happy as
a double peckered goat. Just remember,
that is if they don’t serve that wine and if they allow you to bring your own
bottle in.
I personally don’t think many people will take advantage of
this new law. I also don’t think it will
hurt the owner of the establishment – they have enough money. I think it will only hurt the server. So, if you do this mister cheap skate – tip
the server on the price of that bottle at least 10% and 20% on the rest of your
bill.
