Westcourt Wines Liqueur Muscat 2000

Westcourt Wines Liqueur Muscat 2000

  17:30    Stu.

---

A liquid time capsule - not sure I can definitively recall what I was doing back in 2000!

Toffee, rose water/petal, vanilla accents. It's the sweeter notes that lead, heady and aromatic, before the softer aromatics.

Slightly raisined, yet again the sweet toffee meets that initial dried fruit aspect, latterly itself transitioning to a spirited and alcoholic note. It possesses incredible depth for a wine at 19 years of age. Quite incredible. You feel it still has much ahead of it. 94 

Tasted on: Monday 27th May, a Flower day
Source: Sample
Price: $50 (375ml)
Alcohol:18.4/22.2% (both listed)  
Closure: Screwcap
Website: N/A

Follow me: http://twitter.com/TheVinsomniac

Read More

Best's Bin 0 Shiraz 2000

Best's Bin 0 Shiraz 2000

  12:49    Stu.

---

It had sat in the fridge for a while, each time I looked in there it whispered a gentle reminder for us to get together.  A birthday - mine - seemed an appropriate occasion to open it, to entrust in the cork gods, and hopefully revel in its beauty.

I decanted it, placed the glass on the table adjoining the sofa.  From some two feet away the good lady could smell the wine, its aromatic calling card at play.  I didn't need any further excuse.

Hints of bright fruit wafted their way out - a surprise for a 13 year old wine.  Fresh and vibrant, marzipan with cherry and baked plum.  The palate showed more maturity: leathery and earthen, peppery and showing excellent refreshing acid structure.  A pleasure to savour, a delight to drink.  The acid lay the foundation for exquisite length.

Tannins crept and built up carefully, a stealthy approach.  Lingering peppery feel added to the experience, seemingly efortless, certainly alluring.  A pleasure to drink.  92 - Very Good

Tasted on: Sunday 11th November, a Root Day
Source: Retail, Nicks.com.au
Price: $ 70
Alcohol: 14%
Closure: Cork
Website: http://www.bestswines.com/
Follow me: http://twitter.com/TheVinsomniac

Read More

Newton Forrest Estate Cornerstone Hawkes Bay 2000

Newton Forrest Estate Cornerstone Hawkes Bay 2000

  07:40    Stu.

---

People have an emotional attachment to wine, possibly more so than any other beverage - and I am excluding other forms of dependency with that statement.  With this in mind, is it possible to maintain objectivity about a particular wine when so much of you can be wrapped up in it's purchase and ultimately enjoyment?

I write this for, this wine, has a special place for me. The 2001 vintage was enjoyed as part of a special dinner at Gantley's just outside Queenstown whilst in Honeymoon. 

Whilst a different vintage - buyers error, relying on memory when purchasing at auction rather than written record - the enjoyment factor was still incredible. Again shared with my wife, this time at home, marking our 5th anniversary.

A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (46%), Merlot (33%) and Merlot (21%); the intoxicating perfume just invites you in: chocolate, plum, some dark berry fruit and a faint edge of tobacco.

Time has been kind to the wine, a faint glimpse of oak remains and works into a smooth bodied palate.  There's none of the primacy of youth now; it's all gorgeous, smooth and integrated.  The finish shows extraordinarily silken tannin, and a length that belies the delicate flavour at its conclusion.  More please.   

Source: Auction, Langton's

Price: $?

Alcohol: 13.6% 

Closure: Cork

Website: www.forrest.co.nz

Follow me: http://twitter.com/TheVinsomniac

Read More

Christmas Day Wines Round-Up

Christmas Day Wines Round-Up

  11:52    Stu.

---

Being a 1 grand Pom (10 pounds adjusted for inflation and about the cost of a flight these days), I find it hard to discard the need to have a full on roast dinner for Christmas.

That said, eating in our household is all about over-catering and focussing on Boxing Day where we eat Boxing Day Pie - a pie made from left over Christmas dinner ingredients.  Not to be missed.

Here's a round-up of the wine consumed round our way.

Parker Estate Terra Rossa First Growth Cabernet Sauvignon 2000

In my limited experience of tasting, I love Coonawarra Cabernet - I really feel I can taste the lovely Terra Rossa soil.  This is no exception.  A lovely heady aroma of beautiful brambly red fruits and quality oak - that wonderful cedary cigar box aroma.  On the palate the oak gives a fine spice on the fore palate that expresses itself as a drying finish with fine tannins.  More black fruits on the follow through.  A winemakers' wine, could easily live for another 5-10 years.

Peter Lehmann The Black Queen Sparkling Shiraz 2001 (Disgorged 2008)

Plummy richness on the nose, the quality of the fruit shining through already.  On the palate, chocolate - with a generous mix of fruit coming through again.  The finish is yeasty, not quite the 'biscuity' finish of a good champagne.  Again, more plummy notes, earthen on the extreme length.

Witches Falls 2006 Granite Belt Syrah

Immediate aroma is highly reductive, sulphur and a tad of cordite (I love the smell of cordite in the morning!).  It settled down after about 20-30 minutes to present a coffee-ish note.  On the palate, plummy spice on a medium body.  The finish shows more of that spice to the end.

Read More