The drinking of this wine was inspired by my sister calling from Australia tonight. Now, before all you geographites call and/or email me to tell me that Australia is not New Zealand allow me to confirm to you that yes I know that; but after sipping and sampling over 100 wines today at a Vintages tasting I felt like going a little lighter on my palate than going with something in the heavier Aussie line, so New Zealand got the call. This Merlot had great aromas, which proved even better after pouring the wine from bottle into my Riedel "Merlot decanter". But there was also an overwhelming "heat" smell, as if the alcohol was too high. Turns out, upon checking the back label, the alcohol was a whopping 14%; mixed in with that alcohol heat was cassis, blackberry, spices, herbs and a slight woodsiness. Flavours were also quite appealing; starting with spice, moving to blackberry and cassis, then ending with some woody characteristics. There was also heat on the palate, but this did not detract from the wine's taste ... all said and done this wine was delicious, smooth and drank very nicely. The back of the bottle was right, it did cellar for 8-10 year, very well in fact.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Chateau Barrail Chevrol 2004 Grand Vin de Bordeaux (France)
It's another Dave selection tonight (see last night's installment to find out what I am talking about) ... this time it's the petite Bordeaux he recommended, with a price tag of 8.99. Once again Dave proved he knows his wines, he'd better he sells them for a living. At first this wine was nothing to write home about, but thankfully it opened quickly in the glass (no more than 15 minutes) to reveal lots of good fruit flavours and smells. Cassis and other black fruit with a hint of spice on the nose. The palate was rich in black fruit and a hint of herbs with a titch of some woodsy note. This one is ready to drink now, and at that price you could drink it every night.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
R Wines 2008 Permutations Pinot Noir (Australia)
If you've haven't caught any of my Drinking with Dave posts you're missing out on some really good wines. Dave is my 'wine guy' when I am in Michigan, he's the guy to talk to when you visit Champane Wine Cellars in Warren, Michigan. My last visit with Dave was on December 28th, 2009. After the usual pleasantries were exchanged I asked him the question I always do, "What's got you excited right now?" In other words, what's good that doesn't cost an arm an a leg? He pointed me in the direction of a French "petite Bordeaux", a Spanish Tempranillo and this Australia Pinot Noir. As we talked about the wines Dave claimed he was not able to identify this one as a Pinot (he tasted it blind). I'll admit to wondering what Dave was smoking when I first put the wine to my nose, positive I could smell the tell-tale signs (earth) of Pinot Noir; but then I allowed the wine to open up a bit and that earthiness disappeared leaving behind a big, sweet raspberry and black cherry note, ripe with red fruit and just a hint of sweet vanillin. The palate was also big lots of lush, plush red fruit with little to get in the way of its tasty enjoyment. If oak was used it was hard to tell, the wine really filled the mouth with fresh red fruit flavour. This was a great sipping wine that went down smooth and easy. What an absoulte gem. I know I can always could on Dave to point me in the right direction. Now if we could just that dinner we keep taling about planned.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Casa Girelli 2001 Canaletto Winemaker's Collection Primitivo (Italy)
Tonight it was a simple dinner of salmon and salad, so I reached for a simple wine ... oh, who am I kidding? I picked the wine out this morning without a care in the world about what dinner was going to be - it's all about the wine ladies and gentlemen. So with that said I am not going to blow anymore smoke up your behind and just tell you about this 9 year old bottle of wine I pulled out of the cellar. For those who don't know, Primitivo is the Italian equivalent of Zinfandel, or as the labe on this bottle says: "the forefather". The smells, at first, were hard to distinguish, so I decided to give the wine a little run through my Vinturi decanter, this opened the wine enough to allow some smells through. Dark plum, hints of vanilla and some other indistinguishable red berry fruits on the nose; the palate showed spiced dried plum (fig) and a hint of sweet spice and tasty vanilla. I have to say that the longer this wine sits in the glass the better it gets - I still have a half glass in front of me so I am going to go enjoy it, cheers.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Perrin & Fils 2002 Rasteau "L'Andeol" (France)
Accidents make the heart grow fonder, or is that palpitate and the mind wander. Which ever it is that was my afternoon today, so I started on a glass of wine a little earlier than usual. Most days I will have my glass of wine sometime after 5pm but after receiving a call that Erica (my fiancee) had been in a car accident I spent most of my early afternoon worrying. Round about 3 she called to say all was well in the world, except maybe the car will need a few patches here and there. So needless to say once I got that call my next thought was, "I need a drink". The first bottle to grab my flustered eye was this Perrin and Fils Rasteau from the Cote du Rhone, a blend of Grenache and Syrah (80/20). The cork gave me a bit of trouble, as if to say, "it's only 3 in the afternoon", but determination wins out over a piece of cork any day. Nose is peppery, leathery and spicy with hints of black raspberry and cedar; Taste is also peppery and leathery but without the raspberry to back it up, instead there is a note of burnt licorice here, that may sound unappealing but it quite nice when backed by the spice. I think the wine needs a little chill and a little air, after trying both I can tell you there is a hint of red fruit that does come out in the chill.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Rosenblum Cellars 2004 Syrah (California)
Lots of booze and lots of flavours, that's something this Rosenblum Syrah had in spades. We're only two days into the new year and the wine is flowing pretty freely around my place ... what else is there really to do on a snowy holiday weekend. Yesterday it was that Dam Dry Riesling from Australia, while today it was a Dolomite Riesling from Cave Spring Cellars in Ontario and this Syrah from California. You can read about the others by clicking on their links, as for this one, I was quite happy sipping on this one over dinner. Lots of blackberries and black raspberries filled both the nose and palate; the palate also had quite a bit of black pepper and spice with a touch of tannin grit. Left unfiltered this wine had lots of sediment floating about, which I am thinking helped it to age very well, even under a plastic cork (thankfully it had none of that plasticy taste you find in some wines aged under plastic). With time in the glass the nose opened to show more anise and cinnamon along with a beautiful scent of black fruit and spice; pepper continued to be one of the prominent flavours in the mouth and through the mid-palate. I could have sipped on this one all night and if it wasn't for the 15.3% alcohol and the four people I shared it with it could have been a very tough morning.
Friday, January 1, 2010
D'Arenberg 2002 The Dry Dam Riesling (Australia)
I've had this wine in my collection for some time and I was looking for the right time to drink it. So when New Year's day came around and it was lounge about the house day I thought there was no better time to put this Riesling in the fridge (for a couple of hours), pop the cork and drink it to toast the changing of a decade. This wine had other ideas. It wanted to teach me a lesson: no matter how well you store a wine there can still be something that goes wrong. In this case this wine did not want to release its cork. I tried two corkscrews and an ah-so and still the cork would not come out, in one piece. I finally had to push the crumbly cork bits into the bottle and filter out the cork pieces. The joke quickly became, "it may be a Dry Dam Riesling, but this Riesling has a Dam Dry cork." Now that I am past the annoyance of getting into the bottle I can tell you that the trouble was pseudo worth it. The colour was golden yellow, while the nose and palate followed suit with petrol and tangerine. The palate also offered up tongue dryness and some bitter notes ... as the wine warmed it lost a lot of the fruit and became mostly petrol and way too bitter to consume. Good for the first half hour, after that it sat.
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