Vylyan Ordog 2012
The Vylyan Ordog 2012 we found at a restaurant one evening. Our choices were limited to only three reds (one of which was immediately eliminated for the sin of being a Merlot) and of the two remaining options, the Vylyan won because of the fantastic description:
Because this is Hungary, the description in the menu was in Hungarian, English, and German. I have no idea what the Hungarian says but the English translation was pretty boring telling is only that “barrel aging makes this wine really demonic”. It’s in the German though that we found the best description: “Der Teufel der alten Legende ist liebevoll!” Or: The Devil of old legend lives!
Even the label reflected boasted of the wine’s demonicness (demonocity?)!
I’m not really sure what a demonic wine should taste like but I rather don’t think it would taste like the Ordog. They pulled us in with clever advertising and then gave us the old bait and switch.
The clear, cherry red color gave way to a slightly woody nose with underlying scents of red fruits and spice. Once it hit the palate though I realized that the description was the most exciting thing about it. Not that I’ve ever done free association games with wine and religion before but were I to think about what a demonic wine would be like, I would think of something dark, heavy on the tannins, maybe to the point of being chewy, with lots of spice, maybe some tobacco, and dark fruits.
I would not think of a wine that’s a little on the flabby side with low tannins and a mouth puckering tart, black currant and sour cherry flavor. That’s what we got with the Ordog. Still entirely drinkable but I certainly felt a little cheated.