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Happy New Year! This tasting showed us how good premium wines
are from the New World, southern hemisphere. The wines ranged
from traditional Cabernet or Bordeaux blends, to unblended Grenache
and blends of red with white grapes (shiraz + viognier)!
 Mireille
Sauvé,
our speaker, was very excited, along with me, to try this wide
range of premium wines. I had done some checking on these wines
before the tasting, and I knew we were in for a real treat. Before
going into the details of each wine, Mireille first discussed
what constitutes a premium wine, and what things are there in
common with the wines we were tasting that day. Mireille pointed
out that first you need very good fruit from the vineyard. To
have a good vineyard, you need good site selection. While the
grapes are growing you need to manage the growth, e.g. with crop
thinning. Having a good site and thinning the crop produces a
low yield of grapes. This does not make much sense at first, but
with fewer grapes on the vine, the vine spends more time and energy
to make each grape the best it can be. Once the grapes are harvested,
most premium wines had little intervention in the fermentation
process. The grapes also are pressed very softly so that you do
not get the astringency from crushed pips. Premium wines are cool
fermented which necessitates a longer fermentation period giving
the wine more flavour. When the wines are bottled there is minimal
filtration, as filtration removes some of the flavour components
from the wine.
 Our
reception wine was a vintage sparkling Pelorus Brut from
the Cloudy Bay winery in New Zealand. This sparkling wine had
some toasty, leesy aromas and flavours. It was almond in colour
(some say it has a reddish tinge) coming from the 70% pinot noir
that was used to make this wine. The other 30% coming from chardonnay.
We
first went through two white wines. The first wine was from the
aromatic gewurztraminer grape. The Mills Reef Reseve Gewurztraminer
was pale straw in colour. The bouquet was very perfumed,
with lychee and flowers (Mireille noted freesia). The wine had
low acidity. The lychee flavour carried on the palate along with
white pepper. It was dry and refreshing. Mireille recommended
medium spicy food with this wine, along with shellfish. The Catena
Alta Los Altos chardonnay was our next wine. We had the privilege
of tasting the 1st vintage of this wine and we were not disappointed!
This wine was a deep straw colour. It had a full, smooth mouthfeel,
with light acidity. There was also vanilla flavour from the oak
aging, and some spice from the lees in the bottle. An overal well
balanced wine. This wine could be paired with a lobster dinner
or go well with cheese.
We now moved onto the red wines, with the first being the Herzog
Pinot Noir. In the glass this wine was a light translucent
red, with a blue hue to the rim. Mireille indicated that this
blue hued rim is common to new world pinot noirs. The bouquet
was classic violets. Upon tasting, you experienced cherries, light
oak, low tannins and light acidity. This wine, with it's cherry
flavour was recommended to drink with cherries, and black forest
cake (which has cherries). This wine would also go well with chocolates
and with red meat.
The
remaining wines were more full-bodied bigger wines. The Boekenhoutskloof
Syrah was deep purple in the glass and left visible legs on
the glass. The boquet was oaky and smoky. The flavour was of cherries
and dark fruits with a tannic backbone. This wine and the Herzog
Pinot noir both used wild yeasts for fermentation. This wine would
go well with game, and went well with the hard Oka cheese from
Quebec which we enjoyed at this tasting.
 The
D'Arenberg Laughing Magpie is a shiraz (95%), viognier
(5%) blend. The D'Arenberg winery uses very traditional methods
in fermenting their wines. In this case, they used open vat fermentation.
This wine was inky dark. It coated the glass when it was swirled.
The bouquet was of oak and cherry. Cherry flavour continued through
on the palate. This was a very fruity, juicey wine with good tannin.
It was recommended to enjoy roasted rack of lamb, pork with berry
compote, duck and cariboo with this wine.
The Montes Folly is a wine that was never given a chance
by the wine industry, but the winemaker, Mr. Aurelio Montes, was
visionary and produced a fantastic wine. The vines grow on very
steep slopes, where one would not expect. Also, syrah grapes were
planted which was never done before here in the Apalta Valley.
This area of Chile is now becoming known as the "Grand Cru"
of Chile thanks to Mr. Montes. This wine had a deep purple appearance.
The bouquet was both oaky and dusty (as in wood chips). This wine
was very smooth, with cherries, plums and other fruits. This wine
would go well with red meat and with cheese.
 The
next wine was the Los Vascos Grand Reserve, which is made
by Lafite. It is 100% cabernet sauvignon. This wine was not as
darkly coloured as the previous wines. The bouquet had barnyard,
earthy aromas. The wine was very smooth with some oak and black
fruit. This is another wine meant to be eaten with meat, in this
case steak or lamb.
The Meerlust Rubicon was a Bordeaux blens (Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot, Cabernet Franc). This wine was medium red in the glass.
Bouquet was of cherries and light oak. This was a very smooth
wine, with cherry and cedar/pencil shavings flavours. This wine
went well with food (Try it with the Oka cheese). It was recommended
to enjoy roast rack of lamb and beef roast with this wine.
Our last wine was the Langmeil "Fifth Wave" Grenache.
The grenache grape is typically used to blend with other grapes.
This wine comes from vines that are between 60-80 years old. It
was also had a medium red appearance. The bouquet was very perfumy.
Some indicated confectionary and peppermint candy. The taste was
light, with a lingering cherry aftertaste. It was recommended
to enjoy this wine with barbequed food.
 Tasting
Selection
Our favourite white wines are:
1. 1997 Catena
Alta Los Altos Chardonnay
2. 2003 Mills Reef Reserve Gewurztraminer
Our favourite red wines are:
1. 2001
Montes Folly
2. 1999
Meerlust Rubicon
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