Some Tasting Notes Part 2

So here we go again in no real order as I catch up on a few glasses that I have been enjoying or otherwise over the last few weeks. I've decided to introduce a scoring system so that anyone who wants to can play along and give their own notes and scores. If we can get a few scores I'll try to work out a crowd score that could be a nice and democratic way of giving a fairer review than my tired and jaded palate.

Donnafugata Sherazade

2010 13.5%

Nero D'Avola £11.99

There is something I really enjoy about Sicilian wines a kind of uncomplicated generosity which lets you relax into the wine and just enjoy the upfront fruit and sweetness. The wines of Donnafugata are generally among the best that Sicily has to offer and balance ripeness and concentration of flavour with a clean refreshing mouthfeel. The Sherazade had plenty to enjoy big red fruit aromas cherry and redcurrant were most apparent to me and followed through to the palate perhaps a little too stewed for me. I was hoping for a light juicy red and this seemed over concentrated but I have had it for a couple of years and perhaps should have got stuck in sooner. I can imagine plenty of people really enjoying this wine and it may be that my preconceptions got the better of me as such I am giving it 15/20 please feel free to disagree.

Jacobs Creek

Steingarten Riesling

2005 13%

£15.99

I'm not a huge fan of the standard range of Jacobs Creek but I always think that there is good value to be found in some of the big producers boutique wines. Like a Michelin Starred Chef forced to make burgers all day then getting the chance to go all creative you've got a little something to prove. This is part of Jacobs Creek super premium listing and is numbered to reinforce the small quantities made. The smell was wonderful with honeysuckle and sherbet lemons leaping out the glass underneath a touch of almost kiwi Sauvignon Blanc funk was just apparent. On the tongue the acidity I had expected was there but not as steely or clean as hoped, some limey citrus and crunchy apple flavour came through with a touch of something faintly tropical starting to develop. A very enjoyable wine and certainly a serious glass of Riesling I do wonder if at 13% the fruit had the acidity needed perhaps another vintage with a lower abv would offer that tang. I might still hunt out something from the Polish Hill region if I was looking for good Aussie Riesling 17/20 

Santenay 1er Cru La Comme

Burgundy France

Pinot Noir 2006 12.5%

£17.99

It's not that often I get open up a bottle of Burgundy and just take my time over it so this was a bit of a delight as Mrs wineexperience and I shared this one night last week. Santenay is not one of the better known regions like Gevrey Chambertain but shares some of it's more illustrious neighbour's potential to produce extremely elegant wines. If you can get hold of something from a premier cru vineyard like La Comme then at a fraction of the price of Gevrey you'll get something that has plenty to recommend it. This was real Pinot as only Burgundy really produces with an appearance more like a cordial than wine this was bright and clear with a ruby heart. The aroma was bursting with raspberry and cloves and on the palate dried cranberry and raspberries again gave way to cherry and cinnamon/vanilla which all mingled to a lasting and balanced aftertaste. To get burgundy of this kind of quality for under £20 is a minor miracle and goes to show that if you look outside of the big names there are still great wines to be found. With all the stories of fake wines and dodgy dealing maybe it's worth us all keeping the faith and looking a bit harder for something a bit more interesting to drink in 2014. 19/20

Please let me know what you think and if you've tried any of the wines I'd love to hear what you made of them and and scores that you'd like to offer.

Phil

Some tasting Notes

I've been fortunate enough to drink a few brilliant bottles in the last few weeks as I've been gearing up to launching the website and tastings. In between spending my life's savings on glasses, projectors and trying to learn about SEO - don't even ask - I've managed to sneak the odd glass of something good.

So here are my thoughts and feelings about what's been in my glass.

Chateau Musar 2004 14%
£20.99 Waitrose and plenty of other stores.

Before we get on to how this tastes the very fact that this wine even exists is cool given the regions history and the fact that despite the vines being in a warzone for much of the last 40 years only once have they not produced a vintage. Following on from the success of Musar it's equally exciting that there are now more wines from Lebanon and the Bekka valley, widely regarded as the regions greatest terroir, starting to appear in the UK. I recently saw Marks and Spencer have listed some wines from the Bekka so it's not like you have to go searching very hard to find them.

Musar is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon Cinsault Grenache and Mourvedre and received oak and bottle ageing prior to release by the Chateau. The result is a brilliantly integrated yet vibrant and youthful red crystal clear and reminded me of some of the better Margret River Cabernet Sauvignon wines that I have tasted. Lots of sweet berry fruit and some cinnamon spice aromas were followed on the palate by cherry, cranberry and raspberry. The fruit was not stewed but surprisingly light and fresh with a fine tannic structure which would allow this to be enjoyed on it's own or with some good rare lamb.

I was expecting the Musar to beat me over the head with power in a Jeremy Clarkson kind of way, having heard all sorts of stories of this as a love it or loathe it wine. What I got was a brilliantly balanced and refined wine more like a fine Paulliac than the typical New World super concentrated Cabs that California and Australia so often produce. At twenty quid you may well say it should be good and I tend to agree however it was the style and grace of the thing that wowed me and might wow you too, if you've never tried it I urge you to hunt a bottle out. 20/20

Bodegas Y Vinedos De Pulenta La Flor 2007
Mendoza Argentina 14%
£13.99 Berry Bros

Produced in relatively small quantities under 57,000 bottles this is the entry level Malbec from this winery and very enjoyable it was too. The grapes are hand harvested and the wine is given 6 months oak ageing to provide a roundness to the wine.

All the typical Malbec notes were present and correct without being too concentrated or jammy. A big hit of ripe red berry fruit was evident from the start alongside aromas of  tobacco and stewed damson and lovely drying tannin on the finish. I admit to expecting more tannin and extraction but this was really quite elegant. There is power here but it is balanced and held in check by a nice balance of sweeter fruit which stops the tannin from overwhelming the palate. I would definitely recommend this for any fans of big bold wines who fancy something with a bit more finesse than the average Argentine heavyweight. 

These wines are not very widely available and this is one I picked up a year or two ago so I don't know if you will find them where you are but it's well worth keeping an eye out for. If money is no Option the Gran Corte will set you back around £25 but is the top wine from this estate and judging by it's little brother should be a fantastic bottle. 18/20

Casa Silva, Altura 2003
Colchagua Valley, Chile
£49.99 

Now this was the splurge and was used as the show stopper for a recent tasting. I don't know of any current UK stockists for this wine although others from the same stable can be located. I would add a note of caution as I have never been a big fan of the Dona Dominga wines which are the entry level for Casa Silva and very much a throw back to the bulk wines which the company made during most of it's history. So if you like the sound of this then try their Quinta Generacion as an alternative or if you do want to splurge then Errazuriz Don Maximiliano is another premium Chilean wine I adore.

The Altura is made in very limited quantities only 8200 bottles of this particular vintage and each vintage the quantity of grapes used to make up the blend changes according to which grapes have the required quality. The grapes are hand picked, hand selected and destemed before pressing and then the wine gets aged in fresh Oak barrels basically they throw everything they've got at this wine. It's this kind of winemaking that excites me and this wine did not disappoint coming out as the easy winner on the night.

So how did it taste well as you might expect heavy on the palate filling dark fruit blackberry and damson with some creamy chocolate notes adding a real sense of luxury to the whole thing. There were some nice cedary hints on the nose and cocoa with a bramble compote thing all mixed in. The length of finish was pretty epic and had some evolution to it as some savoury leathery flavours made an appearance. Now I realise this sounds like it would be too heavy for anything but the most extravagant of meals and certainly I would not suggest you try this with caesar salad but with some beef cooked rare or a decent steak you couldn't really do any better.19/20

I hope you enjoy the blog I'll be putting more on soon and trying to make these postings a bit more regular as I get going. Thanks for bearing with me and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the blog, website or wine in general.

Wine lovers of Sheffield and the surrounding areas please take a look at my new website  www.yorkshirewineexperience.com . It has full details of wine tastings and events that I will be running at the end of November and start of December and how to book a place. The wines have been chosen and now the fiendish work of prepping a powerpoint, sorry not quite at Dave Gorman standard yet.

The tastings will be held at the Hilton Hotel on Victoria Quay and should be a lot of fun. This has been a bumpy road but I hope things will begin to smooth out from here on in. I am also available for private tastings or corporate events and again full contact details are on the website. A really exciting time if a little bit frightening!

Coming Soon!!

Good morning slurpers, sniffers, quaffers and wine lovers of Sheffield and Yorkshire.I'm Phil and I have worked in a variety of different wine shops during my career. The Yorkshire wine experience is my wine tasting business which I hope will let me pass on my passion for wine to other like minded folk.

I used to work in an office and escaped to pursue my passion for the vine and have learnt a lot along the way. Now I want to pass on some of the formal and informal training and tips that I have picked up. I've designed some courses which will help any aspiring Oz Clarke's out there to expand their palate, and some great introductory sessions to give consumers more confidence.

I am not tied or restricted to the wines which are tasted at events and do not sell wine so you don't have to worry about the hard sell. The tastings are designed to give you the opportunity to make up your own mind and develop the tasting skills to evaluate wines for quality yourself. I select wines that express the regions in which they are made and explain wine making techniques which affect the character of the wines. The tastings are informal and relaxed giving everyone a chance to enjoy the wines and find a favorite.

Fine wine can seem like a very intimidating world where you need to know a lot even before you can step foot in a specialist retailer, but a little bit of knowledge can really help. There are lots of simple bits of information which can help to explain wine pricing and flavor which once understood can change your whole perception of wine.

I will be blogging to let you know about events and tastings which I will be hosting but also to muse on what I love about wine and what intrigues me. If you enjoy this please let me know and comment I'll do my best to reply.

Here's hoping I'll see you soon

Phil