The Yellow Tail Cab Sav is a drink now type wine. It has a well balanced smooth body with blackberry, blackcurrant, and what I think is prune flavours. Wonderful fruity aromas and a deep purple garnet colour. Drink this one on its own or with red meat, it’s a very nice drop. For under AU$9.00 at the moment, you can’t go wrong.

Tags: yellow tail, wines

I apologize in advance for this review. Mainly because it’s not mine. I currently lack the energy to write something befitting this drop. It is nice and you should try it!

Tasting Notes:
A light green straw in colour with zesty lemon characters and some herbaceous notes on the nose. Delightfully crisp aromas, nice ripe tropical fruits dominate, hints of white and green asparagus, followed by fresh delicious apple, pear and gooseberry flavours. Beautifully lemony on the the palate, more tropical and lime fruit flavours, heaps of tangy pineappley acidity, freshness and good texture. Long on flavour and deeply studded with good fuit characaters, without being complicated, it finishes clean, fresh and crisp. A perfect accompaniment to the summer season, enjoy the Yellow Tail chilled and drink it now or at your next barbecue, with family and friends, the refreshingly quaffable whitewine for all occasions

Enjoy!

Tags: wines

This is going to be a light review as it’s been a couple of days (more like a week) since I last tasted this wine however from memory...

This Shiraz / Grenache is a light spicy, yet fruity (some type of dark berry if I remember) wine that can be enjoyed either on its own or with any meat or pasta dish.
At around $8 per bottle this is excellent value.
It is a sweeter style wine than I’m used to and very reminiscent of Pinot Noir.

This is the first Peter Lehmann I have tried in over 12 months and I know have my sites set on the 2007 Shiraz. A review of that should be up in a week or two.

Tags: peter lehmann

What better way to start my 2009 blogging with a wine review (of sorts).

I bought this Koonunga Hill 2003 vintage back in 2004 for around $15. It’s been sitting in my cellar (OK, it’s a dark corner of the room) since then. I’ve tried a few Koonunga’s (2003, 2004, 2006) and I think this one is the better of them. Koonunga Hill is designed for immediate enjoyment but I can’t help thinking that leaving this one sit for a few years has made it all the more nicer, I now wish I’d bought a few more at the time.

This wine is a very dark garnet red with smokey oak and liquorice aromas. It is medium-bodied with rhubarb and savoury flavours, and has a soft full-mouth finish that is well balanced.

Koonunga Hill will go well with red gamey meat.

Tags: wines

I realised it has been a while since wine passed my lips so I set about to rectify the situation. I’m becoming rather fond of the Casillero del Diablo label from Chile and was interested to see the local Choice liquor store had this new style on the shelves.

The Carmenère grape was introduced to South America from France in the 1800’s and for a long time was thought to be Merlot. It has been doing fantastically well for the South Americans ever since.

This particular vintage is 2006 and its bouquet has overtones of chocolate, coffee, and blueberries. These also come through in the taste along with rich spices. It is very dark in the glass, almost black, with garnet red showing around the edges. The body is fairly heavy, mildly acidic with a slightly dry finish and well balanced but leaning toward too much alcohol.

This lovely vintage will go very well with warm winter game dishes, beef or venison and roasted vegetables.

Highly recommended.

Tags: wines

I couldn’t find an individual bottle image for this wine so I may have to take a photo myself this weekend. However, that won’t hold back the review. In the image here, it is second from the left.

Granite Ridge Wines hail from the...well, granite belt of Queensland. Ballandean to be exact.

This chardonnay sauvignon blanc from 2004 is the only wine I have tried from this winery. I purchased this bottle while attending the “Apple and Grape” festival in Stanthorpe in 2004.

The Apple and Grape festival comes around every two years.

This unwooded sweetish wine is a very pale lemony yellow, not quite as pale as Semillon but close. It’s bouquet has hints of passionfruit, gooseberries and mint. It’s taste is fresh and crisp with high acid. There are banana, kiwi fruit and passionfruit flavours with a medium finish. All in all, fairly well balanced.

This wine would suit seafood or anything fresh and summary.

Tags: wines

I was chatting to Craig today and he mentioned he didn’t ‘rate’ my wine reviews because he didn’t have a point of reference. You see, he doesn’t drink wine. Yeah I know, there had to be one person alive who didn’t.

I like wine. J'aime le vin. Beaucoup!

Wine is a very personal thing. Everyone has their own preference and it’s more than likely different to everyone else’s. This is perfectly normal. Finding out which wine you like is a lot of fun and will take a lifetime. There is so much out there, it will take that long to try it all.

A huge range of variables come into play with wine. Grape variety, climate, soil, time of harvest, hemisphere, the winemaker, storage, age(vintage), your attitude toward it, among others. All these impact on how it smells (its bouquet), how it looks, and how it tastes.

I’m no expert but I know what I like so I’ve thrown together a few tips on how to taste wine... for the chappos out there. If you really want good advice, read a book or find an expert.

Remember, tasting include the whole of your mouth not just your tongue, and most importantly - your nose. Smell and taste are intricately linked.

Let’s get started.

Body: is what you feel in your mouth. Is it light like water or heavier like milk?

Acid: is what makes a wine “crisp” and you feel the tingling on the sides of your tongue.

Alcohol: too much of this will make the wine feel warm or hot at the back of your mouth. Not a good thing. You shouldn’t be able to feel this sensation in a well balanced wine.

Tannin: comes from the skins, pips and wood. You can’t smell or taste it but it gives a wine a dry feeling to your mouth.

There is also things like “fruit” which ballances out the alcohol and oak, a flavour from a barrel. All these things together make up the wine and how it is balanced.

So, how does one taste wine, what is the methodology?

This is how I go about it.

Find a good glass. Preferably one with a stem that closes slightly at the top. Just like the ones you get at a winery. Fill it to about a third and give it a good swirl.

Take a good sniff, depending on the type of wine/grape you’ll get a large number of aromas. Try and identify some of them. Cinnamon, nutmeg, oak, mint, citrus, smokey, the list is long.

Now for each of the body, acid, alcohol and tannin take a half a mouth full, swishing it around each time. Spit or swallow, it’s up to you.

Once you’ve done that you’re ready for the different flavours, cherry, chocolate, lemon, blueberries, raspberries, wood (if it’s been oaked), mango, raisins, sultanas, prunes, honey, and so on and so forth.

...and that’s it. Work your way to the bottom of the bottle.

So that was your first bottle of that type. Now try it chilled. Then try a different vintage, younger, older.

Taste is only the start. Different wines look different, they have different colours and change colour as they age. Riesling get’s darker as it ages, as can Chardonnay. Reds become deeper in colour depending on the grape. As they age, their taste changes too.

There are so many to work through and each with differing characteristics.

White:
Chardonnay
Gewurztraminer
Pinot gris
Pinot blanc
Muscat
Sauvignon blanc
Riesling
Semillon
Viognier
Verdelho

Red:
Cabernet Sauvignon
Pinot Noir
Malbec
Merlot
Carmenère
Grenache
Shiraz/Syrah
Cabernet franc
Pinotage
Gamay

Fortified Ports, sherries etc etc.

...just to name a few.

Get tasting. Life is short and there’s so much to try.

Tags: wines

I’m a real fan of Nederburg wines and unfortunately we don’t seem to get a large selection of them here in Australia. This Cabernet Sauvignon from 2006 doesn’t live up to the 2004 version, but it does taste a bit young to me, where the 2004 version is about perfect now.

Colour: Dark Ruby.
Bouquet: Berry fruit mingled with chocolate and mocha, and soft oak vanilla in the background.
Palate: A full-bodied wine with ripe fruit and delicate oak spices, firm tannins and a lingering aftertaste.
Serve with robust dishes from pâtés to steaks, as well as full-bodied dishes such as beef stroganoff, winter stews, roasts and mature cheeses.

I’m going to pick up another couple of bottles of this red as I think in two years time it will be just as good, if not better, than its 2004 predecessor.

Tags: wines

I’ve been a little slack of late, and there has been a couple of weeks pass since I tasted this wine so I’m deferring to someone elses description of it. I do remember thinking this 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon from Taltari Vinyards would be quite a nice drop.

Deep magenta colour and a combination of cassis and cigar box on the nose with smoky vanillin. The palate displays classic varietal characters of blackcurrant wrapped up with fine
tannins and a lasting palate, complimented by subtle French oak. Cellaring potential is 10 – 15 years

I now realise why it tasted so young, “Cellaring potential is 10 - 15 years”. I’m 6 - 11 years too early for this one. I don’t recall there being cellaring information on the back label of the bottle and if the restaurant new this to be the case, they shouldn’t have stocked it... in my opinion.

Still worth a try though if you find it, so buy two bottles and put one away for a while.

Tags: wines

After trying a very ordinary Beaujolais Villages French wine the other week I was a little sceptical about this one. The price was more than double the Beaujolais but still ...worried I was.

I needn’t have been. Meet La Feline. What a hell of a wine! The French have got to be the masters of this art. I say that loosely as this is only the second French wine I’ve tried in recent times.

I’m still coming to grips with this lovely red so I’ll tell you what the Borie de Maurel website has to say about it.

“Let your eyes plunge deeply into this purple robe, with its intoxicating violet reflections. Dare to admire its legs. The Feline’s like that: seductive. Its perfumes, its aromas pass over you like caresses.
Like Sylla the Feline is a concentration of the Michel Escande style of wine, voluptuous, heady without excess,
where each mouthful calls for another. The first notes of black pepper, cumin and tapenade are intense. Then the finer notes, of thyme, Mediterranean herbs and ripe red fruits, an almost fig-like taste. In the mouth its like lace, all finesse and elegance, in a froufrou of soft spices and cherry. But beware! Behind this apparent simplicity is hidden an astonishing complexity that the years will only embellish and amplify, as with a beautiful woman…
This “gallant wine of fine dinners” is the fruit of an assembly of two thirds syrah and a quarter of Grenache, spiced up with a touch of carignan. All the grapes, hand picked from the limestone and clay plateau of Petit Causse, are de-stalked before being fermented gently for a long time. The wine spends at least 16 months in the vats, and one third of it is aged in Burgundy style barrels. There’s only light filtering.”

Only the French could have come up with that, and it’s accurate.

Tags: wines

Blaauwklippen, so named for its stony soil, lies on the slopes of the Blaauwklip Kloof, sheltered by the Helderberg and Stellenbosch mountains. This port wine has been made in the classic Portuguese style: a full Vintage Port with light drier style, tobacco-like aromas, elegant, with an alc.of 20% volume, giving it a smooth but dry finish.

This is a 1997 vintage, purchased in 2002 by me at the cellar door in South Africa, and finished tonight, 28th of June 2008. It was as good to the last drop as it was back in 1997.

The Blaauwklippen estate is a beautiful place and worth a visit if you happen to be in the area. I bought a couple of red wines from this estate they were absolutely brilliant.

I have another bottle of this fine port. My wine buying motto is “Always buy 2”.

Tags: wines

I can’t really give you any history around the Marco Luigi Winery.. because it’s all in Portuguese.

I was given this bottle by a fellow wine lover while visiting my Dad in Malaysia. The bloke was a Brasilian who had spent over 24 hrs continuous travel to get the bottle to us. Apparently only 7000 bottles of this vintage were produced, this is the 2003 version.

If nothing else, this wine is spectacularly displayed, with string, wax and gold lettering, and almost tastes as good as it looks.

Colour: Rich ruby red as you’d expect from a Cab Sav, but with a slight mauve tint. I’m not sure where that came from.

Bouquet: I have to admit this wine has a great aroma. I can detect tobacco though not very strong, and cherry and plum. A typical Cab Sav I think.

Taste: surprisingly there wasn’t the strong typical Cab Sav taste and the finish was almost fizzy which I think is an indication that the wine was a little old. However, it was a full mouth taste that covered the entire tongue.

This is not the best Cabernet Sauvignon I have tried, indeed it’s not up there in the top 20 or 30 I would suggest. I think this is more to do with it’s age and probably should have been consumed sooner. The presentation is something else and looks like something out of the middle ages.

There is no export label on the bottle so I assume it’s not available in Australia. Pity, I’d like to give a younger vintage a go.

Tags: wines

Allesverloren, situated on the south-eastern slopes of Kasteelberg near Riebeeck West, is the only estate in the Swartland Wine of Origin district, an area that is becoming increasingly renowned for the excellence of its reds.

I’m talking about South Africa, which personally I think rivals some of the best reds Australia has to offer.

First named in 1704 the farm began producing wine a century later.

The version of the Cabernet Sauvignon I tried is the 2005 vintage and it is a rather nice drop. Personally I don’t think it’s quite as good as the Nederberg range but so far I have only tried a single bottle from Allesverloren, whereas I’ve tried many from Nederberg.

This Cab Sav. is a dark red as you’d expect with a fantastic bouquet. I can detectect a sweet, smokey cigar box smell that is wonderful.

The taste covers the tongue and is full bodied with a touch of wood.

Personally I think this would go well with steak and pepper sauce, but would also go well with strong game or fowl.

Unfortunately Allesveloren don’t export to Australia at the moment, but they will arrange to send you a bottle, carton, or more if you wish.

Tags: wines

Made from the chewed-up-and-spat-out-by-elephants fruit of the Marula tree, a native of the African continent, Amarula is truly African. Ok so maybe the elephant thing is a bit far fetched but regardless this is a very distinctive spirit.

You could almost say it's like an Irish cream, but it's not. You could almost say it's like one of those chocolaty spirit concoctions that are horrendously sweet, but it's not. In fact it's not much like anything else you're likely to find.

When you sip at your Amarula cream, you can hear the trumpeting of elephants. The roaring of lions. The screeching of baboons. The laughing of hyenas. The coughing of leopards. The braying of zebras. All sitting around the campfire out on the veld, clinking their glasses of Amarula as they toast themselves to their "African-ness".

Amarula is as smooth and resonant as the voice of Kamahl. It is also deceptively strong making some people cut it with milk, it's easy to keep going back for more and before you know it your legs won't work properly.

I like it straight over ice. I'm a purist when it comes to Africa

Tags: spirits, africa

I love the Whiskies of the world. I don't drink much of this elixir of the God's but I enjoy it when I do, and I don't go over the top. Straight up or on ice... the only way to drink it in my opinion, and more than two drams in one sitting is too much for anyone to continue enjoying it.

Jameson's Irish Whisky is silky, smokey, smooth. I prefer this one straight, or cooled... but not on ice.

When sipping away on Jameson, I can easily picture myself sitting in a smoke filled reading room, cigar in hand (I don't smoke), next to a smouldering fire in a hearth, reading glasses perched on the nose (I don't have them), reading one of the classics. Somewhat sophisticated, and far from the reality of my world, it's a perfect escape for a while.

Being of Scottish heritage, I do honestly believe the Scots are the true masters. However, Jameson's Irish is a standout that surpasses many of the Scotch Whiskies.

Do try it!

Tags: spirits

The Keith Tulloch wine label is all that is par excellence about wine. A recent sojourn through the Hunter Valley saw me visit this small but esteemed winery. My previous blog entries on wine have always been about a specific vintage, but this one has to be about the label.
My experience with the wine under this label is somewhat limited however I did taste-test everything they had to offer and I must say that nothing disappointed. All wines had a recommended storages of between 5 and 15 years which I will adhere to... perhaps, but they were very nice as they were. I'm looking forward to 2022.

I recommend this label to anyone interested in really fine wine. Get a couple of bottles so you can open one in 5 and then 10 years. You won't be disappointed. After all, what better way to acquire a red nose?

Stay tuned for an update when I crack the first bottle.

Tags: wines

Printhie from the of Orange district of NSW has created this fantastic Cabernet Merlot. I had my first taste of this drop at the Jenolan Caves dining room and almost made a detour from the Hunter Valley just to go back and find some. I'm hoping the local Choice Liquor store has this one in stock. I will check it out this coming Tuesday if I get a chance.

This cool climate wine is made up of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot and has a rich ruby red colour. The Merlot grapes should have given it a slight mauve tint but I must have been too busy drinking it to notice. There is a trace of oak, which I like in a red, with slight traces of chocolate and blackcurrant... but enough of the snobbishness. Get a bottle and give it a try. Don't chill it.

It's a drink now wine, I wouldn't bother trying to put it down for any length of time... I doubt anyone has the discipline required to keep them down.

Tags: wines

Malbec is originally from France, and these days is primarily used as a blending grape for Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon wines. However, it's been flourishing in South America where it gets the needed sun and warmth to do really well.

Casillero del Diablo from Chile has released a Malbec which is quite wonderful. There are three versions 2004, 2005 and 2006. In the glass it is a dark ruby red and smells particularly french with undertones of Dubonnet (rouge variety). On the tongue this version of Malbec is fresh, fruity with berry flavours and it's obvious why this grape is used to boost Merlots. While you can taste the tannins on the side of the tongue, this Malbec is still rather smooth for it's rusticity.

This wine is definitely for red meat and tomatoes, and while rather full-bodied you could probably get away with chilling. I'm not a fan of chilling red wines as I believe their flavours are best released at room temperature, but give this one a go if you like cold reds.

Updated 27 September 2007:
Casillero del Diablo also has an excellent 2004 Cab Sav.

Updated 23 October 2007:
I have just tried the 2005 Shiraz.. not bad, not bad at all.

Tags: wines

This particular drop is a lovely drinking wine, either immediately or after a year or two. It has a rich flavour that rolls off the tounge, with a touch of wood that isn't over powering.

I discovered this one while in South Africa drinking my way through the wine region of the Western Cape. I actually brought back a couple of bottles that I managed to hang on to for over 3 years. Then, after sampling, they were consumed at a great rate of knots.

Nederberg was established in 1791 and is considered South Africa's most prized winery. For those of you who have trouble visualising timeframes, when did Captain Cook plant the Union Jack in the sands of the Australian coast? ...that would be 1788. So, as you can see, Nederberg has been around for a while and almost as long as this country of ours.

This red compliments red meat dishes really well, like steak, casseroles, stews etc. Or just drink it on it's own.. I do.

I have tried the 2001 (pictured), the 2004 and the 2006 versions of this red. The '01 and '04 were/are superlative and while the '06 is very good, it wouldn't hurt putting it down for a few years. Being as it's now 2007, give it another 12 months.

Tags: wines

I was told recently by a friend of mine (in jest) that I perhaps, had an impeccable taste in Wine. Well, I'll take the compliment however it was intended because I like wine and I won't pass up an opportunity to try another glass, bottle, whatever.

It was during an IT deployment project that we discovered this lovely drop. As I'm sure you'll agree, IT deployments require the extended sampling of the local fare and I first tried this light Chardonnay at a restaurant along the Noosa River (name forgotten sorry) back in 2004. I won't reveal how many bottles were consumed, needless to say this particular wine has become a favorite.

All attempts to buy a carton failed and it seemed that the label had dropped off the face of the earth. However, every couple of months I'd do an internet search and the last one has paid off. It seems that Ashwood Grove Chardonnay is back.

Tags: wines

I was introduced to this very drinkable Gin about 7 years ago and so far it cannot be surpassed in quality, in my opinion.

Beautifully presented in a sapphire coloured bottle with acid etching pictorials of the key ingredients down the sides, this top shelf drop can be enjoyed on it's own over ice or with a splash of tonnic (my preference).

I'm sure James Bond insisted his martini's were made with this blue gem.

Tags: spirits