In an article entitled "A bang for your $7.45 - Fuzion
fires a frenzy at the LCBO," Rod Phillips, wine writer for
the Ottawa Citizen recently wrote: "A colleague told me
last week he'd been in a "near-riot" at the main LCBO store
at Rideau and King Edward. Noticing a commotion in one of
the aisles, he found customers jostling to get their hands
on bottles of Fuzion, the Argentinian shiraz-malbec blend
recently added to the LCBO's list. He managed to grab two
bottles." We'll see if this wine is worth fighting for.
OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review
are purchased at the full retail price.
Wine Reviewed fuZion Shiraz-Malbec 2007 Argentina 13.5%
alcohol about $7
Usually I start an article by quoting the Liquor Board's
marketing materials. Interestingly enough, here there
aren't any. So I'll quote the back label, my own
translation from the French. [I think this wine was so
popular that the Ontario commission brought in bottles from
neighboring Quebec, hence the French.] Origin: Mendoza,
Argentina Food Pairing Suggestions: Barbecued meat, pasta,
and sharp cheeses. Tasting Notes: Intense violet color.
Prune and black cherry aromas. Silky wine, moderately
full-bodied, fairly concentrated with a long finish.
The label then goes on to tell you about the producers, the
Zuccardi family in Argentina.
As per our quoted introduction, this wine really created a
sensation in our neck of the woods. A major wine writer
compared it favorably to $20 bottles and for a while you
couldn't find it in our area. I made sure not to read the
reviews so as not to be influenced. To get my hands on a
bottle I had to go to a never before visited outlet. I
asked the cashier what she thought of this wine but she
hadn't tasted it. Then I went to the wine store cited above
and purchased five other bottles for this series. I asked
the guy at the information desk for his opinion. His
answer, "What do you expect for $7.45?". And now for my
thoughts.
The first meal was a Middle-Eastern specialty, ground meat
in ground bulgar and semolina jackets with a somewhat spicy
tomato sauce. The fuZion was very pedestrian and quite
short. I did taste some cherries. The smell bordered on the
unpleasant. I tried it with homemade apple cake. In
response the wine became flat. The finishing touch was a
rather tasty fruit juice candy that simply overpowered this
liquid. So far so bad. I do have the idea that by letting
the wine breathe it might improve.
The second meal should have been a fine pairing. It
consisted of Pot Roast accompanied by Harissa, a Tunisian
fiery pepper sauce and soft wheat kernels with carrots. I
poured the wine into a wide glass well before consuming it.
This was not a very successful pairing. The wine remained
short and harsh. It wasn't at all round and didn't have
much taste. It definitely wasn't worth a near riot.
I tasted this wine with two local cheeses; a yellow Cheddar
and a white Munster. With the first cheese the wine had a
pale taste. It was sort of grapey. The fuZion actually
perked up with the Munster. It wasn't bad. So maybe this
wine could be served at a wine and cheese party, especially
one on a low budget with low expectations. I snuck in a
final tasting with a cherry strudel. For the first time the
wine took on some acidity but it was weak. A word about my
policy, I never blame a wine for weird food pairings that
don't work, like this last trial. But I do blame it for
food pairings that should have worked.
So I won't be driving all over the place trying to scrounge
some bottles. In fact, I won't be finishing this one.
----------------------------------------------------
Levi Reiss is the author or co-author of ten computer and
Internet books, but really would rather just drink fine
German or other wine, accompanied by the right foods. He
teaches classes in computers at an Ontario French-language
community college. Check out his global wine website is
http://www.theworldwidewine.com with a weekly column
reviewing $10 wines and new sections writing about (theory)
and tasting (practice) organic and kosher wines.
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