Saturday Tasting Archive: The Line for Saturday July 28 Ted’s excellent wines from Australia, France & Italy
Uncategorized, Wine & Spirit Events & News |
The theme this week is….totally excellent wines with our consultant from one of the very fine wine distributors we associate with. We will feature wines from Australia, France and Italy. We have a killer Brunello to top everything off but first we have a dry Riesling from 100 year old vines, a rosé taste off between Aix en Provence and Cotes du Rhone, then new Aussie and French reds. It will be a great line up.
“Colour: Pristine pale straw with almost fluorescent green tinges. Nose: Bursting fruit freshness, with invigorating, intense smells of lime skin, citrus blossom, green apple, ripe guavas and cinnamon spice. Palate: Opens with crisp and crunchy fruit flavours lime sorbet, stone-fruit , including apricot as well as classic mandarin citrus on the mid palate, developing into rich lemon meringue tart-like flavour but still with a refreshing steely minerality, balanced with racy, slate-like acidity.” -James Halliday
“Pristine pale straw with almost fluorescent green tinges. Bursting fruit freshness, with invigorating, intense smells of lime skin, citrus blossom, green apple, ripe guavas and cinnamon spice. Opens with crisp and crunchy fruit flavours lime sorbet, stone-fruit , including apricot as well as classic mandarin citrus on the mid palate, developing into rich lemon meringue tart-like flavour but still with a refreshing steely minerality, balanced with racy, slate-like acidity.” -The Winery
“Pale salmon skin color. Mineral-accented aromas of red berries and tangerine, with a spicy overtone. Dry, focused and brisk, offering tangy strawberry and blood orange flavors and a bracing jolt of dusty minerals. Closes racy and long, with resonating minerality and a hint of candied red berries.” -Josh Raynolds
89 Points – Rhone Report
“Always lightly color and racy, the 2011 Commanderie de la Bargemone Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence Rose is no exception and delivers a sweet bouquet of wild strawberries, green herbs, and mineral to go with a balanced, lightly textured mouth feel, juicy, almost tangy acidity, and a dry, clean finish. Straight up delicious and a perfect quaffer for a hot summer day, this should be enjoyed over the coming summer months.” -JD
“And speaking of a Cotes du Rhone appellation, the 2011 Mordoree La Dame Rousse Rose (40% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 15% Cinsault and the rest Carignan and Mourvedre) is gorgeous. A surprisingly full-bodied rose offering up notes of rose petals intermixed with hints of orange rind, sweet black cherries, licorice and earth, this is a big, rich, pure and intense rose to drink over the next several years.” -Robert Parker
“The as usual Carignan-based red 2009 Cuvee de Pena is simply the finest of its illustrious bargain-priced breed that I have tasted (and I go back 20 years with this cuvee and its predecessor), which also makes it a mind-boggling value! Clean and polished, concentrated but unexaggerated, this delivers sweet fruit with soil and soul. Ripe cherry, black raspberry, and purple plum are shadowed by their distilled counterparts in a high-toned nose and practically gush on the palate. Pungent, resinous herbs, smoky black tea, toasted pecan, brown spices, and crushed stone all serve for aromatic and gustatory interest, leading to a brightly juicy yet deeply rich finish. Buy it by the case…” -David Schildknecht
“(97% shiraz and 3% riesling): Inky purple. Sexy, oak-spiced aromas of blueberry, cherry-cola and floral oils. Lush and broad on the palate, offering hefty black and blue fruit preserve flavors that are lifted by gentle acidity. Notes of vanilla and mocha linger on the impressively long, spicy finish.” -Josh Raynolds
“The 2005 Brunello di Montalcino captures an attractive middle ground between modern and traditional styles. Sweet scents of oak lead to ripe, succulent cherries, sweet roses, licorice, tar and smoke as this deceptively mid-weight, firm Brunello opens up in the glass. Waves of flavor continue to develop in the glass, balancing the tannins with great class. The only thing that seems a touch out of balance is the oak, but bottle age should help. This is a captivating effort from proprietor Riccardo Campinoti. I can hardly wait to see what future vintages bring. The 2005 Brunello was made exclusively from the estate’s holdings at Le Ragnaie, close to Poggio Antico, and among the highest-elevation vineyards in Montalcino. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2022.” -Antonio Galloni
91 Points – International Wine Cellar, July 2010
“Bright medium red. Highly perfumed nose is textbook sangiovese from the southeastern portion of Montalcino, displaying pretty redcurrant, sour red cherry and floral aromas along with a hint of sexy vanillin oak. Enters bright and fresh, with flavors of sweet spices, tobacco and earth and some obvious sweet oak. Impeccably balanced and long on the aftertaste. Though owner Riccardo Campinoti also owns a vineyard called Petroso and other vines in the Castelnuovo dell’Abate area, this ’05 Brunello is made only with grapes from the Le Ragnaie vineyard, as the grapes of Petroso suffered from rot, and he hadn’t yet bought the vines in Castelnuovo in 2005.” -Ian D’Agata