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Vintage: 2004
Purchased: Aug 4th 2007
Price: $17.99
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Tasting Notes:
I made a wild mushroom soup, so I needed a wine with mushroomy flavors. I thought this one fit the bill. The color is the classic transparent pinot color. The nose is bright cherry juice, with a hint of mushroomy forest floor. In the mouth it's silky smooth with raspberry and cherry flavors. On day two, it had opened up and became much more complex. The earthiness was boosted and better integrated with the fruit.
Also Tasted On:
Aug 9th 2007Comments(0)
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Vintage: 2006
Purchased: Aug 13th 2007
Price: $18.93
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Tasting Notes:
This is a great example of new world pinot noir done right. Too often the wines are too thick and robust, or finished with so much oak that the character is lost.
This wine is a deep translucent garnet color. It's almost light enough to be transparent. The nose was almost all ripe red berries with just a hint of earth, cedar, and a little spice (nutmeg?). On the palate it is juicy, like a fresh raspberry exploding in your mouth. The fruitiness is tempered by a very good acidity that carries you forward to a more savory component. I could taste just a hint of cedar and white pepper. The finish was nice and restrained, with just enough tannin to hold it all together.
John Rimmerman said it best like this:
"All I will say is this wine is sourced from some of Nelson's best Moutere clay soil, treated in an artisanal fashion with little if any intervention and allowed to express the serious nature of its roots with aplomb. The nearby Neudorf Pinot Noir 'Moutere' is $50-70, this is $18.93. Enough said."
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Vintage: 2004
Purchased: Aug 4th 2007
Price: $17.99
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Tasting Notes:
I tasted this before at a
previous wine tasting at
Maple Leaf Wine Cellars. I enjoyed it so much I emailed Tim Shannon to find out where to get it. After much effort, I managed to procure a couple of bottles. The first one was opened to eat with a light Sunday dinner of cured meats, goat cheese, salad greens, and roasted beets.
This is a fairly light colored red wine. A bright transparent purple int the center and almost pink on the edges. The nose is full of black cherries and a rich earthiness. You also smell a hint of hay and cedar. Very complex and enjoyable. On the palate is very soft and rich with raspberry and cherry flavors. There is plenty of acidity to balance the fruit and the finish is long and very smoky.
I doubt you will find a much better pinot noir at thie price point.
Also Tasted On:
Sep 22nd 2008Comments(0)
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Vintage: 2005
Purchased: May 21st 2007
Price: $11.99
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Tasting Notes:
I opened this up for a midweek dinner mainly because I wanted a crisp wine to accompany dinner, and didn't want to open anything I'd paid too much for. The dinner we were having was kind of a hodgepodge. I created some Vietnamese summer rolls with the classic peanut dipping sauce, but the main event was a crab cake. I didn't make the crab cakes myself, instead using a preformed one from the grocery store. But the sauce I made to go with them was really what the whole meal was about. This was my first attempt at "molecular gastronomy." I made the popcorn puree that is often served at
Moto. I have to say that it worked quite well. The thick buttery sauce needed the acidity to cut through it. Plus it paired well with the Asian flavors in the summer roll.
The wine was a pale golden in the glass with a very impressive nose. There were aromas of lemon, lime, orange, honey, and a small hint of petrol. It was described as being off-dry, so I was quite surprised by the acidity when I first tasted it. This is a very crisp wine. The citrus fruit tastes dominate, but there is just enough sugar to keep the acid from being uncomfortable. The wine doesn't start out so complex, just very fruity and pleasant and well matched to food. However, the more you drink, the more you realize how great the finish is. I detected hints of minerals and nuts.
I wish I had more of this. Once of the best made rieslings I have had, and at this price you really can't hope for anything better.
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Vintage: 2006
Purchased: Jan 20th 2007
Price: $14.99
Purchase Location: Costco
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Tasting Notes:
I've been meaning to try this wine for a while. Everyone raves about it and is consistently on top QPR lists in every magazine. Kathrine wanted fish for dinner, and I thought it would make a nice pairing with pan roasted halibut.
This is a very pale wine. Straw colored with a hint of green to it. The nose is quite strong. There are scents of lemon grass, citrus, and a herbaceous character that I couldn't identify. But then Kathrine said it smelled like Thai food, and I had to agree. The herbal smell was Thai basil.
On the palate it was quite acidic and tart. The main tastes where of grapefruit and gooseberry (I even bought some gooseberry jam so I'd have a frame of reference). There was a slight vegetative quality that was hard to place. Once again, Kathrine came to the rescue and said it was roasted red bell pepper. I got the bell pepper, but it didn't taste roasted to me.
All in all, this was a very interesting wine. Maybe too interesting. This isn't something I'd want to drink every day, but it is nice wine to have every once in a while. With all the flavors this wine displays I could see you pairing it with almost any food.
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