Archive for the 'Food and Drink' Category

Wolf Blass Grey Label (Cabernet Sauvignon - Langhorne Creek) 2004

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

Opening the screwcap on this 04 there was a wonderful explosion of fruit. However I’ve left it to sit in the decanter these past 45 minutes.
The nose in the glass has all sorts in it - lots of mint, some bbq hot rocks with fat burning on them and a wopping amount of alcohol.
On the [...]

Richard Hamilton - Centurion Shiraz (2001)

Sunday, January 6th, 2008

Coming from 109 year old vines in the McLaren  Vale region of south Australia I’m expecting good things from this wine. Fairly tight nose. Some deep red fruits showing through the alcohol - plums and the like.Colour is extremely deep red almost purple.A whole heap of oak is here, not much fruit showing through. Somewhat disappointing. [...]

Scarpantoni Estate - Estate Reserve (Shiraz/Cabernet) 1999

Saturday, January 5th, 2008

Dark red berries on the nose, black currant (cassis) is there too along with smoky tannins overlaid on a subtle sweet/pepper mint (mentholy) which is just intoxicating along with hints of freshly cracked black pepper. Buried somewhere in this nose is a little liquorice or molasses. Oh what a nose job this wine has - [...]

Chatteau Quattre (1996) (Cahors)

Tuesday, December 18th, 2007

From the Cahors region in France, this red drop is made up of

79% Auxerrios
13 % Merlot
8% Tannat

From what I’ve been able to determine in the Cahors region Auxerrios would be known as Malbec in the rest of the world. No idea when its good to drink (or if its way past its best). Am expecting [...]

O’Leary Walker - Shiraz (Clare Valley/McLaren Vale) 2005

Sunday, December 9th, 2007

decanted 15 minutes before trying
Fruity nose - hard to pin down - its definitely sweet hints of liquorice even a little menthol (think fishermans friend). Colour is deep red/purple in hue fading to hints of brown on the rim of the glass.
Initial peppery spice on the palate followed up by nice clean red dirt (thinking [...]

Gavioli - Primativo (2004)

Saturday, December 8th, 2007

Hailing from Italy this primativo has an interesting colour - not particularly intense - somewhere near ruby in colour, with a dash of red delicious - you can see your fingers through it in a tilted glass.\
The nose has hints of dark berries, overlaid on a subtle forest floor with a new road running [...]

Bleasdale - Malbec 2003 (Langhorne Creek)

Sunday, November 25th, 2007

Inky purple/red in colour a nose that is dominated by the 14.5% alcohol content, very subtle black currant beneath that sitting on top of very faint asphalt. Weird nose. Tempted to leave it and give it more air and hope it develops over time, then again, I also want to hook into it and try [...]

Teusner “Joshua” - Grenache Shiraz Mouvedre 2006

Saturday, November 24th, 2007

This wine (65% Grenache, 25% Mataro and 10% Shiraz) had a fairly alcoholic fruity nose - nothing of much note - perhaps dried apricot. The taste on the mouth was pretty much just tannin’s and dried fruit (apricot slabs). Not integrated, not balanced, not drinkable. Left for several hours to see if it would improve [...]

N.V. Cattier Champagne Brut Premier Cru Chigny-lès-Roses

Wednesday, November 21st, 2007

Nose: Hints of lemon zest on light toast with subtle yeasty notes.
On the mouth - initial explosion of fine to medium bubble, followed quickly with a yeasty flavour that is almost instantly replaced by acid and a nice sharp finish.
Not too shabby.

Geeks and Wine?

Wednesday, November 14th, 2007

Are you a geek? If so, would you consider yourself an oenophile (wine lover/wine fan)?
Having read  a blog post that suggests that geeks love to get the core of problems, to discover the key to “problems” or otherwise get to the heart of anything that they enjoy doing (games, puzzles etal). I’d have to say [...]