Great bargain I bought from the BC Liquor Store!The McWilliam's Hanwood estate Cabernet Sauvignon was a bargain! This is another example of an educated buy from my research. What do people habitually buy those artificial 'Yellow Kangaroo Tail' which is really Chemical fruit cordial mixed with alcohol like someone with too much superficial make up and no personality! On the nose, full black current cassis, black cherry, mulberry and spicy dark chocolate with much charm face characters but it just doesn't stop here. While it's neither overly complex nor deep like an expensive cab (why am I being so judgmental?!), it offer good structure and balance of acid, fruit and soft sweet tannin destined to be another high class quaffer. Friendly, warming and unpretentious, the full body packed full juicy wine delivers much instant gratifications. The finish is fair and leaves good satisfaction. Kudos to the Aussies who make such affordable yet very drinkable wines. Drink now (rating 88-90 points) by Michael Lam of the Beverage Review.
Falesco - a up and coming winery run by a pair of Italian brothers has certainly enjoyed some fantastic reviews by wine critiques. The winery's famous wines include the Vitaino which I have tasted and also the more serious Montiano which is made from Merlot. Here I am tasting the 2005 Sangiovese. The colour shows dark red to almost a purple colour. The nose is showing lots - young vibrant energetic fruits of jammy cherry, cherry jello, ripe strawberry dipped in balsamic vinegar, cranberry with wild dry flower and violet/lilac. This well extracted full body wine offers tons of fruit and sutle spice, tobacco, dark chocolate, smoke, charred wood and almond nut. I like the style more than the Vitiano. ***Perhaps I should have drunk my vitiano younger to enjoy it's and vibrancy*** This wine has structure to age a few more years but why?! Everything seems to be in harmony. This is a well made serious high class quaffer that would make most chianti hide and shy! The acidity is neither too high so you can sip this 'please love me' wine after a hard day's work to rejuvenate the spirit! Drink now or age up to 2 or 3 years. (88-90 points) by Michael Lam of the Beverage Review.A note: I wore the Z jersey as Ken, my faithful viewer requested me! This time I didn't get cut off my the camera but the memory card was full!
This famous region of Bordeaux specialises making dessert wines from Botrytis white grapes of semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. Botrytis Cinerea is a fungus that attacks and dehydrates the grapes thus naturally leaving the grapes concentrating on their sugar level. Botrytis doesn't just develop every year with ease but needs the right conditions from mother nature. Recent excellent vintages in Bordeaux are 2001 and 2003. The de Myrat is a second growth from the 1855 classification. The color of the wine is yellow / yellow straw. On the nose, profound honey and candied lemon fruit/ citrus oil came out. This syrupy, oily bodied wine offers more candied lemon, candied pear, candied pineapple, subtle smoke and spice. The finish is long with sweetened bitter lemon rind and great Botrytis characters. The balanced acidity, sugar, concentration and alcohol ensures it's ageability. I look forward retasting this wine with you in 5 and 10 years time to see how it develops. (90-92 points by Michael Lam of the Beverage Review).Just an extra note: when tasting dessert wine. One, primarily, is looking for balance between acidity and sweetness but the most important thing is looking for COMPLEXITY. Winemakers can manipulate and adjust acidity and sweetness but they cannot create natural complexity which comes from the grape. Complexity also develops as the wine ages...the fruit level drops as well as loosing some sweetness but other dimensions like coffee and even subtle spices emerges with a change to a darker colour. You gain some and you loose some!
Wine Tasting Clip of Alex Gambal Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2004 tasted on 10 August 2006.WINE: Alex Gambal Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2004VINTAGE: 2004PRODUCER: Maison Alex GambalGRAPES: Pinot NoirREGION: Burgundy, Cote dâOrCOUNTRY: FranceONE WORD: RefinedTASTING: Fairly light cherry colour, classic Pinot though, and a refined red cherry, nutmeg and cinnamon melange on the nose with some real class. The palate is soft and gentle, but not weedy as it carries good weight and silky tannins. FOOD MATCH: Partridge, roasted.
Today Gary does a Grenache wine tasting and review. Watch and see how these four fare, plus a new QOD. Gary will be on the TV Atlanta & Company tommorow Dec 12 at 11:00 a.m. Click the link above to see the video after it's posted.
These five geeks are brought together to experience their first wine tasting session. However, eveything gets out of hand when the boys get intoxicated and start chugging bottles of wine.
Estancia has been one of the bargain quality wines from California for many years. Do forgive my memory, I paid under Cad$25 for this wine about 5 or 6 years ago. The colour when observed already showing that of an aged wine that's brownish brick garnet. Old wine nose of prune, dark soya sauce and sweet glycerol emerged with lower level of ripe blackcurrant and dark cherry. The taste of the wine confirmed the above with more dark chocolate and tobacco to follow. The fruit level as well as tannin has been dropped thus the mouth feel was round and velvet. This wine should have been opened 2 years ago in my opinion as it would have been more balanced. Do drink the remaining stock if you still have some! (Rating 86-88 points) by Michael Lam of the Beverage Review.
Mary is interviewed by Cluster following a CE Wine tasting class, taught by Bart Massey at a college. Mary speaks about her wine preferences and her opinions about the in person wine class she attended offered by Kentucky Wine School and Wine Tutoring through the college.
Coonawarra is situated about 380km south east of Adelaide, the wine capital of Australia. Coonawarra means Honeysuckle by the local Aboriginals. This is actually a cool climate region in South Australia excels in growing cabernet sauvignon (and shiraz). There they also plant some pinot noir, merlot and Cab Franc etc. The regional has a unique soil structure with a top layer of red terrarosa soil with an underlying layer of limestone. Wine produced are famous for being complex yet elegant and have excellent structure - not the typically loud upfront big body fruit bomb style from South Aussieland.Lindemans produces 3 top wines from Coonawarra namely St. George, Limestone Ridge and Pyrus. Pyrus is a true Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The first feel from my nose was sweet and spicy oak, cola, root beer and dry orange peel plum with waxy red cherry berry fruit. On the mouth, the feel was a higher 'Aussie' style acidity then with the fruit, more sweet spicy oak (French oak), cola, subtle mint, mild tobacco, cedar and pencil shavings. Medium to full body with soft tannin means the wine is elegant yet has good structure. A true cool climate wine with complexity. The wine is still vibrant after 8 years from it's vintage. It's a great food wine (because of it's acidity) that can stand up a thick steak (It has structure/complexity) or a quality hand made pizza (elegant enough). The finish is fair and clean with more orange peel lingers on. (90-92 points) Michael Lam from the Beverage Review
