A Wine Diary

This is a beauty. Someone (smithco) left a comment on Cork’d about the 2001 vintage of the same wine, “This is as good as a red wine gets” and I fully agree. This was the wine my wife and myself chose as the best one among the many of the wines we tried at the O’Briens Wine Fair and decided to buy a case of it. Since then, we’ve been enjoying it occasionally and the last bottle is about to end, still providing us with joy and causing respect and admiration.

The wine was rated 4/5 by decanter.com and the following comment was left: “Rich nose, concentrated deep fruit. Rich, concentrated palate. Big wine, smooth. Drink 2007-10″. Well, we obviously couldn’t resist drinking it all in 2006. A truely great wine, highly recommended. This is the kind of wine I currently consider as perfect.

Price: €13.99
Score: 10/10
Typical Grape Composition: Grenache/Syrah

There is a very nice article about the Rasteau village, “A Small Town in France” written by Dave McIntyre. Here is a short excerpt related specifically at this village, but the whole article is inspiring and well worth a read.

My fantasy town is Rasteau. You may have heard of it, then again maybe not. It bears a minor distinction in the hierarchy of the appellation controllee laws in that its name can appear on a wine label above the generic appellation “Côtes du Rhône-Villages.” Eighteen other villages share that modest distinction, sort of an official, “Hey, not bad!” from the Parisian bureaucracy. This places them below the 14 crus (such as Châteuneuf-du-Pape and Vacqueyras) that stand alone as village names, but above anonymous Côtes du Rhône-Villages and Côtes du Rhône.

To learn more about the Rasteau village and see some pictures, visit provenceweb.fr

Technorati Tags: Rasteau, Grenache

Once my favourite, a classic Rioja, made of 75% Tempranillo, 15% Graciano and 10% Mazuelo. Aged for 18 months in barrels and 18 months in the bottle, this is a typical Rioja, with the oaky vanilla taste. It is a nice wine, but I think I enjoyed the Gran Sangre de Torro better. However, I want to try the Campo Viejo Gran Reserva one of these days.

Price: ˆ12.95
Score: 8/10

Technorati Tags: Rioja, Campo Viejo, Tempranillo, Spanish Wine

A blackcurrant nose, hints of sweet spice. Oaky berry taste, quite sweet and strong (13.5%). Nice, elegant finish. Beautifly accompanied our chicken teriyaki dish.

This is what the experts said about it:

Dark berry fruit flavours follow from the nose with hints of menthol and sweet spice. Nutty, toasty oak provides a complex backbone and serves to support a long and elegant finish.

Price: 10.95
Score: 8/10

Cerro Punta Negra from San Juan in Argentina is the wine that blew me off my feet at the recent wine fair I attended. It is a wine with a lot of strength and charm, a well balanced blend of rich plumy Malbec and spicy earthy Syrah.

This smooth and well structured wine is notable for an intense violet colour. Its aroma is reminiscent of violets and ripe plums, and it’s taste is of blueberry and exotic spices… It is ideal as a companion of red meat, game and spicy pasta.

I would serve it close to the end of a meal, or even for “after meals” - those moments when you informally serve the main dish an hour or so after the dessert and the coffee (do you do it?), when you need to spice up the already known dish with something new and exiting.

I’ll give it the same grade I did a few weeks back at the fair. It really deserves it. Specially at it’s price.

Price: €6.49
Score: 9/10
Merchant: O’Briens

Technorati Tags: Malbec, Shiraz

I owe much to Australian wines and specially Jacob’s Creek. Their wines were one of the first ones that I was confident in - I knew I could enter a wine store and be sure that I’ll get out with a wine I’ll enjoy if I get one of them, this is specially the case with Shiraz Cabernet mixtures. So, even today I often reach for a Jacob’s Creek, it reads “you’ll enjoy this one” in my head, automatically. So, today I reached for their Grenache Shiraz.

It has a beautiful color, a fresh smell and a rich taste, a combination of a berry flavour and the spicy, cigarette-like taste which I’m not too fond of when it’s too obvious, specially after trying a 100% Shiraz from South Africa that had an extremely strong earthy spicy taste which I can now recognize in more subtle mixtures. I prefer the Shiraz Cabernet combination, it appears (I could be very wrong!) that Cabernet is able to pull out more spiciness from the Shiraz than Grenache.

Price: €7.95
Score: 7/10

Technorati Tags: Jacobs Creek, Shiraz, Grenache, Syrah, Australia

Well, due to the hot weather and the World Cup in Germany, I’ve mostly been drinking beer during the last few weeks. I’m a huge fan of Hoegaarden and this post is dedicated to it, the unique, refreshing and addictive Belgian white beer I’ve been enjoying a lot lately

Hoegaarden is totally different, by nature. It is different from virtually any other beer or beverage experience in the world, different in the kind of beverage that it is, and in the naturally refreshing taste experience.

Hoegaarden is the authentic Belgian wheat or white beer. It has a unique, interesting and extremely complex brewing process whereby the brand is first top fermented and then is refermented within the bottle, ending up in a unique cloudy-white appearance. Hoegaarden’s unique appearance is mirrored by its one-of-a-kind taste, it’a sweet and sour beer with a little bitterness, slightly spicy, with a strong touch of coriander and a hint of orange, perfect for warm summer days, instead of other refreshing beverages. Refreshing, a little quirky, and decidedly different - naturally. Oh, and don’t forget to drop in the slice of lemon!

Technorati Tags: Hoegaarden, Belgian Beer, White Beer, Beer

Last weekend I visited the O’Briens biannual wine fair in Dublin. I did attend a few wine tasting events in the past, but this was a completely new experience for me. There were 45 producers from all over the world, all of them well selected by O’Briens and all with at least a few wines to show off. There was also a cheese stand, which made room for a few more wines

So, the time was short and the wines were plenty. We did try quite a few of them and below are the few quick notes I made (in no particular order).

Quinta do Carmo 2002 Reserva
Producer: Domaines Baron de Rothschild, Portugal (foreign venture)
Price: €35
Rating: 9/10

Punta Negra Shiraz/Malbec 2005
Producer: Bodegas Callia, Argentina
Price: €6.49
Rating: 9/10
Notes: This wine was the revelation of the fair for me. A cheap and excellent wine, this one made it to the high position on my list of wines to buy.

Monte Real Rioja Reserva 2000
Producer: Bodegas Riojanas, Spain
Price: €16.99
Rating: 5/10
Note: The wine was too dry for my taste.

Pesano 2004
Producer: Falseco, Italia
Price: €14.99
Rating: 7/10

Podere di Montalupa 2001
Producer: Ascheri, Italia
Price: €27.95
Rating: 8/10
Note: A strong, nice, 100% Syrah.

Villa Novare Valpolicella 2003
Producer: Bertani, Italia
Price: €14.99
Rating: 8/10
Note: Easy going, strong cherry aftertaste.

Bertani Amarone 1998
Producer: Bertani, Italia
Price: €57.00
Rating: 10/10
Note: Excellent, beautiful desert or chillout wine. Too bad it’s so expensive

Brocard Chablis Grand Cru 2002
Producer: http://www.brocard.fr/”>Brocard, Chablis
Price: €45.00
Rating: 4/10
Note: I’m probably yet to develop an appreciation for Chablis…

Chateau Fuisse Saint Veran 2004
Producer: Chateau de Fuisse (Macconais)
Price: €14.95
Rating: 6/10

Pierre Sparr Gewurztraminer 2004
Producer: Pierre Sparr, Alsace
Price: €14.99
Rating: 9/10
Note: A very nice and fruity Gewurztraminer. Loved it.

DBR Bordeaux Rouge Reserve 2003
Producer: Les Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite)
Price: €12.99
Rating: 4/10

San Benoit de Ferrand (Pomerol) 2001
Producer: Schroder & Schyler, AC Margaux
Price: €23.99
Rating: 7/10

Charmes de Kirwan 2003
Producer: Schroder & Schyler, AC Margaux
Price: €29.95
Rating: 8/10
Note: Dryish, very nice palatte

Chateau d’Agassac 2003
Producer: Schroder & Schyler, AC Margaux
Price: €24.99
Rating: 9/10
Note: Light but strong, beautyful nose. My wife loved it.

Rasteau les Hauts du Village 2000
Producer: Cave de Rasteau, Rhone Valley
Price: €17.99
Rating: 7/10

Rasteau Signature 2001 (50cl)
Producer: Cave de Rasteau, Rhone Valley
Price: €17.99
Rating: 8/10
Note: A very nice sweet dessert wine. Consider buying.

and finally, the star of the day:

Rasteau Prestige 2003
Producer: Cave de Rasteau, Rhone Valley
Price: €13.99
Rating: 10/10
Notes: Excellent. We ordered a case of this one, so I’ll review it in detail later.

Technorati Tags: Wine Fair, Wine Tasting, Wine, O’Briens

Well, it looks like wine sharing sites are popping up faster than I drink wines! WineLog, a new site for wine lovers, just launched. Its a site that has user generated information on wines, including tags, ratings and comments.

The content is not deep yet, and users are encouraged to add more wines to the database (a new wine entry is moderated before appearing on the site). But there is enough content there to show that this will be a site that wine lovers will be passionate about.

If you find a wine you like, you can add it to your own wine log. These pages have a permanent public URL for sharing (privacy is promised soon, along with RSS, blog widgets and other features). You can also send information on any wine entry directly to your cell phone via a text message. This is quite nifty actually

Technorati Tags: WineLog, winelog.net

From the Australian Clare Valley comes this rich, full bodied, strong Shiraz. It is 14.5% alcohol, with a rich fruity/spicy aroma. The palate delivers everything the aroma promises - a creamy and luscious wine with rich plum and spice characters. The tannins are fine and persistent, well balanced. Tried it with Camembert and Comte, nothing spectacular, but will save it for tomorrow’s venison - the match should be perfect.

Really like the wine. Too strong to be drunk on it’s own, but is ideal for meals.

Price: €9.99
Score: 8/10

New term:
Luscious: Rich, opulent, and smooth; most often said of sweet wines but also intensely fruity ones.

Technorati Tags: Shiraz, Wakefield, Dinner

Cork’d is a new free online networking service for wine lovers. It’s kind of like Flickr for wine. The service is still in it’s infancy, but the more people join the more fun it will be.

You can use Cork’d to catalog, rate and review wines you’ve tasted. You can also keep track of wines you’d like to try and buy as well as subscribe to what your buddies have reviewed. It’s a new way to discover and share wine — and we think it’s perfect for people like you.

Technorati Tags: Corkd, Cork’d, Wine, Wine 2.0