10 Tuesday Nov 2020
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Orange, bricked and nearly see through in the glass. Stewed prunes, almonds, port and raisins on the nose. Tinny and over the hill but it has some reticent notes of steeped raspberries, traces of tannins and a modicum of acidity. It’s too bad that this one is past it’s due date cause I reckon it would have been a decent wine. No score or points. Salut….
19 Monday Oct 2020
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Gorgeous pale orange color. Nose of strawberries, lemon peel and some clementine. On the palate it is bright with those same flavors, a touch of acidity and a long finish. It’s got a great mouthfeel and just the right amount cut to keep it refreshing, light and flavorful. A delicious way to start the evening. Drink this blend of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault now with appetizers. 88 points and 4 stars, $12. Salut….
18 Sunday Oct 2020
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The fourth wine of the #10 Virtual tasting was a home run for me. This $60 Grenache was silky smooth, layered with flavors, complex and had an amazing mouthfeel.
It was semi opaque and had a lighter purple shade in the glass. The nose was very fruity with notes of Cedar, prunes, black cherry, smoky meat, pepper and cinnamon. One taster also threw in ‘bug spray’. On the palate it was very smooth and tasted ‘cold’- in a sense that this wine was very focused and had a concentration of flavors. It was Moxie’s favorite wine of the night and she’s not a huge fan of the reds. The tannins are what I think she liked- very fine grained and well integrated leading to a not-so-dry mouthfeel that was complex, balanced and chock full of red fruits and spice. Prunes showed up on the medium length finish. This wine was astounding to me, my first truly remarkable CDP in forever. I think the 5 years of cellaring was the key to softening this wine and allowing the tertiary notes to begin their emergence. I rated this wine 19 points on my tasting scale, a monster effort that translates into 95 points in the real world. The pro’s went 94, not far off. I know sixty bones is a big step in the wallet but well worth it for an exceptional wine that I award 5 stars to. Drink till 2030. No pairing needed, delicious all by itself. Salut….
08 Thursday Oct 2020
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This is one dark, opaque wine in the glass. On the nose I get some red currants, violets, crushed stone minerality and blueberry. The palate is delicious- ripe blueberry, licorice, rooibos tea and cranberry flavors are all intermingled with very fine grained tannins. The mid palate introduces a touch of acidity and the finish is where this wine really shines. It has a lovely mouthfeel, good balance and the fruit flavors go on for 30 seconds. Those lithe tannins slowly ramp up to give me a touch of dryness on the gums and teeth. Just what I needed for a Fall evening with some hearty foods to include Veal Shnitzel and mashed potatoes. I am really enjoying this wine and would suggest a drinking window until 2025. This Syrah/Grenache blend gets 91 points from me. At $11- six stars if I could. Salut….
30 Sunday Aug 2020
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$25, 5 stars, 91 points, chenin blanc, france, loire valley, VWTC
The second wine of Tasting #8 was another Chenin Blanc, this time from Vouvray. Served at room temperature first we noted a pale gold color. The nose was flowery, with honeycrisp apple, honey, green apples, honeysuckle and pear. The palate is somewhat sweet with several participants noting canned pear with it’s syrupy goodness. I got passion fruit but the wine had a bitter aftertaste.
The chilled version was very interesting. Oatmeal, burnt honey, Graham cracker, butter and white pepper were noted. The wine had more citrus on the finish and I tasted sweet tangerine and pear as well. I scored the chilled version the second highest wine of the night and really enjoyed this $25 wine, giving it 91 points and 5 stars. Pairing suggestions would include grilled Swordfish, roasted Quail or even Moussaka. Drink till 2026. Salut….
14 Friday Aug 2020
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Darker shade of straw/pink. On the nose it’s very fruity with hints of cranberry, strawberry and pink grapefruit. On the palate it is bright, fresh and medium bodied with the light red fruit theme continuing. There is a trace of acidity to keep it fresh and it drinks very light and bouncy. A perfect summer sipper. I like the whole package for what it is. Drink till 2023 with appetizers, perhaps a charcuterie tray or light, white meats. 88 points and 5 stars for this $13 quaffer. Salut….
09 Sunday Aug 2020
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My Virtual Wine Tasting Company is a group of friends who taste wines every two weeks or so. The goal for me is to introduce new varietals and regions to them and try to educate as best I can with my knowledge and experience. At the #7 tasting I presented the Gamay grape. No one realized that Beaujolais wines were made from this grape. We discussed regular maceration versus cold maceration and finally I talked about Carbonic Maceration used to produce the Nouveau Beaujolais. I pre-empted the tasting with a few pointers on Gamay wines- they are very low in tannins and acidity, do not generally cellar past 6 years for Cru wines and are drunk in abundance in the French Bistros. It is a lively, very fruity wine that is extremely easy to drink. Some can present decent complexity, most are basic wines. I chose this Cru that has a bit of age on it and is drinking nicely now. It was exactly what I was hoping it would be, an elegant introduction to the varietal. Some loved it, others hated it. Each to his own.
Gamy, cranberry, pepper, black cherry, blueberry and mocha were all mentioned by the tasters. The wine has little tannic grip but one can sense a tinge of acidity. Most expected a sweet wine, but I mentioned that the Gamay grape is very fruity, hence the expectation once they sniffed. This wine gets 89 points from me, the only detractor being it’s cellaring potential. I really liked it and will buy more at the $22 price point. It gets 4 stars from me. Drink now. Salut….
09 Sunday Aug 2020
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The second wine of our #7 virtual wine tasting was very disappointing. I ordered this Trimbach having really enjoyed it before, the reviews were great and the brand is solid. No one in the tasting group enjoyed either the room temp version nor the chilled.
Paint thinner, petrol, pine, grass and pineapple were descriptors that we heard. Personally I found the wine disjointed, the nose muted and the flavors were just off. I am going to re-taste tonight but don’t have much hope. Interestingly, I tasted the 2013 Riesling twice in 2017 and had very different tasting notes, but they were both consistent 90 point wines. This one is 86, and at $17 it’s a 2 point wine. Salut….
10 Friday Jul 2020
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This Pinot Noir from Burgundy has been sitting in my cellar for a while now. I opened it for friends who I am introducing to other regions and varietals. The wine has a nice shade of red and is see through. The nose offers up cherry, red cola and an earthy spiciness. The palate is very smooth- floral with red fruits, nice fine grained acidity, pomegranate and rhubarb. The long finish was zesty with some acidic juiciness and a trace of tannic backbone. While young at 10 years of cellaring, this one is a candidate for extended time in the dark, it will reward the patient and develop some nice tertiary flavors. It has the fruit and structure to go another 10-15 years. I paired it with seared Trout, Rostì, some salad and steamed green veggies. It worked a treat. For $80 it is pricy, but then again good Burgundy is never cheap. 91 points and 5 stars from me. Drink till 2035. Salut….
14 Sunday Jun 2020
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This Rosé started our third virtual wine tasting with friends. I had everyone reserve half the bottle in another container at room temperature and the remainder in the fridge to be served chilled. It was a gorgeous evening and all parties were on their respective patios with cheese and crackers at the ready. We started off with the chilled version which I found to have a nice pinkish hue, good nose of strawberry, rhubarb and a touch of citrus. The palate was very refreshing, lithe with some nice acidity exhibiting strawberry and red berry notes. The room temperature version had a much fuller nose but was very flabby on the palate. I enjoyed the chilled one more and would forgo some of the nose in return for that crisper body and more succinct flavor profile. It’s an interesting experiment to try with whites and Rosès. Overall I thought it was a nice drop which gets 87 points from me. For $13 it’s a nice summer wine to have on hand, 3 stars. Drink now. Salut….
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