Boozelog XX – ‘Beausoleil’ Red
The middle-cost wine from Egyptian International Beverages. I’ve had Shahrazad (or however you want to transliterate it) before, their cheapest line of wines, and although I wasn’t bowled over, I couldn’t really make up my mind whether I liked it. This stuff is Merlot-cab sauv, so I wasn’t expecting anything too bizarre. Same style of bottle as the eponymous white which I looked at in December. 50 LE, 12.5% ABV.
Healthy crimson colour, seems thicker than the other reds. Pleasant aroma. Lots of oak, and red fruit.
Tanniny. Again, red fruit. The taste is uncomplicated as you’d expect from the grapes. Not very dry. Is it better than Omar Khayyam? Probably not, it’s just a bit different. The aftertaste however is definitely quite notably good. It’s herby and plummy, full.
I like this wine. Good with red meat, if you can afford to eat it. A welcome change from Omar Khayyam, but I probably wouldn’t say Beausoleil is better than it. Not much more expensive. It does rival al-Ahram’s chief offering closely, and I’d say this is the best of the EIB wines yet. Omar Khayyam is still just the top of the table, though, owing to its being slightly cheaper and probably better on its own. 7/10.
‘Cultural analysis’ forthcoming: watch this space.
