For somebody who has all kinds of glassware I am surprised that I do not have a glass devoted to the Shiraz/Syrah grape, especially because there is so much of the stuff made; but i have always contended that what you really need on your glass rack is a good red glass and a good white glass and those should get you through on 99% of all occasions. Tonight, I popped the cork on a bottle of California Syrah, at first I pulled out my Pinot Noir glass, then I second guessed myself and pulled out the Bordeaux style glass, all the time in a quandary over which glass to use. If indeed it is a Syrah, then the Pinot glass would do, if it turns out it was a bigger fruitier version (Shiraz with a Syrah name) then the Bordeaux would do. So instead of agonizing over it I tried both (hey, I have a dishwasher). The Pinot glass enhanced the fruitiness of the wine, the Bordeaux glass brought out the spicy aspects ... wanting something that would bite me back this evening opted for the Bordeaux. The nose was rich in spice, licorice and a smoky-bacony quality ... palate-wise there was lots of red and black fruit, along with vanilla oak and white pepper with an almost sweet cranberry-chocolate finish ... very enjoyable. I think I made the right glass choice with this one.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Tarapaca 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (Chile)
On the Canadian Thanksgiving I decided to head down to Chile for a taste of a 5-year-old Cabernet Sauvignon. This bottle has been staring at me from my sideboard for a few weeks now, ever since I took it out of one of my 'aging boxes'. At first I had trouble removing the cork because of its length, but I finally got it out in one piece by digging the helix of the corkscrew in a little deeper. Once opened I offered the first little bit to Bacchus by pouring off the first half inch ... then into the glass it went. Smells were minty, blackberry, cassis and quite spicy. The flavours were similar with black fruit and mint, but this was not one of those juicy, jammy Chilean offerings, instead it offered up more spicy character, and over the 45 minutes that it was open (and there was wine in the bottle) the fruit dropped off leaving much spice behind.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
E. Guigal 2005 Cotes du Rhone (France)
Kick me in the socks and call me Larry ... for about 2 years now the folks at Vinexx (who are the agents that bring this wine into Ontario) have been telling me to watch out for this wine - "it delivers far beyond its price point," a gentleman by the name of Steve told me. Each time I went into the LCBO I looked for this wine and was disappointed to see the 2004 (in itself a good wine, but "no comparison to the '05", or so I was told) still o the shelves. Today I finally found a bottle, seems it is now making its way through the system. The nose is red fruited with lots of pepper and black raspberry. Made from a blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mouvedre this wine is all that is was touted as being, and more. The palate is powerful with lots of red fruit and peppery-spicy notes and lots of flavour ... a wine was worth the wait. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to enjoy it.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
J & J Eger Wine Company 2006 Sik-Hegy Dula (Hungary)
This is one of those wines that I really wanted to be able to poke holes in ... in a good natured kinda way of course. Think back to when you were in high school and your buddy finally got that date with the girl you secretly liked and you hoped beyond hope that he would fail miserably on his date; even though he was a buddy. That's kinda like what it was like for me and this wine. The winery is part owned by a fellow writer and friend John Szabo, and is a project he undertook in his native Hungary ... as much as you want to pat him on the back and say, "Good going John." There's still that part of you that says, "What does he know about making wine or running a winery?" After all, those who can't do, teach, right? Well it seems that the versatile John Szabo not only teaches but makes a pretty good wine. Made from the Central European Blaufrankisch grape (known as Lemberger in Germany, as well as a bunch of other names, depending on which country you are in; for example in Hungary it is known as Kekfrankos). I had this wine with friends during a gathering on Tuesday night - one of those in attendance had brought a bottle which was a curiosity for the rest of us (because we all know John); all of us had not had a chance to try John's wine and were excited to do so. The nose has raspberry, vanilla, a bit of graphite, and was quite pleasant. Now to be fair to this review I should come clean and say we tried it in a variety of different glassware, the wine showed best in a Schott Zwiesel Cru Classic Burgundy glass, which is the glass I used when taking these notes - after all the point of drinking wine is not to find the faults but to enjoy the wine ... Now back to your regularly scheduled review. The palate was quite exquisite, showing strawberry, raspberry fruit with a touch of cinnamon and cranberry on the mid-palate and a sour cherry-spice finish, which is also where the vanilla decided to show up. The best words to describe the wine are delicate and delicious. Good work John, you are to be congratulated on a job well done; as for the analogy of the girl, I have my own thanks very much, and I have no intention of ever starting a winery I'm happy to stick with the girl.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Marchesi de Frescobaldi 2000 Remole (Italy)
Another Italian wine takes center stage in my house tonight - as it did last night - and another oldie, but this time it comes from the Tuscany region.
This morning I found myself reorganizing my wine cellar and I came across this bottle, a blend of Sangiovese and "una piccola quantita di Cabernet", now my Italian is a little rusty (more lie non-existant), but I am going to assume that says a little bit of Cabernet. Once again we're not dealing with a fresh fruity wine here. First there's the colour, which had brownish brick tones. The smells were of dried fruit, forest floor, some prunes, and licorice - really not all that appealing if you think about it; but on the palate it proved to be much more inviting: dried leaves, sweetish dried fruits (like a handful of dried cran and other berries), licorice and a hint of dried spices from the oak ... quite lovely indeed, and a pleasure to drink, especially after a little decanting.
This morning I found myself reorganizing my wine cellar and I came across this bottle, a blend of Sangiovese and "una piccola quantita di Cabernet", now my Italian is a little rusty (more lie non-existant), but I am going to assume that says a little bit of Cabernet. Once again we're not dealing with a fresh fruity wine here. First there's the colour, which had brownish brick tones. The smells were of dried fruit, forest floor, some prunes, and licorice - really not all that appealing if you think about it; but on the palate it proved to be much more inviting: dried leaves, sweetish dried fruits (like a handful of dried cran and other berries), licorice and a hint of dried spices from the oak ... quite lovely indeed, and a pleasure to drink, especially after a little decanting.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Luigi Righetti 2003 Valpolicella "Campolieti" (Italy)
Sometimes a wine just calls out to be drunk - which was the case with this wine. I was replacing a bulb in my wine cellar this morning. I put the bulb in and immediately there was light - amazing thing this electricity stuff. I threw the packaging away (and placed some of the components in the recycle bin) and turned to survey what it now looked like all lit up. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a flash of a red capsule and thought, "okay tonight it's you". I pulled the wine off the rack and placed it on the coveted drinking table for this evening; and now here we are. I have to admit that I was a little nervous about a Valpolicella of 6 years old, but you only live once. As it turns out, after I sipped and savoured this wine, I read the back label, and learned that it was not a straight Valpol, it was in fact a "ripasso" (second fermented on Amarone skins) - that explains the longevity and the and nice fruit still in this bottle. To say it had fruit is a bit of a misnomer, the wine smelled and tasted old, but far from too old. The nose had cranberry, sour cherry, forest floor and spiced-dried-plum ... the palate had dried fruit and leaves with a bit of spiciness left, but with a smooth glide through the mouth, and still with a hint of acidity to wash it away clean. Quite lovely ... now what to have with it is the question.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Wolf Blass 2002 Red Label Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon (Australia)
Once upon a time Wolf Blass was a very colourful winery. What I mean by that is that they had a label colour for every colour in the rainbow. The benefit of that was that if you liked a wine all you had to do was remember the colour of the label. Then, a few years ago they decided that they had too many colours, so they made the decision to "simplify" the choices ... since then I haven't been able to figure out the Wolf Blass labeling scheme. It used to be that Yellow Label, which was the most popular wine at the LCBO, was a Cabernet Sauvignon; the Red Label, which I liked better, was this Shiraz-Cabernet blend - it was also a tad less expensive. Tonight, I decided to check out my lone bottle of the old red label wine that I had left in the cellar (I also have an '04 Yellow Label kicking about, which I will try someday soon). This blend still had quite a bit of spicyness to it, so I thought that using my hand held Vinturi aerator would help. It did. The wine smoothed out immensely, making it have an almost creamy smooth mouth feel, yet it still retained that nice element of spice and pepper in the flavour department. Smells of dried dark fruit, namely blackberry, with nice vanilla oak tones. The palate delivered a little more with blackberries, sometimes of the dried and sweet variety, with hints of spice and those vanilla oak notes. This one needed that little nudge of decanting to turn it from decent to delicious.
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