Wine & Wine Product Review: El Nil Napa Valley Red Wine 2012 & The Wine Mermaid

This is the second of two reviews for Napa juice by Ankh Wines. The first was Ankh Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 so to learn more about them check that review out. This review is for their El Nil Napa Valley Red Wine 2012, keeping with the Egyptian theme (El Nil = The Nile).

The 2012 El Nil is 69% Merlot, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc. The fruit comes from the Napa regions of Rutherford, Coombsville and Atlas Peak. It spent 24 months in French Oak and 12 months bottle aging. Only 75 cases were produced and it has an ABV of 14.7%. I love the label.

With this wine I'll also be trying out Taste of Purple's new wine glass called "The Wine Mermaid". I bust out their Vino 2 glass whenever I come across a wine that needs some major breathing that I don't have time for. The thing works like a charm so I'm looking forward to trying out this new one.

THE WINE MERMAID

What makes A Taste of Purple's glasses and decanters different is an indent that they call a "fin". When you swirl your wine it creates a splash, thus exposing the wine to oxygen and opening it up.

It appears that the difference of the Vino 2 (check out my review of it by clicking here) and The Wine Mermaid is that the fin is molded not just as an indent but it's now wavy to look like a fin. It looks much cooler than the Vino 2 indent.

The Wine Mermaid isn't nearly as thick and heavy as the Vino 2, and it's also a tiny less wide and a tiny more elongated in the bowl than its older sister.  Both have a bowl capacity of 32 ounces so they're pretty darn big, but you don't want to pour in 32 ounces. You want the usual 6 ounce pour. The big bowl size is so you can get your swirl on.

There was something about the El Nil that made my Spidey-senses tingle when I was thinking about which wine to use with The Wine Mermaid, and it turned out that my Spidey-senses were correct! In my Riedel, after some swirling, there's barely any fruit and just oak on the nose. In The Wine Mermaid, after some swirling, it's livened right up. On the mouth from the Riedel it's tight and a tart. On the mouth from The Wine Mermaid it's smooth and lush. So this wine is one that most certainly needs to breath first. HIGH FIVE! The experiment was a success!

If you're interested in any of the products by A Taste of Purple, you can save 10% on anything with the promocode WineStalker. Just head over to TasteOfPurple.com.

Now how about that wine, huh? That's what you're really here for. Because of the big opening of The Wine Mermaid, I'm going to do with it what I usually do with the Vino 2. So what's left of the review will be done with wine opened up by The Wine Mermaid, then poured into and tasted from my Riedel.

The color of the wine is garnet. On the nose there's root beer, plums, cranberries, milk chocolate and oak. In the mouth it's lush with soft tannin and low acidity. There's flavors of root beer, plums, pomegranate, and dark mocha. It finishes very dry with mocha and pomegranate.

Even with The Wine Mermaid to soften the edges, it's clear to me that El Nil needs to lay down for a little bit. The components haven't fully integrated themselves into each other yet. I'd be interested to see what a few more years brings, and right now it gets a 3.5 out of 5 for $50.

QUALITY VS PRICE RATING

Price: $50

Rating: 3.5/5 = Satisfying / Recommended (what does that mean?)

The bottle used was supplied free of charge for the purpose of this unpaid review. To have your wine reviewed follow this link.