2006 Katarzyna Contemplations Triple Red

Country: Bulgaria
Region: Thracian Valley
Alcohol: 14%
Price: €11,00
Closure: Cork

As with so many other Eastern European countries, Bulgaria has a long history of grape growing and wine production; some estimate that vines were already established in this area around 2 AD. During the years of communism the wine industry lost it's way as wine production was monopolized and consolidated into a state-run industry. The target market was also adjusted to be exclusively the eastern block socialist countries. As a result wine quality suffered severely.

Katarzyna Estate, equivalent to the English Catherine or Catherina, was established in 2004 with the goal to put Bulgarian winemaking back on the map. The site selected for the winery is located on section of no man's between Bulgaria and Greece where watchtowers that still exist give reminder of another era. Since 2002 350 hectares of wines have been planted here along with around 12 million investment in a modern winery.

The 2006 Contemplation Triple Red is the estates first release of this wine. It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Mavrud (a variety indiginous to Bulgaria). Here is my summation:

Attractively dense and dark in colour. Upon opening delicious dark berry aromas really wafted powerfully across the room. The palate is very rich and full-bodied with smooth, spicey, black berry fruit, pepper and an earthy mineraliness/chalkiness. Nice tanninic grip in there too. Ends with some attractive, slightly bitter notes on a good length. This is a really impressive effort first up. Efforts such as this will go a long way to restoring Bulgaria as a wine producing country of note.

2007 Thanisch Alte Reben

Country: Germany
Region: Mosel
Alcohol: 12%
Price: €10,00
Closure: Cork

The Thanisch family story is an interesting one, with it's history traceable all the way back to the Thirty Year War. During this time a a village by the name of Thanisch existed between the towns of Bernkastel and Trarbach along the Mosel. Sometime in the period between 1630 and 1640, a traveller brought the plague to the town, killing its entire population with the exception of one citizen, who later named himself after the village of his ill-fated ancestors.

Weingut Thanisch has been owned by the Thanisch family since 1648. Jörg Thanisch, considered one of the rising stars of the Mosel region, has run the estate since he took over from his father Ludwig in 2001. Thanisch strives for a high quality, limited production harvest that produces a great classic Mosel-Riesling. The estate has 5.5 hectares under vine and produces around 60,000 bottles a year. The dominate grape variety is the riesling (75%) along with some Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir.

This is the 2007 Thanisch Alte Reben; alte reben meaning old vine and referring to the 35 year old vines from which this vine was made. The wine is produced from 100% riesling grown in the Süssenberg vineyard which forms a part of the weingut's premier vineyard, Niederberg-Helden. Here's what I thought of it:

Golden / dark straw yellow in colour with some tinges of green. On the nose honey, apple and hint of citrus. Really clean and pure on the palate with apple and pear along with a mineral aspect. Quite some sweetness on the palate though well balanced by mouth puckering acidity. A very nice wine, though not for those who want their riesling bone dry.

2005 Chateau Rocher Calon

Country: France
Region: Montagne-Saint-Emilion
Alcohol: 14%
Price: €5,00
Closure: Cork

This wine was picked up for a bargain price of 5 euro in the bargain bin of one of my local wine stores. I love a bargain as much as anyone, especially when it comes to wine, and will often take a punt on a wine that I don't know. This one being a 2005 from St. Emilion I was more than willing to give it a go at that price. Rightly, or wrongly, 2005 is considered by many as one of the best vintages of the decade in Bordeaux.

Chateau Rocher-Calon is located in Montagne-Saint-Emilion, the largest satelite region surrounding Saint Emilion. The region characterized by it's production of exclusively red wines, produced from the grape varieties Merlot (75% of vines grown), Cabernet Franc (20% of vines grown) and Cabernet Sauvigon (10% of vines grown). Two other grape varieties allowed in the region, but very rarely used, are Malbec and Carménère.

Clay and limestone along with some sand over a calcious limestone base (also known as roche calcaire, or asteries) make up the ground in which the vines are grown. The summer drought is softened by the inflow of water that rises through the porous limestone allowing the growing of high quality grapes.

Chateau Rocher Calon is an estate 12 hectares in size from which 80,000 bottles are produced with traditional winemaking methods in stainless steel vats with a long maceration of 20 to 25 days and ageing over 18 months. Michel Rolland and his team are used as consultants during the winemaking process.

This wine is typically a Merlot based red (95%) along with a small percentage of Cabernet Franc (5%). Here's what I thought of it:

Dark, deep and purple/red in colour. Nose is very clean; dark plum and current. Some evidence of oak there too. The palate is very closed at time of opening and needed quite some time to even begin opening up. Still it reveals some punchy, juicy black berry fruit on the palate. Quite big and powerful. Quite a lot of acidity in there too. Tannins are evident but not overpowering for a wine this youthful. This one really needs a lot more time in the cellar. A good effort that is value for the normal €12 let alone €5.

1995 Chateau Musar

Country: Lebanon
Region: Bekaa Valley
Alcohol: 14%
Price: €30,00
Closure: Cork

Chateau Musar is the most famous, and in the eyes of many the greatest, of all the wineries in Lebanon. Though it is not the oldest or the largest estate, Musar has a cult-like following the world over. Since the 1979 Bristol Wine Fair, where Michael Broadbent described the wine as the discovery of the fair, the estate has not looked back. And this despite the civil war that tore Lebanon apart in the 1970's and 1980's.

There is so much information about the story of Chateau Musar, its history, the wines it produces etc. that I will not go into further detail here. A great starting point is the Musar website which has a great number of articles for download. Then there are two interesting articles written by Andrew Jefford that are worth reading as well (The Magic of Musar and Understanding Musar). A quick search on google will produce even more.

If two words could best typify Musar it would be uniqueness and individuality; both of these qualities coming from the man behind the creation of the wine for so many years, 1984 Decanter Magazine's Man of the Year, Serge Musar. After his oenology degree in Bordeaux, Serge took over the winemaking in 1959 immediately putting his own unique stamp on the wines making Musar into what it is today. Even though he no longer makes the wine, he still has an enormous influence on this unique wine.

Not only the situation in which wine was made, and to a lesser extent still is, is unique. The processes used to produce the wine, and the resulting wine are also unique. For a start the wines are fermented in cement vats and not stainless or oak. Then some of the winemaking rules are slightly relaxed allowing the wines to have a certain amount of volatile acidity and, in many cases, brettanomyces. The Musar philosophy is that of respect for nature and ecology which is the reason the wines are neither fined nor filtered. There are no chemical additives with the exception of the minimum necessary dose of sulphur. Natural yeasts are also used during fermentation while the bottles are individually hand filled. Everything to attempt to translate what natures intends.

The resulting product are the wines are of superb quality, albeit in particular Musar style, that have the ability to age and mature for long periods of time. This does not only refer to the red wines, as the whites also have the amazing capacity to age, and are considered by Serge Musar to be his greatest wines. No two vintages are the same, each vintage (or in many cases bottles) has it's own individuality. This makes Musar such in interesting, and valued wine for many wine drinkers.

The 1995 vintage yielded 30% less fruit than normal, although the fruit was of an excellent quality. The assemblage of this wine is Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Carignan in equal portions. This is the first time I have tasted a Musar, something I was looking forward to for a long time. Here is what I thought of it.

Nice red in the core fading to brown. The nose is complex and very interesting; quite powerful with cherry fruit, cedar and a shoe polish element. The palate begins candy-like with sweet, soft strawberry, cherry fruit. As the wine opens up it reveals earthy, tobacco and mushroom characters giving the wine a great degree of interest. There is also an almost leathery meatiness to the wine. Like a iron fist in a velvet glove, the structure beneath the fruit is firm with great acidity and good tannin. A long sour cherry finish completes an amazing wine. All I can say is wow.

Chatour Latour on the market

Chateau Latour, located in the Pauillac region, is one of the most famous chateau in the region, if not in Bordeaux and the world. The estate is located in Pauillac region also home to two other world-reknowned estates Chateaus Lafite-Rothschild and Mouton-Rothschild.

The last years has seen the wines of all these estates rise quite dramatically so that today they all cost in excess of 700 euro per bottle and are all inaccessible to the average wine drinker. These are astronomical costs for 750 ml of liquid. While I would love to try these wines one day, if only in an attempt to taste whether they are really that much better than all the rest. I, however, just can't justify that much money for a wine, even for such a one-off event. There is simply too much other good wine available to enjoy that are much better value for money.

With interest I read that Chateau Latour is on the market. Apparently the winery and vineyards will be on the market for anything between 200 and 600 million euro. An amazing, and possibly stupid amount of money for 78 hectares of land with some vines, even if they are considered to be some of the best in the world.

It's a shame that many of these estates have aligned themselves exclusively with the rich and the famous. I wonder what the future brings for them, especially with the current financial crisis giving ample evidence that our decadent, growth-at-all-costs, consumerism is not sustainable.

2005 Heartland Directors Cut Shiraz

Country: Australia
Region: Langhorne Creek & Limestone Coast
Alcohol: 14.5%
Price: €19,00
Closure: Cork

I plan on moving back to Australia within the next two years so I am busy trying to sort of the wines to drink, give away or move with me. It's an interesting job as you find wines hidden away in boxes that you forgot you had purchased. This was one of them, a single bottle of the 2005 Heartland Directors Cut Shiraz.

Heartland Wines is the creation of a small group of South Australian wine identities and friends who all share a passion for making great wine; second generation winemaker Ben Glaetzer and wine industry professionals Grant Tilbrook and Vicki Arnold. All the wines are made by Ben Glaetzer a member of a family as synonymous with the Barossa as Shiraz.

The Shiraz grape was brought to Australia by the father of the Australian wine industry, James Busby, in 1832. Since then it has become the "Australian" grape and has been the driving force behind the industries amazing growth over the past ten years or so. Australia is also home to some of the oldest shiraz vines in the world with a number of wineries having vines older than 100 years.

This wine is Heartland's flagship wine and is 100% Shiraz produced from fruit grown in Glaetzers own vineyards. In this case 60% of the final wine is Langhorne Creek fruit with the remaining 40% coming from the Limestone Coast. Here is what I thought of it:

Dark, deep and dense opaque purple in colour. Great nose with plenty of dark plum and berry fruit along with some coconut. The palate is big and full-bodied with plenty of upfront, almost velvety, fruit. Ripe rich plum, peppery spice with a fair dash of oak. Really good fruit concentration and intensity. Tannins are there but are not too obtrusive. The finish is quite lengthy with spicy dark berry fruit. I really enjoyed this even though it really deserved some more time before consumption.

Georges Vesselles NV Champagne

Country: France
Region: Champagne
Alcohol: 12%
Price: €27,95
Closure: Cork

I was never really a big fan of Champagne until I completely the WSET Intermediate Certificate where we were required to taste a number different sparkling wines including Champagne. The Champagne served at the course was an eye-opener; lovely bready aromas. Wow! I then realized that the average Champagne sold at supermarkets, and served at the average New Years, is generally Moet & Chandon et. al. mass production.

Generally the better known, and higher quality Champagnes are also those that cost a little more, in many cases a lot, money. Fortunately, there are a number of smaller Champagne houses that, though not well known, offer an excellent product that is well worth seeking out. Georges Vesselles is one of these smaller, lesser known Champagne houses.

The house of Georges Vesselle is one of the oldest and highly ranked “Grand Crus”, its vineyards covering some 42 acres. The estate has been owned and operated by the Vesselle for a number of generations. The estate produces Champagne as well as a red Bouzy based on the Pinot Noir grape that is only produced in good vintages.

The various Champagnes produced by Vesselles are all around 90% Pinot Noir with the remaining 10% being Chardonnay. This is the Brut Champagne, a wine that is a blend of 2 and 3 year old cuvees. Here's what I thought of it:

Light golden colour. The bead is tight and small; clearly finer than the Spumante. On the nose apple and pear along with light bread-like aromas. The palate is delicate and fresh. Very dry with smooth apple and citrus fruit. Nice complexity. Dry citrus on a finish of good length. A lovely wine and certainly a class above the Spumante.

2003 Casa Pedro Domecq Reserva Magna

Country: Mexico
Region: Valle de Guadalupe
Alcohol: 12.5%
Price: €33,00
Closure: Cork

I visited Mexico on vacation for a couple weeks and purchased this at the airport on the way home. There wasn't that much available, but trapped in amongst the various Tequila's and other spirits were a couple of wines including the Casa Pedro Domecq Reserva Magna. I picked up two of these based purely on price, label and general gutfeel.

Casa Pedro Domecq, producer of this wine, was the first commercial winery established in the Valle de Guadalupe. It was a part of the Domecq group, started by Irishman Patrick Murphy in Spain, that has been taken over by Pernod Ricard in 2005. Domecq has been a driving force behind the modernization of the wine industry in Spain, and is doing likewise in Mexico. Domecq Mexico is based in the Valle de Guadalupe and is the Napa valley of Mexico. In fact the Valle lies just a couple of hours drive south of the Napa Valley and has the same capacity to produce high quality wines.

While Mexico is not a power in the wine world wine has been made here since 1590's when Spanish missionaries and settlers settled in the Valle de Parras. While it's history does not stretch back that far Valle de Guadalupe also has a relatively long and interesting history with wine production dating back before the 17th century. It was in 1834 that Dominican priests began growing grapes at the Northern Mission of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mision de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe del Norte). This despite the ban placed on vine planting by the Spanish Crown which feared the competition from the new world wineries. The name was later shorted to Valle de Guadalupe.

Reserva Magna is a relatively new release by Pedro Domecq and is their attempt to produce a world class wine that at its best will match the best wines in the world. Since the wine is a recent release it probably has some time to go before it will ever rival the worlds best wines. The wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), Merlot (20%) and Nebbiolo (20%). It has been aged for eighteen months in new French oak and bottled aged for a minimum of one year before release.

Here are my thoughts on it:

Beautiful deep red with purple hues. A powerful nose that really springs out of the glass with plenty of dark cassis fruit and hints of vanillan oak. On the palate there is plenty of juicy, sweet dark berry and cassis fruit; really silky and smooth. Evidence of french oak though it's not overpowering. Fine-grained tannins that do stand out a little now. Plenty of length on the finish. This is a lovely wine now and it will improve with some more cellaring time. Fantastic effort.

2005 Divinica Reserva

Country: Portugal
Region: Douro
Alcohol: 14%
Price: unknown.
Closure: Cork

Produced by Quinta da Arnozela a quinta that I could find no further information about. This is a wine produced from a blend of Touriga Nacional (70%) and Tinta Roriz (30%) arguably two of the most important grapes in port production.

Here is what I thought of it:

Dark, deep purple - teeth-stainingly youthful - in colour; shows it's youth in the intensity and consistency of colour. The nose is quite powerful with plenty of dark berry fruit, spice and hints of french oak poking through here and there. Very much fruit-forward on the palate with plenty of rich black berry fruit, some vanillan oak and plenty of tannic grip. This wine is still very youthful and powerful that needs time to settle down, mature and integrate.

1980 Chateau Carbonnieux Rouge

Country: France
Region: Graves
Alcohol: 12%
Price: €50,00
Closure: Cork

Chateau Carbonnieux is an estate located in the Graves subregion of Bordeaux. The chateau was constructed in the late 14th century at a time when the Hundred Years' War was in full swing. For a long period of time it was under the ownership of the Benedictine monks from the nearby Sainte-Croix abbey.

For forty years, between 1910-1950, Carbonnieux was left abandoned and uninhabited. The vineyards and cellar equipment were in states of disrepair. The year 1956, however, saw the Perrin family take over the chateau. First run by Marc, who passed any in 1982, and later by son Anthony, who passed any in September of this year, the chateau was graudally restored to top condition. The estate is now in the hands of the next generation Perrins: Philibert and Eric.

The chateau has 90 hectares under vine is divided almost equally between white and red varieties. Red varieties dominate slightly with about 47 hectares, whereas the red vines average 32 years of age, these being 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 1% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot. leaving 43 hectares for the white. Average vine age is 26 years for the whites, which are 65% Sauvignon Blanc, 34% Semillon and 1% Muscadelle, It would be fair to say, however, that this estate is better known for it's white cuvee than the red.

Typical of Bordeaux-style blends this wine has a cepage of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. I'm not sure what the exact percentages are but the more modern day red cuvees are made up something like this: 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot.

This wine is the red cuvee and has been resting in the cellar since the date of purchase back in the early 1980's. The 1980 vintage is considered an average vintage, one which should be drunk now. I guess there is a fair chance that this wine will be over the hill. At the very least wines from this vintage will be well and truly showing their age.

This is what I thought of it:

Brick red-brown in colour fading rapidly towards the edges of the glass. Lack of real colour depth reveals this wines age. The nose is not powerful but reveals tabacco and cigar box characters with some dried red fruit and mineral-like elements. On the palate it's the dried red fruit that dominates, almost sour cherry with hints of smooth cedar-like oak. The tannins are fully integrated - all components are nicely in balance. Sour cherry hangs in there desperately on a finish of reasonable length. Despite this wine being right at the end of it's life I still really enjoyed drinking it.

2006 Domaine Chante Cigale Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc

Country: France
Region: Rhone
Alcohol: 13.5%
Price: €20,00
Closure: Cork

Domaine Chante Cigale is located in the famous Chateauneuf du Pape sub-region of the Rhone Valley. The soils of this area are a mixture of sandy clay (40%) and limestone (60%) covered with what are known in France as "galets"; round, smooth stones (almost river stones). The stones are typically quartzite and remnants of Alpine glaciers that have been smoothed over millennia by the Rhône River.

A typifying characteristic of the terroir in the Chateauneuf du Pape sub-region, "galets" fulfill a two-fold purpose in this regions. Firstly, the stones absorb heat during the day and at night slowly release this warmth which aids the ripening of the grapes. Secondly, the stones can also serve as a protective layer to help retain moisture in the soil during the dry summer months.

The domaine encompasses a total of 40 hectares of which 5 hectares are white varieties with an average age of 30 years. These 5 hectares equate to around 20,000 bottles of white wine per year. Fermentation takes place in two separate batches using the natural, or wild, yeasts. The majority (95%) was fermented at 16°C in stainless steel tanks for a period of 3-4 weeks. The remaining 5% was fermented in new barrels at 20°C for a period of 8-10 weeks. No malolactic fermentation took place in order to keep the wine fresh.

Cepage of this wine is Bourboulenc (25%), Grenache Blanc (25%), Roussanne (25%) with the remaining 25% made up of varieties native to the region such as Picpoul and Clairette. This is what I thought of it:

Straw yellow in colour with tinges of green coming through. Very fragrant and fresh on the nose with hints of apple and pear. On the palate its quite rich with plenty ripe, almost juicy fruit - pear, apple along with hints of citrus. A soft roundness probably stemming from the partial oak treatment complements the high acidity beautifully. Finishes strongly with a burst of citrus long with some mineral qualities. Really classy, well balanced wine that I really enjoyed. For me this is something that I will definitely drink again in the future.

1998 Bodegas Riojanas Vina Albina Gran Reserva

Country: Spain
Region: Rioja
Alcohol: 12.5%
Price: around €20,o0
Closure: Cork

This wine is produced by Bodegas Riojanas, a bodega with over 100 years of history in the Rioja region. The Rioja region is divided into three main regions one of which one is the Rioja Alta where Riojanas is based (the others being Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Baja). The Rioja Alta region has higher elevations than the other regions is famous for its concentrated, fruity, smooth textured wines.

Bodegas Riojanas currently has more than 300 hectares of vine under direct control of which the majority is Tempranillo. Interestingly enough, however, is that the bodega also has one of the largest vineyard expanses dedicated to both Graciano and Mazueo in the Rioja region. From this they produce a number of wine ranges with the most serious being the Gran Albina, the Monte Real and the Vina Albina ranges. Most of the ranges include a crianza, reserva and gran reserva depending on the vintage and fruit quality.

In Rioja wines are categorized as either joven, crianza, reserva, and gran reserva. This system has everything to do with ranking according to the aging of the wine; in the last three the length of time the wine was aged in oak. This wine is the gran reserva which means that it must, at a minimum, have aged for two years in oak and at least three years in the bottle. Currently Riojanas has 25,000 barrels plus a stock of 4,500,000 bottles stored in a purpose-built installation of more than 35,000 square meters in size.

As you would expect from a Rioja, the majority of the wine is made up of the Tempranillo variety (80%) blended with Mazuelo (15%) and Graciano (5%). Here's what I thought of it:

Cherry to brick red, browning towards the edges of the glass. Really nice soft, fruity nose with some funky, earthy aromas. An attractive, almost velvet, palate with stewed ripe, red cherry fruit and tones of American oak. Also some interesting savoury characters in there. Grippy tannins are still evident but well integrated and not too obtrusive. A classy, mature wine that, though definitely in the later half of its life, is still really good drinking now and probably will be for a couple of years yet.

2001 Chateau Villars

Country: France
Region: Fronsac
Alcohol: 13%
Price: €13,95
Closure: Cork

Fronsac is a hilly, picturesque region located along the Dordogne and L'Isle rivers to the west of the much more famous Pomerol region. A part of what is known as the Libourne satellite appellations - appellations that surround more famous wine regions - it's wines are recognized as some of the best value in Bordeaux. The soil on the right bank of the Dordogne contains a high percentage of clay which is a marriage made in heaven for the Merlot variety.

It is in this region that Chateau Villars has a history spanning more than two centuries and has shown itself to be one of the better performing chateaus in the Fronsac. Le Guide Hachette des vins has long rated this chateau as one the gems of its appellation which gives you an idea of the wine quality produced here. Had this chateau been located a little further east it would have a much bigger reputation.

The Gaudrie family has run chateau since the beginning of the 19th century with Jean-Claude and his family currently in control of operations. Thierry Gaudrie has managed to successfully combine the ancestral traditions of his forefathers with today’s modern methods. This wine (the Chateau Villars) is the flagship wine, a blend of predominantly merlot (75%) along with some cabernet franc (15%) and cabernet sauvignon (10%). Here is what I thought of it:

Despite being seven years old, this wine is still a very youthful, deep purple in colour. Nice mature nose with red strawberry and cherry-like aromas. Some earthy, yeasty, bread-like characters in there as well. On the palate it's smooth and soft with earthy, red berry fruit and hints of cedar. The tannins are quite soft and well integrated. It is full bodied but well balanced and nicely structured. All-in-all an honest, nicely matured red that is very good value for money and shows what Fronsac is capable of.

Casa do Raposo Fine Ruby Port

Country: Portugal
Region: Douro
Alcohol: 20%
Price: €19,95
Closure: T-Cap

Casa do Raposo Fine Ruby Port is produced by Casal dos Jordoes, one of the first organic port producers. This producer is one of the smaller producers in the Douro producing around 140,000 litres of port, of which they bring 35,000 litres onto the market under their own labels, and 275,000 litre of table wine from their 50 hectares. Alongside this they also produce olives from 13 hectares of olive grove.

This ruby port is produced from a blend of the Touriga Franca (Francesca) (60%), Tinta Roriz (20%), Tinta Barroca (10%) and Touriga Nacional (10%) grapes.  These four varieties along with Tinta Cao and Tinta Amarela make up the most important grapes in port production (of the forty eight grapes types permitted).  Touriga Franca provides structure along with a mix of fruit and floral characters, Tinta Roriz (tempranillo) provides firm structure and flavors/aromas of dried cherries and spice, Tinta Barroca provides a high sugar content, floral aromatics, black cherries, plums and purple flowers, and finally the Touriga Nacional provides deep colour, structure and rich flavours of black fruit.

Ruby Port is the most basic of port styles and is generally made with a blend of red grape varieties and blends from several years. It is generally a drink now port, although there are examples of unfiltered Ruby ports that will allow some bottle aging.  This port is port is one of those unfiltered examples with the etiquette suggesting that decanting is required.  Not too sure how long it will age, but after more than a week in the bottle it was still going strong.

Anyway, what do I think of this Ruby Port:

As expected a really deep purple in colour. Plenty of fruit on the nose with spirit coming through as well. Smooth on the palate with plenty of good, juicy, concentrated, sweet fruit. Really quite sweet but the acid combined with the grape spirit gives the wine a good balance. Tannins are quite light on, as expected, which means a really easy drink exactly as a ruby port should be. I really enjoyed drinking this and in my opinion this is a lot better than your average ruby.

2007 Leasingham Magnus Riesling

Country: Australia
Region: Clare Valley
Alcohol: 13.5%
Price: €12,00
Closure: Screwcap

When I think of Riesling I cannot help but think of the steep, hilly regions of Germany along the Rhine and the Mosel rivers.  The riesling, originating in Germany (Rhine region), is a very versatile grape which can produce wines in many different styles.  In fact it is one of the reasons some commentators, such as Jancis Robinson (and many others I may say), refer to riesling as the king of the whites.  

Riesling is possibly one of the most underrated white varieties after it's reputation was destroyed by wines such as Blue Nun, Liebfraumilch and Niersteiner.  Thouge these wines often contained little or no riesling in them riesling was tainted by association.  These wines gave riesling the reputation of sickly sweet wines; beginners wines that were not to be taken too seriously.  Over time Riesling is winning back some of the lost ground, although there is still a lot of ground to be made up.

In Australia the Clare Valley is one of 'the' places to produce riesling and is home to some of the best producers such as Leo Buring, Petaluma and Grosset.  With an average rainfall of 632mm and an average winter temperature of 13 degrees, the Clare Valley is one of Australia's coolest wine growing regions.  The long, warm summer days and the cooling nights allow the grapes to develop flavour as well as maintaining the crisp acidity Australian rieslings are known for.  In general Australian riesling is drier than those produced in Germany for example where a little residual sugar is often left in the wine left fermentation.  

This wine is the 2007 Leasingham Magnus Riesling produced in the Clare Valley.  Against all advice Leasingham was the first winery in the Clare to plant the riesling variety in the early 1950's.  The variety flourished and the rest they say is history.     

Here is what I thought of the wine:

Light; almost straw-like in colour.  Typical floral nose with a dash of green citrus.  Quite dry on the palate with juicy, lemon, lime citrus fruit and plenty of mouth drying acidity.  A little short on the finish but a nice, varietally correct wine.  While very clean and correct I do think it lacks that little bit of interest for mine.  I would, however, be interested in tasting this with some bottle age.

2003 Monasterio Del Pueyo Reserva

Country: Spain
Region: Somontano
Alcohol: 13%
Price: €6,99
Closure: Cork

I purchased this wine at the Aldi without having a clue what I was really purchasing.  The little advertisement on the left-hand top corner of the label stating "90 point Robert Parker" did catch my attention even though I am neither a fan, nor a reader of this particular wine critic.  I was, however, interested enough to grab two bottles just to have a look see.

On arriving home wack the wine name into good old google.  Nothing much available about this wine.  Certainly not what I would have expected from a 90 point Parker wine.  Anyway, after further searching I found that, according Aldi marketing and advertisements, this wine is a Marboré produced by Bodegas Pirineos located in the Somontano region.  According to the Aldi it was not possible to use the original labelling so it was labelled as Monasterio Del Pueyo Reserva.  Of note was that the Marboré was not actually rated by Parker, but by Jay Miller.

The wine comes from the foot of the Pyrenees in Spain, from a region called Somontano.  Somontano, which actually means under the mountains, has a long oenological history with grapes having been grown since at least since the beginning of 2nd century BC.  The region is generally known for its full-coloured, rustic reds with high tannin content, good acidity and good cellaring ability.

The cepage of the Monasterio is temperanillo (60%), cabernet sauvignon (20%) and merlot (20%) according the etiquette.  However, if this is really the Marboré then it also includes lesser known local varieties parraleta (5%), and moristel (5%) at the expense of the same percentage of temperanillo.  Whether this is so remains to be seen.

Ok, now to what I thought about this wine:

Deep, dark purple in colour.  Powerful nose, especially when the wine was first opened and poured.  Definite vanilla on the nose along with plenty of red and dark berry fruit and some spice.  Plenty of power, yet quite elegant, on the palate with sweet, black, spicey fruit.  Some tannin in there which probably needs a little time to settle down.  A nice drop, certainly for the price, and certainly worth stashing a few away in the cellar.  Whether the 90/100 is justified remains to be seen.  I'm not such a big fan of this system myself; you either like the wine or you don't.

WBW#49 A toast to the end of the Bush Era

I got married last month which is the reason that this blog has been neglected over that same period. This will then be my first post for quite some time; hopefully of many more to come.

The current Wine Blogging Wednesday topic, a toast to the end of the Bush Era, is hosted by Dhonig of 2 Days Per Bottle. This is an interesting topic, and one that I could not let slip by. My bottle of wine for this theme is one from France seeing they were one of the few countries stand up the US when it counted (despite much criticism). I have great respect for that, thus a French wine.

Well, like the citizens of most countries world-wide I've never been a Bush fan, and over the term of his office he has proven himself to be worse than I imagined when he was elected the first time around. The fact that he got a second term boggles my mind and probably says volumes about the majority living in the United States. Needless to say I won't sad when he leaves the Whitehouse for the last time.

Domaine du Jas Le Chevre d'Or

Country: France

Region: Cote du Rhone

Alcohol: 13%

Price: €14.95

Closure: Cork

Anyway, onto the wine. The wine I have chosen is the 2004 Domaine du Jas La Chevre d'Or produced in the Rhone Valley. This wine is 100% Syrah and produced by organic and byo-dynamic methods.

Here's what I thought of the wine:

Dark, purple-red in colour. Nose is not all that powerful, but is distinctive with red and dark fruit, hints of wood and dusty, earthy aromas. Again plenty of concentrated red and black fruit on the palate. Oak is hidden away nicely behind the fruit. There is also some earthiness there too along with nicely integrated tannins. A lengthy, dark fruit finish to a very good wine. I really like this wine; very concentrated but not over the top in power.

WBW#48 Back to Our Roots

For a variety of reasons I started this post but never managed to finish it. This was a milestone in Wine Blogging Wednesday; it had been four years since Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours fame kicked off WBW.

Unlike many I never started on white, sweeter wines; whites have been something of an investigation project later on. I started with the lower end reds. Jacob's Creek, Hardy's Nottage Hill etc. were all names that served me well at the beginning of my wine journey. I couldn't find any of these, even though I have previously seen them floating around the supermarkets previously, so I purchased the Jacobs Creek Reserve Shiraz instead. Here's what my thoughts on it are:

2006 Jacobs Creek Reserve Shiraz

Country: Australia
Region: Multi-Regional
Alcohol: 14.5%
Price: €9,00
Closure: Cork

Deep purple red; quite dark and dense in colour. The nose shows red fruit and spice along with vanillan aromas. On the palate the red fruit is ripe, sweet and upfront and exhibits plum and dark berry flavours. Typical of Shiraz it also showed plenty of spice too. The oak was also evident but not overly so. Tannins were soft and velvety.  A very decent, albeit commercial, drop and pretty good value for money.

2005 Niepoort Vertente Tinto

Country: Portugal
Region: Douro
Alcohol: 13%
Price: €19,00
Closure: Cork

In my eyes Portugal, along with Italy, is one of the most exciting wine producing countries in the world today. With the many indigenous grape varieties available at their disposal the potential is there to produce interesting, unique wines that could differentiate Portugal from many other wine producing countries.

Port, Portugal's most famous of wines, has long been the king-pin in the Douro. Over the last ten to twenty years, however, this has all been changing as consumers tastes changed from drinking Port and Sherries to table wines. The rise of a new generation of winemakers in the Douro, and Portugal as a whole, has seen many producing table wines in addition to their ports. As a result many have released a range of table wines.

Among these is van Niepoort, a wine producer of Dutch origins. Van Niepoort is run by a 5th generation Niepoort, Dirk. Over the years Dirk Niepoort has established a reputation as one of the most skilled winemakers in the Douro. While he is also a tradionalist he was one of the first in the Douro to start dabbling with table wines.

This wine, named the Vertente, is a tinto produced from a blend of Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca, Tinta Amarela, Touriga Nacional and others. The vineyards producing the grapes are quite mature with vine ages ranging between 20 and 70 years. Here's what I thought of it:

Great depth of colour with the deep purple showing it's youth. The nose is powerful and shows dark berry fruit. On the palate there is plenty of fresh, dark berry along with good, dying tannins and really good acidity. The wood is nicely integrated behind the fruit. This is a wine that is more about elegance than power. Nice length on the finish. I really liked this wine though at the moment of tasting I'm unsure whether this good value at €19.00.

WBW#47 Today’s Wine Brought To You By The Letter “S”

This months Wine Blogging Wednesday theme is presented by the guys at Grape Juice. An interesting theme this one; Today’s Wine Brought To You By The Letter “S”. Well all I can say this wine was definitely brought by the letter "S". Read more to find out why.

NV Pertaringa The Full Fronti

Country: Australia
Region: McLaren Vale
Alcohol: 18.%
Price: €16,00
Closure: T-Cap

The liqueur styles Tokay (Muscadelle) and Muscat/Frontignac (Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains / Brown Muscat) are classically produced in Australia, especially the Rutherglen area in Victoria. This one, however, is not from Rutherglen but from McLaren Vale where the Hardy and Leask families have been fortifying grapes for well over 150 years. Today they own and run Pertaringa Vineyards releasing the Full Fronti for fun rather than necessity. The Liqueur Fronti is a blend of liqueur frontignac that averages to around 20 years in age.

These are my thoughts on it:

Amber-brown in colour with hints of olive green. Very thick and viscous. Powerful on the nose; the aromas almost leap out of the glass with ranchio aromas, raisins and currants, spice and just a hint of spirit. Thick, luscious and powerful on the palate with the same ranchio characters, raisins, currents, apricot, caramel along with hints of spirit. A spirited long, lengthy finish completes a seriously superb drink; stupendously spectacular, sensuous, and sublime. Oh heck why not? It's SUPER­CALI­FRAGI­LISTIC­EXPI­ALI­DOCIOUSLY good.