There are so many intricacies to wine which can make just walking into a proper wine shop a daunting task for the uninitiated. But one doesn’t have to know all that much to be a good wine buyer. There is method to the madness and ways to make small pieces of information work for you. Like this: When in doubt, go Rioja. The Spanish region of Rioja makes some of the nicest wine in the world, per dollar spent (particularly red Tempranillo), and most wine shops will carry at least a couple of them. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that if you’re in a wine shop that can’t sell you a decent Rioja for $15 or less, you should find another shop. Also, OR pinot noir is pretty amazing stuff these days and in 2008, they had one of their best vintages ever, so you can’t go too wrong with most any bottle from that region and year, and again, most decent shops will carry at least a couple, though the best ones can be costly. There are numerous recent examples of these little generalizations that can help: ’05 Bordeaux, ’09 Sonoma Chard, ’07 North Coast everything.

On a critical level, it’s relatively silly to generalize like that. Every single bottle of wine comes down to the grapes grown in a particular place and time and the choices made by the winemaker who begins the winemaking process with those grapes. But generalizing is like playing the percentages and certainly is no sillier than rating wine on 100 pt scale, implying that linear perfection can be achieved. One of the reasons I drink wine and- to this day- one of my favorite wines in the world is 1986 Dunn Vineyards Napa Cabernet. Some guy named Bob tells me it’s 92 points good. This isn’t far from walking into the Louvre, finding yourself before the Winged Victory of Samothrace, taking in its mass, its setting and the nuances of its construction (and destruction) and proclaiming, “I give it a 93.” Both of these things are artistic expressions in their given mediums and they are each effective on their own terms, to an open recipient. Empirically they are high quality examples of what they are. But assigning them numerical values and insinuating that they have a linear place in a measurable hierarchy from shit-on-Hellfire to absolute perfection is comical. But people like numbers, marketing is important, and anything that can be quickly described as an “A” should sell briskly.

Charter member of my Canadian Wine Hall of Fame.

This wine has everything going for it:  great back story, great marketing, great product.  Laughing Stock Vineyards is located in (on?) the Naramata Bench, one of the most prestigious and quality-driven areas of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley wine region.  The winery’s name comes from the fact that its two proprietors both once had successful careers in the financial/investment sector before giving them up to pursue their vinicultural dreams, thus opening themselves up to failure and ridicule if things didn’t go well (note: if you want to win my heart, make your winery name a pun).  Their cleverly-designed bottles reflect their past lives, and they’re not just empty packaging for what’s inside — the juice lives up to the allure of its container.

The Portfolio is Laughing Stock’s top-end red wine, and it’s a Bordeaux blend (i.e. a mixture of two or more of the five red grapes that go into red wines in Bordeaux, France).  In this case, all five of the Bordeaux grapes are used:  56% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 6% Malbec, 1% Petit Verdot.  Each of them are separately vinified and aged into base wines which are then blended together, in different proportions each year, to make the finished wine, which is then briefly aged again before bottling.  Full disclosure:  I am not generally a fan of Canadian producers feeling the need to make a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Bordeaux blend wine, as I would rather see Canada’s wine industry focus on what works within its own unique wine regions as opposed to trying to recreate or mimic another more famous wine area’s product.  I have tried many a Canadian faux-Bordeaux wine and found that it fell flat because, well, we’re not in Bordeaux, and the grapes and wines that work in Bordeaux don’t always translate halfway around the world.  I say all of that to point out that the Portfolio had a lot of my built-in prejudice to overcome for me to like it.  But overcome it did.

Cork Rating: 7/10 (Penalty points for website listing on cork, but otherwise stock-ticker-tastic.)

The wine had a bright, deep ruby colour and a perky, intense nose that first and foremost projected huge hits of cassis, with supporting notes of anise, blackberry and cinnamon.  What impressed me most was that the nose was super ripe (it’s not that easy to get Merlot and Cab to ripen fully in northern latitudes) but yet not sweet — it was juicy without being candied.  Big bold black currant flavours continued along on the palate, which also offered more complex tastes like tobacco, dark coffee and cherry cola.  The Portfolio has a lot of “stuff” to it — full body, medium-to-high acidity levels and firm, chewy tannins — while still being approachable without a decade of aging.  It has good fruit now but also the structure to last awhile, and its quality of production was evident in a surprisingly long finish.

Quite simply, I didn’t think that Canadian red wines could be like this.  I started my experiments with my home and native land’s wine awhile back with one disappointment after another, and I was about ready to give up on the Okanagan as a worthwhile wine region, but producers like Tantalus (amazing Riesling) and now Laughing Stock are starting to pull me back from the brink.  I still think it’s way harder than it should be to find a good $20 bottle of Canadian wine (when Spain, Italy, France, California and even Germany have them lined up down the block, and when I’m IN CANADA), but a wine like this one keeps my hopes up that this might change sooner rather than later.

91 points

$35 to $40 CDN

Awesome label, domineering wine.

Here we have a wine with a great back story, a fun concept and a kick-ass label, but which is made in a style that just makes me cringe.  It’s from the McLaren Vale, one of the premium wine regions in Australia located immediately south of Adelaide in the dead centre of the country’s southern coast, and it takes the super-ripe, ultra-concentrated Aussie style to crazy, irrational extremes.  It is probably a well-made wine for its style, but I will take a rather harsh stand and say that there shouldn’t BE any wines of this style.

But let’s rewind to the good stuff first.  RedHeads Studio is a garage wine collective located in south-central Australia.  ”Garage wine” is a term used to describe high-quality, small-production artisan wines generally made by winemakers who don’t own vineyard land themselves but who buy grapes from growers and make custom wines in small crushing/fermenting facilities.  Some of the first such facilities in Bordeaux, France were actually in garages, which is what coined the term.  RedHeads is home to a number of such custom winemakers, who are often responsible for creating modern, edgy wines.

Poor King Cab...all he ever wanted to do was love.

The Esulé is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Cabernet Franc, rare for the Shiraz-dominated McLaren Vale but central to the story behind the wine.  ”Esulé” means “outcast”, and it refers to the fact that Cabernet-based wines had a sharp decline in popularity in the early 2000s, a fall from grace for the previously-undisputed King of red wines.  The film noir-esque label was specifically designed to reflect this narrative (that’s Old Man Cabernet to the right with his crown beside the femme fatale crying over his loss of stature).  The wine was designed to honour a top-end varietal that at the time had fallen out of vogue.

All of that would be tremendously cool if the Esulé actually showed off the best characteristics of Cabernet (complexity, structure, mouthfeel), but instead the wine seems geared towards wringing every possible living ounce of flavour out of each and every grape.  The grapes making up the Esulé were intentionally not harvested until they were so overripe that they started shrivelling on the vine (a technique usually only seen in dessert wines), and the resulting ripeness (combined with the warmth of Southern Australia) led to a harvest with a high enough sugar content to support this wine’s *gasp* 16% alcohol level.  As a charter member of the Sub-15% Club who has yet to see an alcohol percentage over 15% make a wine better, I shake my head at you, RedHeads.  This is a wine on steroids where those steroids are on steroids.  It’s ridiculous.

Great story. Wish the wine lived up to it.

Not surprisingly, the abominable alcohol level dominates every facet of the Esulé’s flavour profile.  It is totally opaque in colour, an inky, glass-staining, deep dark red, even 5 years after harvest.  A rush of sweet ripeness greets the nose, primarily cooked blueberry and raspberry along with secondary notes of cedar (or cedar shavings, like a hamster cage), caramel and cinnamon.  On the initial attack the darker/blue fruit flavours carry over, mixed with tons of sweetness from the alcohol (a byproduct of alcoholic fermentation is glycerol, which has a slightly sweet taste) and vanilla from the oak aging.  The wine has a massive, mouth-coating, creamy body that I was just beginning to appreciate when WHAM! — the booze kicked in and obliterated every analytical thought in my brain.  This is hot hot HOT on the back end, with a burning finish that’s almost uncomfortable, to the point where you can barely keep your mouth closed after swallowing it.  It’s like taking a big fiery swing of cask-strength whisky.  This walk over the coals is partially restrained by the wine’s tannic structure, but ultimately the Esulé’s fine tannins can’t contain this blockbuster.  After a glass or so, it got to the point where the wine was physically tiring to drink; there was so much of everything punching my tongue on each sip before the concentrated alcohol lit it on fire.

Cork Rating: 6/10 (A little Alice-In-Wonderland-y.)

I know good wine can be made in a variety of styles, and I know Australian winemakers have achieved both commercial success and critical acclaim by making full, fruity, alcoholic red wines, many of which I quite enjoy.  But everything has a limit, and the Esulé beat up that limit, stole its car and drove it off a cliff.  This isn’t a badly made wine, because it is exactly what the winemaker was going for, but I don’t understand the point of making a wine like this where the varietal characteristics of the grape and the sense of “somewhereness” you get from the place where it’s grown are completely wiped out by excesses of ripeness and alcohol.  This is an ode to Cabernet that you can’t even tell IS Cabernet.  I’m particularly disappointed about this wine because I actually diligently cellared it for two years before opening it tonight…if I had noticed the 16% on the bottle earlier, I wouldn’t have bothered.

83 points

$40 to $45 CDN

The Cultish Cabs and their invited guests.

Since it’s not the clearest picture on this blog, here’s what we tasted (left to right): Whispering Dove Cabernet Oakville 2002, Whispering Dove Cabernet Stag’s Leap 2003, Agharta Syrah (Pax Mahle) 2004, Lail J Daniel Cuvee 1999, Dunn Cabernet Napa 1994, Staglin Family Estate Cabernet 1994, Staglin Family Estate Cabernet 2003, Scarecrow 2006, Chateau d’Yquem 1996, Sine Qua Non Mr K The Nobleman 2002. What follows is more of an experiential tale than a set of proper tasting notes as I spent more time enjoying than note taking while amongst these friends.

Classic Napa Cab at it's finest.

This particular evening, it was decided that there would be an initial blind tasting, for fun, and after all guests made there guesses, decanters were properly labeled, so everyone would have accurate palate reference. The ’06 Scarecrow and the ’94 Dunn were both the crowd favorites and were the two wines that nearly everyone guessed correctly during blind tasting. As far as I’m concerned, Dunn Cabernet is the classic long lived Napa Cab in the same way that Chateau Haut Brion is the classic Bordeaux. As of this year, Dunn’s ’86 and ’87 Napa Cabs are still drinking quite well, with little sign of their age. This particular ’94 Dunn Napa, while showing beautifully, still has a number of years to improve in bottle, and many left to live. The 2006 Scarecrow, being such a big wine from a recent good vintage (sandwiched in between 2 great vintages), was supple, round, and encompassing. After significant breathing time, it was damn near seamless. There was a waft on the nose and considerable weight on the finish that our host insisted tasted of “vanilla cake”. While I experienced no crumbs, the vanilla (rich rather than sweet) character was undeniable and quite stunning. And while I know the price of this wine is relatively high (bordering on absurd), it’s a truly beautiful product, inside and out.

Nice juice, not just a clever name.

When I was first invited to this tasting, our fearless host expressed his desire to locate a bottle of Screaming Eagle for around $1200, which is next to impossible, making the cost of said Scarecrow seem quite reasonable. To most mortals, Screaming Eagle isn’t a real wine, but a legendary endpoint of what the highest end of the market will bear (or would bear before the Chinese started paying $1500 a pop for Lafite too young to drink, and then started drinking it). For pennies on those dollars, I brought the two bottles of Whispering Dove which I snapped up with great curiosity back when they were released for around $30/btl.

While every wine opened on this particular evening was well worthy of it’s company, the ’02 Whispering Dove Oakville not only had the most mysterious pedigree of the bunch, but was also 3rd on just about everyone’s blind tasting preference list, and was, by one less experienced taster, mistaken for Scarecrow. To the best of my knowledge, this wine was only produced in 3 vintages from ’01 to ’03, and was very likely different grapes (and likely winemakers) in each release. Rumors that Whispering Dove was in fact declassified Screaming Eagle juice were quickly dispelled, but that didn’t change the marketing boost it got from the false notion. Nor does it change the fact that the 2002 Whispering Dove was most certainly vinified by someone who knew how to handle reserve quality Oakville fruit. And I will likely give my remaining stash another 3 or 4 years before tasting again.

Though new labels don't wear his name, Pax Mahle still makes remarkable syrah-based wine.

And then there was the obviously out of place ’04 Agharta Syrah, which while cultish, contains no cabernet, and was not part of the blind tasting. Bolstering said cultishness, prior to it’s debut, it was given a 98 point rating by some guy named Bob and before that it was vinified, oaked, aged (58 months!), and bottled (unfined & unfiltered) by a winemaker named Pax. And while Pax himself has said that the just released ’05 is “twice the wine” as is this monsterous and complex ’04 Agharta, he’s almost out of running room on the 100 point scale. I’ve tasted it on 3 occasions and giving notes would require the transcription of a short novel I haven’t yet written. It’s deeply complex stuff that changes dramatically over many hours of breathing and is an experience in itself rather that something to drink with any nameable specific food stuff. Structurally the experience of this debut Agharta is similar to Sean Thackrey’s Orion in that the sheer number of flavors per breathing time makes these wines infinitely faceted (and fascinating) gems. Looking forward to following the evolution of these bottles over the next decade or two.

Like Agharta, the depth of SQN Mr K wines crush the feeble descriptives of the written word.

And I don’t mean to disparage Chateau d’Yquem. There’s a reason it has the reputation it does. Yquem has been producing some of the words finest sweet white for centuries. By the time Jacques Sauvage was granted feudal tenure over Yquem in 1593 special growing techniques and late harvesting were already in practice and the estates finest vintages live for over a century. Very few estates, winemaking or otherwise enjoy such a rich history, which certainly comes with a hefty per bottle tariff, here in the future. For my dollar, if I’m going to spend way too much money on a half-bottle of sweet white, it’s more often going to be a 6 puttonyos tokaji, essencia, or something on which the Austrian genius, Alois Kracher, once had his hands.

Speaking of which, our final wine of the evening was Sine Qua Non Mr K The Nobleman 2002. The Mr K series was a partnership of Sine Qua Non proprietor Manfred Krankl and the aforementioned Kracher, which ended abruptly upon Kracher’s untimely passing. Kracher’s family continues to produce the eponymous wines that made him famous. While the SQN Mr K The Nobleman 2002 (Chardonnay) is one of the lighter, thinner wines ever produced under this label, it is still a beautiful, balanced, nuanced, (almost) unreasonably honeyed joy to sip. The ’02 Nobleman is only “lesser” in the way that a mediocre Radiohead record is still worlds better than all of the crap on the radio. This golden wine is a treat on it’s own, but pairs well with a range of cheeses and non-chocoalte desserts, and with residual sugar at this level, the remaining wines may outlive many of us.

Few partnerships have ever created such beauty.

Another new wine to the Majestic range and this week I’m showing you a little gem from South Africa. An impressive Bordeaux-esq wine of fantastic quality and all the traits to conclude it will be even better with a year or two to mature in the bottle. This is more than likely to be open in many Majestic stores whilst we have our free in-store South African themed tasting. If you’ve not been into your local store this weekend pop in this evening or tomorrow. Despite the tasting coming to a close tomorrow our 20% off discount when you purchase any 2+ South African wines as part of your mixed case continues throughout our Spring promotional period!

The Caracal 2006 Neethlingshof, Stellenbosch

£14.99
Buy any 2 South African wines save 20% = £11.99*

GRAPE: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc

ORIGIN: A Bordeaux blend from one of the Cape’s oldest estates, this wine has been named after the Caracal, a wild lynx-like cat indigenous to South Africa, which has recently been introduced to the Neethlingshof vineyards as a natural ‘Darwinian’ form of pest control.

TASTE: 12 months’ maturation in new and old French oak barrels has lent this wine lovely toasty and cedary aromas, and smoothed the ample tannins which envelope the core of juicy blackberry and mulberry fruit.

ENJOY: Drink with slow-braised meats such as oxtail or pork belly.

ABV: 14.5%

Or see all of our new arrivals here!

*Price valid until 02/05/2011

This Spitbucket theme came about after a chat with Monty James – New Zealand wine’s main man in Australia. We’d already decided to focus on non-Pinot Kiwi reds for a change after having successfully covered Pinot before. So that left world-class Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet from the North Island. “How about a two part tasting? Hawkes Bay up first, compared with Waiheke Island which I’ll help to host next time I’m up?”

Sounded like a PLAN to me…so here we are…

Pair 1: Hawke’s Bay Syrah
Villa Maria Private Bin Syrah 2008 (@villamaria_wine)
Elephant Hill Reserve Syrah 2008 (@elephanthill)

Pair 2: Gimblett Gravels Syrah
Mission Estate Reserve Syrah 2009 (@missionestate)
Te Awa Syrah 2009 (@teawawinery)

Pair 3: Merlot
Villa Maria Private Bin Merlot 2009 (@villamaria_wine)
Elephant Hill Merlot 2007 (@elephanthill)

Pair 4: Left Bank Style Bordeaux Blends
Mission Estate Reserve Cabernet Merlot 2009 (@missionestate)
Cornerstone Cabernet Merlot Malbec Blend 2006 (@forestwinesNZ)

Pair 5: Right Bank Style Bordeaux Blends
Wild Rock Gravel Pit Red (Merlot Malbec blend) 2008 (@TheWildRockGuy)
Trinity Hill The Gimblett 2007

(Aerial shot of the Gimblett Gravels, top, with close up below, both courtesy of Trinity Hill)

The tasting is full up now unfortunately, but you can still get your fix of great New Zealand wines and awesome Coast food when the winemakers come to town in a week or two. Chef, Adam Lord, will be matching his dishes to a range of wines from the length and the breadth of the North and South Islands. More details here.

It seems half of Kittitas County is under water this evening and so I’ve decided to go inside and stay warm and dry. I just found a 6 pack box of Baer Winery’s 2004 Ursa.

Just in case you are already confused and hoping for a lecture on star constellations…please note I’m not talking about the Ursa Shakespeare wrote about, not the Starry Night Over the Rhone by Van Gogh, nor the constellation Ptolemy noted in the second century. This is not the Ursa you find in the sky dominated by the Big Dipper, this instead is The Big Sipper.

There is however a connection to the constellation and this wine: many civilizations have viewed Ursa Major in the nighttime sky and have seen a Bear.

Baer Winery exclusively uses Stillwater Creek Vineyard fruit – my family’s vineyard is located along the Frenchman Hills in Royal City, Washington within the Columbia Valley AVA. Lance Baer was one of my favorite Washington wine makers.

Lance and Me, Sailing 2005

He was the first to come out to the vineyard and select his grape acreage in 2003. At our vineyard instead of selling grapes by the ton, we sell the grapes by the acre. This allows for much more of a partnership between grower and vintner in the vineyard; the wine makers can have input on pruning, crop load, thinning and tailor the canopy management of their individual acreage contracts to reflect their unique wine styles. 2004 was a perfect year in the vineyard for us, we had a great growing season and a wonderfully warm Indian Summer which allowed for longer hang time enabling the grapes to develop more flavors on the vine.

The 2004 Ursa blend is made up of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec.

Here are my tasting notes:

Dense, garnet appearance.

Aromas of black cherry, black berry, leather, blueberries and a hint of perfume/floral notes.

On the palate initially, I get a lot more of the floral notes, then the blackberry and cassis flavors, followed by smooth and very velvety tannins with a rich finish of spice and blackberries.

Pairings – as I sit here making my notes on the wine and blogging, I am drinking it without any food so it can work as a cocktail wine, a Big Sipper if you will It will be great with a pork roast, a mushroom risotto or a winter beef stew. I think a rib steak or rich spaghetti sauce might overwhelm the elegance of the fruit in this wine.

I think it is drinking beautifully now, there is still a plentiful fruit core and great tannin structure. Optimally, drink within the next 24 months.

If you happen to be in the Woodinville, Washington area I would definitely recommend visiting Baer Winery. Lisa and her father, Les Baer and their winery crew are amazing people and the wines are fabulous! Sign up on their website for their newsletter to keep informed about recent releases and winery events as the wines sell out quickly upon release!

Tootles,

Winnie

2011 winnieswineworld

2003 Girolate

2003 Girolate

REGION
Bordeaux, France
 

VARIETAL
Bordeaux Blend

Save 56% OFF HERE

"The flagship, luxury cuvee of 100% Merlot from the innovative, visionary firm of Despagne, Girolate is a cutting edge, amazing tour de force in winemaking. The smoky, chocolaty, espresso, and mocha aromas are interwoven with gorgeous layers of black cherry and berry fruit. This full-bodied, unctuously-textured, layered wine has as much in common with a big Napa Cabernet as it does with a Bordeaux Merlot. Its soft tannin, low acidity, and serious concentration are amazing when you consider its humble pedigree. Enjoy this hedonistic smorgasbord of wonderful things over the next 6-8 years."

91 Points--The Wine Advocate

92 Virage 2007 Red Wine (Napa Valley)

This first release from the winery is a fine Bordeaux blend based on Cabernet Franc. It shows all the hallmarks of a cooler-climate Napa Valley wine in the dryness, refined tannins and herb-inflected cherries and blackberries. An elegant, balanced wine that should develop over the next 5–7 years.

I’m going to put this one away for while and come back to it in 2012 or so … it definitely has some potential

Rating:  not ready for a rating

This lamb shank from Sweetgrass Ranch in Big Timber, MT, is braised for five hours in Kona Porter Ale, a dark porter from Hawaii brewed with Kona coffee. It’s served over root vegetables and spinach and topped with tobacco onions.

We recommend pairing this with a pint of Kona Porter (just $3.50) to enhance the flavors.

If you’re looking for a glass of wine, the Chateau Ste Michelle Indian Wells Cabernet Sauvignon from the Columbia Valley is a great match. The clove and allspice in this jammy cab pair perfectly with the tender lamb shank and root veggies. We offer this outstanding cabernet for $7.50 a glass.

For a bottle to share, we highly recommend Saviah Cellars Big Sky Cuvee, another great wine out of the Columbia Valley. Imagine a cup of rich coffee with chocolate and cinnamon – that is what will come to mind when pairing this wine with the lamb shank. The Big Sky Cuvee is a Bordeaux blend with dark fruit, cocoa, and cinnamon, with a long satisfying finish. Saviah’s winemaker is a Montana native and graduated from MSU. The Big Sky Cuvee is a tribute to their Montana roots. A great value at $45 a bottle!

Check out our wine recommendations for Smoked Scallops and Indian Spinach Curry!

Call us at 586-2244 to make a reservation!

And so last Saturday, this pack of wanna be wino’s headed off to the Wine Festival. This is dear husband and my second time and each year gets better and better. The festival is smaller than winex, but offers a completely accessible and fun night out. 180 different wines are on offer ranging from affordable table wines, to some rare bordeaux blends. It really is a treat and for the R60 ticket price is a great way to put a Saturday night to bed. We are not the spitting type so getting a ride home is essential, and also knowing you have as cab to take you home means you can really enjoy your evening a whole lot more.

We hit the platimun lounge in full force, not too sound too haughty – yes, Jus, I used that word just for you:)- but we wanted to taste the amazing wines while we still knew what we were tasting.

Some of our favourites from the evening (and this must be said we are no experts, we buy what we like and try to taste as much wine as we can to learn…we love finding lower priced gems, but also adore tasting a well crafted beauty, no matter the price tag)

-One  of our all time best: Lord’s Winery, they do a spectacular Pinot Noir, and their 2006 Shiraz went down all too smoothly. The farm is just outside of McGregor on the Robertson wine route and is a truly special place. We visited the winery in December 2009 and spent a good hour chatting to the wine-maker, and left with a car load of his gems.

-The flagship Bordeaux  Ernie Els 2005 was a winner, as was proprietor’s selection….

-Guardian Peak’s SMG 2007 and their Lapa Cabernet 2008 went down all too smoothly.

-La Motte‘s Pierneef range mmmm…Loved their Shiraz/Grenache 2007!

-Rupert and Rothschild is always delicious, we have had the honour of getting an appointment to view the cellars as well as doing a private tasting…definitely should be put on your to-do list when in wine country.

-Meerlust, a guaranteed crowd pleaser. After this incredible winery just before we got married, dear husband and I had their 2003 Pinot Noir as our Red wine option and were all too pleased when we realised we bought too many boxes and have been sipping our way through our store all year round:) Their Rubicon was all too delicious, as usual.

- We walked away with a steal from Raka, they had a special running for the evening: R640 for a six bottle crate of their finest…one being their Petit Verdot…our little eyes glistened greedily at the sound of this!

-Saronsberg, again a gem of a winery, based in Tulbagh, another must-see farm. They have a particularly awesome art collection beside have winner wines. We tasted their reds mainly this evening but their whites are stunners too. Full circle 2007, Seismic 2006, their super affordable Provenance Shiraz 2007 really is exceptional value for money. In fact go buy some. Now.

-Hermanuspietersfontein is another of our fav’s, their Klein Boet 2006 and Swartskaap are always superb as well as being well-priced.

-Boekenhoutskloof only had their delicious chocolate block and their porcupine ridge for tasting, but their Boekenhoutskloof label is a wow.

-We had Creation’s Pinot noir a few weeks back and were keen to see what they had on offer at the show…they never had any to taste but we enjoyed their Syrah Grenache, and their Bordeaux blend both 2008′s.

And that was about all we had time for before the need for food set in and we wandered toward the boerie stands outside…we were rather jovial and were making friends like there was no tomorrow:) It is glam, it’s fun, and you walk away having had some superb wines…We are off to the Robertson Wine Festival being held at Kloofzicht Lodge in Mudlersdrift this coming Sunday, so will update you on that awesomeness soon too! Happy tasting and woudl love to hear your thoughts, if you loved some of these gems as much as we did and if you have any of your own favs!

xxx

Roasted blueberry, chocolate, hint of white truffle and scent from a lavender garden.

***

¡Salud!

James the Wine Guy

http://jamesthewineguy.com/

***

A plethora of wine reviews from wines regions around the world.

Read more of my wine reviews:

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***

¡Salud!

James the Wine Guy

http://www.jamesthewineguy.com

***

A plethora of wine reviews from wines regions around the world.

Read more of my wine reviews:

jamesthewineguy.wordpress.com © 2010 James Meléndez / Jaime Patricio Meléndez – All Rights Reserved.  James the Wine Guy also on Facebook, Twitter and most major social medias.

James the Wine Guy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JamesTheWineGuy

See James the Wine Guy channel for videos on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/jamesthewineguy

Also available on Facebook: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42231382951

Other blogs:

jamesthefoodguy.wordpress.com
jamesthespiritsguy.wordpress.com
jamestherestaurantguy.wordpress.com
jamesthetravelguy.wordpress.com
jamesandthecity.wordpress.com
jamesthemusicguy.wordpress.com

The steaks on the flame:

And ready to eat:

Salud my friends!!!

Keep Tasting!

]]> http://bayareawinenotes.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/justification/ Mon, 03 May 2010 02:03:00 +0000 emmawine http://bayareawinenotes.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/justification/ Justin Winery is located in Paso Robles, CA. It’s a beautiful winery to visit if you go to Paso – a little off the beaten path but worth the windy road trip. Anyways – we are wine club members here and received the 2007 Justification in the last shipment. So last night for dinner we went to Los Altos Grill – they have a no corkage fee!!! and brought the Justification.

Justification is a blend of 65% Cab Franc and 35% Merlot. It has aromas of red currant, blackberry, and a little bit of caramel. It is such a smooth and elegant wine and pairs very well with steak or other red meats. It is one of Justin wineries best wines. If you are a Bordeaux blend fan – this wine is a great buy ($45 retail, $36 wine club price) and will only get better with age. According the website this wine will be good until 2025. I obviously couldn’t wait that long – good thing we got two!

Justin
11680 Chimney Rock Road
Paso Robles, CA 93446 USA

http://www.justinwine.com/index.php