Tagged with 'cabernet sauvignon'

Glorious Gold Medal Wines

First Glass Wine Education Evening
Glorious Gold Medal Wines
Wednesday 3 October 2018


This week’s line-up included descriptions by Sue Courtney and Sam Kim.
 
Charles Wiffen Marlborough Chardonnay 2016 $19.99.
Sweet nutty oak and subtle orange zest fills the bouquet and its full of juicy peach and nectarine in the rich, creamy palate with a delectable nutty oak undercurrent that lets the vibrant fruit sing.
 
Clearview Beachhead Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2017 $25.99
The bouquet is nutty and toasty with touches of vanilla and the seamless creamy nutty flavours are crammed with juicy peach and nectarine with a touch of oak spice and orange zest.
 
Mills Reef Elspeth Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2015 $35.99
Beautifully harmonious with alluring scents of vanilla pod, hazelnut, gentle oak spice and sandalwood joining poached peach in the creamy, smoky, rounded, complex and mouthfilling palate.
 
Domain Road Defiance Central Otago Pinot Gris 2018 $21.99
A little steely on the nose with aromas of apple and pear and honeysuckle flowing through the creamy apple and peach flavours with the beautifully rounded lingering taste accented with orange zest.
 
Johanneshof Marlborough Gewurztraminer 2017 $27.99
Super concentrated flower nectar and beeswax scents and expressive flavours of violet, hokey pokey, orange toffee, lychee and peach with tingly five spice and ginger infusing the lightly viscous flow.
 
 
Domain Road Central Otago Pinot Noir Rosé 2018 $21.99
Delectably dry with plum and nectarine scents and zingy fresh summer berry flavours melding beautifully. Tasty, juicy and deliciously refreshing with a soft creamy flow.
 
El Burro Kickass Garnacha 2017 – Spain $16.99.
A full-flavoured Garnacha, showing ripe plum, dark cherry, warm spice and subtle chocolate notes, backed by juicy and rounded palate that’s delightfully smooth and sweetly tasty. Great value.
 
Varvaglione Linea Oro Papale Primitivo Di Manduria 2015 $45.99
Powerful and sturdy, this substantial red delivers loads of black/blueberry, chocolate tart, spice and vanilla flavours with a firmly structured palate. It’s engaging with gratifying fruit flavours and an impressively long energetic finish.
 
Farmers Leap Random Shot Padthaway Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 $16.99
True to variety, exhibiting blackcurrant, juicy bramble, cigar box and spicy oak notes with succulent palate that’s flavoursome and filled with dark fruit flavours and rounded mouthfeel, well structured by chalky tannins. Very drinkable.
 
Alpha Crucis Titan McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 $29.99.
Captivating aromas of crème de cassis, plum jam, cigar and toasty oak lead to a superbly ripe and silky palate that offers outstanding depth and punchy flavours. Solid and persistent with dazzling richness. An outstanding Cabernet. Cellar 5-8 years.
 
Shingleback Davey Estate McLaren Vale Shiraz 2016 $22.99
Perfumed and compelling, this gratifying Shiraz displays gorgeous dark fruit, cranberry jelly, toasty oak and mixed spice notes with a concentrated and plush palate, finishing impressively long and sturdy. Drink now or cellar 5 years.
 

Outstanding Tasting Line-ups

First Glass 5 September 2018 
Theme: New and Not So New
Notes by Sue Courtney
Wines were tasted blind

 
Robert Mondavi Private Selection Chardonnay 2017 – California, USA
Lightly toasted nutty oak fills the bouquet and it's full of caramel and citrus in the creamy, lightly honeyed palate that has a nice little savoury twist and a lingering butterscotch taste. Value plus. 13.5% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $14.99.
 
Villa Maria Reserve Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2016 – Hawkes Bay
Grilled peaches and cream tantalise the nose and toasty oak and creamed nut flavours fill the warm, rounded, mouthfilling palate. It's savoury, spicy and zesty with nicely balanced peach and nectarine fruit and a tangy and satisfying finish.  13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $32.99.
 
Aronui Single Vineyard Nelson Albarino 2016
The bouquet radiates pear and tropical fruit, and there's mouthwatering pineapple-laced tropical fruit and honeydew melon in the palate with a touch of honey and beeswax to the just off dry and slightly salty and salivating finish. Refreshing and summery and while seemingly light to start there’s increasing complexity to the texture. Gold Medal Sydney Top 100. 13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $17.99.
 
Millton Riverpoint Vineyard Gisborne Viognier 2015 
Moderately gold in hue with a bouquet of apricot and honey following through to the rich, oily palate with a bees-waxy sweetness beautifully balanced by a nutty savouriness, a zing of exotic spices and a juicy green melon aftertaste. 13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $24.99.
 
Conde Valdemar Rioja Reserva 2010 – Rioja, Spain 
Starting to show bricking to the burgundy hue, this has spiced cherries and vanillin oak on the soft bouquet and an edgy bite and slightly furry tannins to the upfront savoury taste, then cherry and blueberry fruit comes to the fore and the mellow finish is creamy and satisfying with touches of cake spices, oak and anise.  13.5% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $35.99.
 
Chateau Loudenne Medoc Cru Bourgeois 2012 – Bordeaux, France 
Dark red in the glass with signs of bricking. Smoky and brambly on the nose and strong and moderately tannic to the taste. A savoury wine embellished with smoke, spices, pencil box and leather with a refreshing undercurrent of acidity and a juicy berry sweetness on the velvety, almost creamy finish. A blend of Merlot and Cabernet. 13.5 % alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $38.99.
 
Paritua Hawkes Bay Syrah 2014
Black red with crimson edges. Dark berry fruit wafts through the savoury bouquet that has a faint suggestion of barnyard and game. Full-bodied and mouthfilling in the silky palate crammed with dark berry fruit and layered with Black Doris plum chocolate with a sprinkling of cake spice and pepper and a savoury oak frame. Soft and velvety as the flavours linger. 13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $41.99.
 
Matua Single Vineyard Matheson Hawkes Bay Syrah 2014
Purple red with crimson edges. Hints of Black Forest chocolate on the nose and nicely honed peppery notes in the palate with plump plum and berry fruit, harmonious nutty savoury oak and sweet spices.  Velvety and long with enveloping fruit sweetness. Drinking beautifully. 13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $49.99.
 
Cape Barren Native Goose McLaren Vale Shiraz 2016
Purple red with crimson edges. The bouquet is reminiscent of chocolate chip biscuits and the taste is rich and smooth with a savoury spine, a vibrancy of pepper and spice, mulberry and plum fruit and touches of menthol emerging as the wine lingers. A juicy wine with a velvety flow. 14% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Grant Burge Barossa Ink Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
Inky black red. Dusty on the nose with concentrated cherry jam and blackcurrant fruit, hints of tar and leather. Deep and dark at first in the soft juicy palate, the brambly fruit infusing almost milk chocolate-like notes with touches of praline and brightness to the lingering finish with subtle nuances of mint. 14% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $16.99.
 
Linke Barossa Valley Shiraz 2015
Inky black red in the glass. Crushed chocolate biscuits, plum, cherry and savoury vanillin oak laced with mint fill the bouquet and there is all this and more in the velvet cloaked palate. This is a massive wine, a heady wine, an opulent wine with a smooth seamless flow, raisined cherry fruit, pepper, anise, nut chocolate, cedar and vanilla with a touch of mint adding to the bright lifted finish. Kapow! 15.7% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $19.99.

d'Arenberg Wines from the McLaren Vale with Jack Walton

First Glass Fine Wine Wednesday Tasting 1 August 2018
d'Arenberg Wines from the McLaren Vale with Jack Walton
Notes by Sue Courtney
Wines were not tasted blind

 
 
d'Arenberg The Money Spider Roussanne 2017
Light citrine in hue with delicate tropical fruit aromas and an intriguing touch of spearmint infusing the warm oily taste with a hint of apricot and yellow guava and a peppery papaya seed heat. Mouthfilling and textural but also bright, flinty, dry and tangy. Oysters would be a terrific match. 
12.9% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $17.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Hermit Crab Viognier Marsanne  2016
There's a citrine brightness to the hue and a sense of honeyed apricot both to the aroma and the taste together with peach and a tingle of ginger juice that’s nicely honed by refreshing acidity and an underlying savouriness. Mouthcoating and textural with a subtle smoky nuance to the long warm, lingering finish.  
13.3% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $15.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Peppermint Paddock Sparkling Red
A blend of Chambourcin, Shiraz and Graciano grapes, this is an intensely vivid purple crimson in the glass with a lacy foam when poured. It radiates boysenberry and mulberry scents and the full-bodied, juicy taste is crammed with plums, prunes, chocolate coated raisins, cinnamon and leather finishing with a flourish of freshly crushed mint.
13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $31.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Custodian Grenache 2014
Deep burgundy hued with touches of ruby in the core and garnet edges. Cedary aromatics with hints of mint, plums and cherries. Tight knit and tannic driven at first in the finely textured savoury palate that’s lifted with mint – like after milk chocolate-coated dinner mints – and red berries and finishes with a juicy sweetness that counteracts the initial dryness and leaves a smile. A Grenache that can be cellared for years. 
14.4% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $17.99.
 
d'Arenberg The High Trellis Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
Inky black red with crimson edges. Profoundly savoury and leathery on the nose at first then fragrant blackcurrant scents waft through. A classic dry red with upfront dry, slightly mouth-puckery, chalky tannins and intense cassis / blackcurrant / black Doris plum fruit with lingering savoury oak and subtle nuances of cacao, tobacco, mint and leather. The fruit overwhelms the tannins and the incredibly long finish is vibrant and lively.
14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $ 17.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Galvo Garage 2013
This blend of Cabernet, Petit Verdot and Merlot is inky in the glass with a minty infusion to the bright berry and cedar scent and it tastes deliciously juicy from the outset with supple tannins and sappy minty cedary notes framing the succulent plum, mulberry and black cherry fruit with a firm earthy leathery savouriness underpinning it all. Totally on song with lingering berry and mint chocolate notes.
14.4% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $24.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Footbolt Shiraz 2015
Purple red. Berry pie, spiced tobacco and chocolate-coated red liquorice scents. Mouthfilling, lifted and minty with sappy oak and upfront red berry fruits underpinned by chewy, crushed velvet tannins that seem more fine and silky on the long, ripe, juicy finish with touches of vanilla and cake spices, and lingering menthol tobacco.
14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $17.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Love Grass Shiraz 2015
Inky crimson black. Intense aromas of dark smoky cedar, mint, blackberry and woody herbs. A profoundly savoury wine with earth, graphite and coal – a wine that evokes a warm winter fire toasting marshmallows over the embers – the sensual brooding savouriness lifted by juicy black plums, mulberries and cherries with a smattering of pepper and black liquorice while refreshing underlying acidity balances out the jammy sweetness on the deliciously long mouthfilling finish. Value for money buy of the night. 
14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $17.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier 2013
Inky black red. Aromatic and perfumed with wafts of apricot, milk chocolate, mulberry and mint. At first it seems velvety smooth then the tannins kick in mid-palate and it’s smooth flowing on the finish again. There’s a lovely depth of succulent fruit and vinous sweetness to the creamy finish with an underlying woody, stalky, sappy character and lingering floral / rose petal notes.  ‘Soft yet seriously structured,’ said Jack.
14.6% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $24.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Wild Pixie Shiraz 2014
Inky black red. Black forest chocolate, earth, leather and vanilla fill the bouquet. A dark, brooding, firmly structured wine with enchanting earthy, savoury, mushroomy notes – magic mushrooms – meaty mushrooms – and very intense berry fruit together with vanilla, spice, pepper and a bright flourish of mint chocolate making the finish very moreish. 
14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $31.99.
 
d'Arenberg The Dead Arm Shiraz 2015
Inky purple / black red – fine in appearance.  Dark sappy oak on the nose and while at first it seems super fine in the palate this is a deceptive veneer as the tannins are firm and teeth-coating. Wonderful intensity of lightly jammy cherry, mulberry, raspberry, plum and blackberry fruit with nutty oak, toasted hazelnut chocolate, lifted mint and sensuous vanilla tones on a bed of sweet earth, herbs and pepper, and a dark mint chocolate finish. A monumental wine that really should be cellared at this stage of its life.
14.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $49.99.