Posted on: Wendy Drury's wall
Well the tasting group had a treat! here are the reviews of four of the wines we tried:
Maison des Bulliats Beaujolais Cru – Régnié 2009
Grapes: Gamay
ABV: 13%
Price: Not yet known
A clear deep garnet colour typical of the grape and region.
This wine has a nose that had the room in awe! A clean nose with pronounced aromas of strawberry, banana, vanilla, liquorice, cloves, dried fruit and Christmas. (I know! But it does smell of Christmas!)
On the palate, dry with high acidity and tannins but well balanced.
Pronounced flavours of red cherry, strawberry, liquorice, cloves, dried fruit, cinnamon.
This is an outstanding wine and worth whatever NW say it is worth! It is ready to drink but will keep for a few years if you are able to keep yourself away from it.
With Christmas approaching, I would dearly love a 6 bottle case of this as it will go with the Turkey etc and be perfect!
Group consensus: 4 stars
Me: 5 stars!
Please, NW, get this on the shelf!!
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Clos Monicord Bordeaux 2007
Grapes: Merlot 20%, Cabernet Franc 75%, Malbec 5%
ABV: 12.5%
Price: £10.99 (pre-cashback)
A clear deep garnet colour.
Clean nose with pronounced aromas of black cherry, black pepper, mocha, chocolate, coffee, burnt caramel. After a while the Mocha became almost overpowering. In a good way! Wow!
On the palate, dry with high acidity and tannins but not a totally full body.
Pronounced flavours of black cherry, black pepper, chocolate and some lemony flavours from the acidity. The coffee was not on the palate at all!
This is a good wine that will drink now or be happy laid down for a while.
Group consensus: 3.5 stars
This is one of the better Bordeaux we have seen on the NW shelves! The labels are worth looking at also. There are 6 in the set and they are very beautiful, representing the different aromas and flavours hidden within the wine. All created by Audrey, the winemakers daughter.
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Ben Darnault Languedoc 2010 - Organic
Grapes: Syrah and Grenache
ABV: 14.5%
Price: £10.99 (pre-cashback)
A clear deep garnet colour and very pleasant to the eye!
Clean nose with pronounced aromas of black and red cherry, plum, a hint of prune and rubber.
On the palate, dry with high acidity and tannins but well balanced.
Pronounced flavours of black cherry, black pepper, smokiness, rubber, tar, petrol and steel.
A long pleasant finish.
Group consensus: 3.5 stars
This is a good quality wine and worth every penny. Although it is drinkable now, I would advise buying now and laying it down for 3-5 years to allow it to reach its potential.
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Tim Smith Barossa Shiraz 2008
Grapes: Shiraz
ABV: 14.5%
Price: £23.49 (pre-cashback)
A clear deep garnet colour with a velvety lusciousness that hints of things to come.
This is one of those wines that can give such masochistic pleasure as the nose has so much to offer you can put off the moment of tasting for a long time! Clean nose with pronounced aromas plum, damson, chocolate, cloves, black pepper, liquorice, blackberry, vanilla, eucalyptus. So, so good.
On the palate, off-dry with medium acidity and tannins and a full body.
Pronounced flavours of blackcurrant, cloves, blackberry, black cherry, black treacle and frankincense. Astonishing. Just astonishing.
This is an outstanding wine that is great to drink now but will continue to improve with age for quite a few years yet.
Group consensus: 4.5 stars
Me: 5 stars
Barossa has, quite rightly, a reputation for huge impressive Shiraz. This does not change that reputation at all. However it is not an in-your-face Barossa Shiraz but a superbly crafted creation that shows off the grape and the terroir to their absolute best. If you want to indulge yourself with a great wine, look no further.
Wendy 16:19 19/09/2011 Comment
