Enticing & Exciting Modern Reds

We are so lucky to live in these times, I really believe that the quality of good wine has never been better than it is now, but that is sometimes easy to forget. Luckily I tried two very different red wines recently that really proved the point, they were rich and supple with great fruit and excellent tannin management. They appeared to be superbly made and to have had love and care lavished upon them and the results were enticing:

Return to Sonoma – the Russian River Valley

I have been hugely impressed and very excited recently by an array of wines from California’s Sonoma Valley.

The wines that I tasted were all very good and the people who made them interesting and dedicated, but what also made them fascinating to me was the chance it gives to really get to grips with understanding wine, winemaking and growing conditions.

This is because as a European I can look at the variety from Sonoma with a much more open mind than I can Burgundy, for instance. I can taste the wines and really get a grip on what makes them different and why – with no preconceptions as to what they should be like.

Robert Biale – great wine on a human scale

I really enjoyed visiting the Napa Valley recently, I saw much and learnt a lot. I saw many wonderful wineries, but one of the absolute highlights was visiting a small family owned winery called Robert Biale Vineyards.

Chilean Syrah to Savour

Attending today’s boutique wine tasting I tried a really exciting Syrah:

Casas del Bosque Gran Reserva Syrah 2007
Casablanca Valley

The colour is an enticing and lustrous, opaque blackberry blue-black.

The nose is rich, creamily ripe and fruity with pure cassis and blackberry notes.

The palate is mouth filling and supple showing ripe black fruit, smooth tannins and a delicate dusting of spicy oak and white pepper characters as well as savoury herb nuances.

The finish is long, smooth and deliciously fruit filled while the overall sensation is elegant and fine.

I think this is very good example of Syrah and find it really interesting that a cool area like Casablanca is finding its way with this grape which is relatively new to Chile – 90 points.

Around £12.99 a bottle.

Posted from my Iphone at the Boutique Wineries Tasting.

A steal from Toledo

I always think it is such a pity that most supermarkets and wine shops seem to think that Spanish wine stops and starts with Rioja. This makes most consumers think that Spanish wine is all about Rioja. It is apparently now very hard to sell Spanish wines  in the UK that do not have the word Rioja on the label.

So, imagine how excited I was when putting together a Spanish wine tasting session for a wine club recently to find this splendid wine, it is interesting and different as it comes from an area not historically associated with wine, but an estate in Toledo that has its own D.O. – indeed it was the first of the 7 Vinos de Pago to be created, what is more it is easily available, great value for money and is rather good.

Marqués de Griñon Caliza 2005

D.O. Dominio de Valdepusa

Syrah-Petit Verdot