Sound and Fury

For Wine Blogging Wednesday 16, we were asked to Judge a Bottle By Its Cover. That is, pick a wine off the shelf based on appearance.

I cheated. Sort of. Last Friday, there was a tasting of wines from Daedelus Cellars (and the Jezebel Wines label from the same winemaker) at Renaissance Wines. I'll post a tasting summary later. After the tasting, I looked around for a wine for WBW. There's a lot of good label design in Oregon. I considered Rex Hill, Hip Chicks, Beran. I finally settled on Daedalus, though. I'll admit that it had something to do with the actual wine. But it has a nice label!

The label is geometrically interesting, and draws the eye. It makes good use of perspective and the art is well-executed. In addition, I like the theme they have going. Daedalus was a skilled craftsman; he is credited with the invention of visual imagery, he designed the Labyrinth of Crete and also crafted wings with which to escape his imprisonment. Wine is all about art, craft and complexity.

On to the tasting notes!

Daedalus Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2003. The nose is fresh, clean, fruity and intense. Across the tongue, the wine exhibits bright cherry and strawberry flavors. It is extremely well-balanced and its acidity is perfect. The tannins are soft. I give it a 5 on my open-ended scale. I paid $24 for the bottle.

I drank this with steak, prepared by the talented FastRabbit. It worked quite well in that pairing, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.