Nose: Big jammy blackberry and bread, cedar spice upon opening. After day and decanting, warm cracked black pepper and cedar of the Syrah in the blend comes on strong. With even more duration, fragile strawberry and blueberry scents tease. Palate: divinely soft and supple on the palate with fragi…

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Rioja. I recognize the brilliance of the terroirs, but I’m frequently upset to see them squandered by growers who aim too low, or who get sucked into spoofulating their wines with too much new oak and picking too late. Here’s a heavyweight high-end examp…

Interesting wine lesson restricted herein! (NW) of that blog and I had that wine back in March of 08 and wrote our reviews accordingly. They were quite similar (as they should be…) But here is my review of the same wine opened 16 months later than the above wine.On opening–Hue is a light pink c…

Bought a bottle of Storks Tower Tempranillo Shiraz 2007 from Tesco. It was cheap and tasty with lots of bright, focused, well defined fruit. Good contemporary Spanish style, and it went down well with our friends (we’re camping for a few days in the south west).

What surprised me about it was that …

How could you not like that wine? Quite easily, I suppose, whether you are uncomfortable leaving familiar territory. It’s a crazy wine made by a biodynamic grower from the Menu Pineau grape variety and aged in large barrels. I really like it.

Julien Courtois L’Originel Vin de Table Francois NV
that…

How is it, that bunches of grapes, picked from a vine, thereupon crushed, fermented and aged for a year can convey a sense of place?
They can, in the sense that a good, experienced taster can often spot (and explain) the differences in wines made from the same variety but in different places.
In pa…

As regular readers will know, I’m a great fan od the red wines from Portugal’s spectacular Douro Valley. However, they can be quite expensive. So it’s nice to find one that’s sort of affordable, and which is still pretty serious.

Quinta do Vallado 2006 Douro, Portugal
that nicely packaged wine is e…

Vouvray France produces Chenin Blancs and I love a decent Chenin! that one is a bare, pale straw in color with a bouquet of sweet spices and powdery, fruity notes that are beguiling.Palate–A nice acid foundation with solid minerals and a nice feel of gentle citrus with a tropical fruit finish.I pa…

Continuing with the theme of Spanish white wines, here’s a really amazing example from Priorat. It’s pretty serious, and justifies the high price tag.

Mas d’en Compte 2006 Priorat, Spain
50% old vine Garnacha Blanca, 20% Picapoll, 15% Pansal and 15% Macabeo from ‘licorella’ soils. Fermented in 3000…

Once again at (NW’s) he poured that wine he had opened the night before.It has a black cherry hue with a bouquet of sweet robust spicy pie fruit with a cocoa base.Palate–Unique front with juicy fruit filled core, chocolate hints, rich berry core that needs a couple more years in bottle but drinking…