Wine tasting review – 04 August 2012

At the Saturday tasting today, the wines were all in the 90+ point category, so it made for some great choices! Four of the wines were from the West Coast of the United States (three from California and one from Washington), and one was from Argentina. I didn’t leave with any of them today, but one in particular was quite nice. As a quick sidebar, there isn’t a photo this week because apparently I couldn’t hold the camera steady whilst taking the photo; sorry about that.

The first wine was a 2011 Riesling from Columbia Valley, Washington. Known as Poet’s Leap, it was the 90-point recipient from Long Shadows Winery. It was a light golden colour at the edge, and nearly clear when viewed straight on. It had very few legs, but the ones that were there were thick and slow-running. There was a great peach flavour, and I picked up some hints of honey in the mid-palate and at the finish.

The second offering was Domaine Eden’s 2009 Chardonnay. Receiving 90 points from Wine Spectator, it exhibited a light yellow colour throughout. To me, the acidity was light, and the wine was not as crisp as the previous Riesling. Interestingly, this wine reminded me of a potato soup that I had at a nice restaurant several months ago. I believe that it was likely due to the combination of the buttery mouth feel and the mild flavour of dill.

The third pour was the 2008 ‘Q’ Malbec from Zuccardi Wines, and it received 91 points from The Wine Advocate – E. Robert Parker. Zuccardi is the largest family-owned estate vineyard in Argentina, and they have been producing for over 40 years. It had a medium garnet colour with medium, quick legs. There were hints of plum and some mild spice that came through to me. However, I thought that it had an almost astringent mouth feel, and that the finish was a bit dull.

The fourth wine was the 2009 Tanbark Hill Cabernet Sauvignon from producer Philip Togni, and it received 93 points from The Wine Advocate. It had a deep red colour that was nearing purple, and thick, slow legs. There was a mild spiced scent of cloves, and a fantastic finish that had hints of smoke, tobacco, to me, some black olive. Though I didn’t purchase it today, it was my favourite by a long shot.

The final pour of the day was 2008 ‘Muldoon’ (which is a Syrah [57%] and Grenache [43%] blend) from Grey Stack Cellars, which took home 92 points from the Wine Spectator. It had a deep red centre, with a medium red edge. It was a bit cloudy, but that is due to the producer using absolutely no filtering or fining, and as such, it had some nice depth. There was a beautiful cigar and suede scent to it, but those aromas didn’t seem to manifest themselves in term of flavour to me. Instead, I picked up a heavy blackberry flavour. Along with it came a very heavy mouth feel and a huge punch of fruit at the finish. It was nice, but a bit tannic given the age. I think that it will be fantastic in about four or five years.

Cheers,
Zach