Tag: White

WSET Advanced

2011 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon-green, watery rim
Nose: clean, pronounced intensity, youthful, asparagus, grapefruit, (grassy, herbaceous, vegetal)
Mouth: dry, med- to med body, high acidity, med length, med to med+ alcohol, med+ intensity, asparagus, grapefruit, passionfruit
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

2011 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc Well if it isn’t Kim Crawford. Advertisements for this wine are plastered throughout the city, and this is one of the wines that I undoubtedly remember that customers always ask for even though (and probably because) it’s heavily listed and well-known. For good reason, too – this wine screams typicality at a good price, with grassy and vegetal aromas that are intensely displayed on the nose. Could be more complex, though.

Palate-wise, this is great. High acidity makes it zippy, patio-worthy, and food-friendly.… read more

WSET Advanced

2010 Tolloy Pinot Grigio

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, watery rim
Nose: clean, med intensity, youthful to developing, almond, floral, neutral + vague fruit
Mouth: dry, med+ to high acidity, med body, med+ intensity, med to med+ alcohol, med length, citrus, minterality
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

Pinot Grigio. Who’d’ve thunk it?

I’m not a big fan of Pinot Grigio, and even recently, one of my newer co-workers and I excitedly burst into complete excitement into how we both disliked this particular variety. “Oh my God, you hate Pinot Grigio, too?!”

It’s very middle-of-the-road and generally crowd-pleasing: its characteristics don’t seem to reach many extremes very 2010 Tolloy Pinot Grigiooften. Acidity, body, intensity, and so on, are usually kept in check, which perhaps gives the quaffable and enjoyable quality – unfortunately, this varietal seems to lack character at the same time, which I find happens in many Italian whites.… read more

WSET Advanced

2011 Yalumba “Y Series” Viognier

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, watery rim
Nose: clean, pronounced, youthful, apricot, canned peaches, spice, honey, FRUIT LOOPS
Mouth: dry, med+ bodied, med- acid, med+ length, med intensity, med+ alcohol, apricot, canned peaches
All in all: Good quality; drink now.

This was a wine I featured in one of the articles that I wrote for the Ubyssey.

I had the exact same wine for my WSET Intermediate class, and even now, I still get that distinct note of Froot Loops – that slightly spicy canned stone fruit sort of smell. I have no idea what cardamom smells like, but I blind-tasted this wine again with my co-workers and apparently that’s a legitimate scent that you might get from both this wine and in actual Fruit Loops cereal.… read more

Quaffing

2011 Ata Rangi Sauvignon Blanc

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon, watery rim
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, youthful, floral, mineral, flutter of citrus, hints of honeyed spice
Mouth: dry, med- bodied, med to med+ acidity, med to med+ alcohol, med- intensity, med+ length
All in all: Good quality; drink now, but I would personally screw around to see what would happen with age.

After I’ve heard such hype for this wine, I really hate to say that I was underwhelmed by it. After a long dry spell of wine stemming from a promised exam study session complete with delayed gratification, I decided to whip this guy off of my rack because New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is what you need when you have a white with an intense aroma profile.… read more

Quaffing

holiday wines with the co-workers

Posted on by Josh

Overdue post, but it’s all good. Some time in December one of us hosted another staff get together complete with an amazing multiple-course home-cooked meal, which included:

– roasted celeriac soup
– kohlrabi slaw with cranberries and walnuts
– beet salad (with goat cheese)
– braised white beans
– roast chicken

It was so good that most of the food is still weirdly vivid in my mind despite this being around 4 weeks ago. Alas, I don’t remember the wines as well – I do remember one of us trying to act as a lion for a charades clue. The phrase was “The Chronicles of Narnia”.

Oh, and one of us was sick which sucked, which means we had no mashed potatoes.… read more

WSET Advanced

1998 Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion Pessac-Leognan

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, med gold
Nose: oxidizzled
Mouth: oxidizzled
All in all: oxidizzled

Oxidized bottle 🙁 What a shame. I’m jealous that other wine friends got to try non-ruined bottles.

Producer: Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion
Designation: N/A
Region: France
Sub-Region: Pessac-Leognan, Bordeaux
Variety: Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc
ABV: ?
Vintage: 1998
Tasted: May 27, 2012
Price: $75


… read more

WSET Advanced

2010 Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon
Nose: clean, med+ to pronounced intensity, youthful, floral, green fruit, citrus, grassy, grapefruit, green bell peppers, vegetal, asparagus, dill
Mouth: dry (to off-dry?), high acidity, med length, med+ to pronounced intensity, med- alcohol, vegetal, green apple citrus, tangy
All in all: Good quality; drink now, not intended for ageing.

I don’t remember this entirely, but I think it’s quite interesting to note that that there was either some amount of residge on the palate from that riper New World style of Sauvignon Blanc, which might put off some, but I would argue that it’s quite interesting and adds complexity. Quite a decently complex wine with a punch of aromas. Pair that with some great balance and intensity, and you have a winner.… read more

WSET Advanced

2008 Schloss Lieser Riesling Auslese Niederberg Helden

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, med lemon
Nose: clean, med intensity, petrol, riper fruit than Kabinett, peach, sulfur
Mouth: medium sweetness, med- body, med+ acid, med length, low alcohol, med intensity
All in all: Good quality; drink now, but has potential for ageing.

Such a shame, and it’s the same story as the Kabinett in the same family that we compared it to. Nose had a nice proportion of fruit but was also dominated by the matchstick-y quality.

Although I detected the body to be med- and almost med, it turns out that this wine is a weirdly light 7 percent when it comes to the ABV. Guess I need more practice, or it’s just harder to taste in the morning.

Producer: Schloss Lieser
Designation: Thomas Haag Lieser Niederberg Helden Auslese
Region: Germany
Sub-Region: Mosel
Variety: Riesling
ABV: 7%
Vintage: 2008
Tasted: May 26, 2012
Price: $61


… read more

WSET Advanced

2009 Schloss Lieser Riesling Kabinett

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, pale lemon-green, bit of a spritz
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, petrol, green apple, lime, peach, sulfur
Mouth: medium-dry, med- body, med+ acid, med- length, low alcohol, med intensity
All in all: Good quality; can drink now, but has potential for ageing.

One of the common things I come across is a weak understanding of what sulphites are. A common argument is that “they make you feel sick and therefore people don’t want a red”, but a surprisingly large amount of people don’t know that white and sweet wines actually have a higher proportion of sulphites. Sulphites act as both a yeast-supresser and as antioxidants, which is important when you don’t want your wine fermented a second time, especially if you have a fair amount of residge in your wine.… read more

WSET Advanced

2008 Miner Chardonnay

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, med lemon
Nose: clean, med+ to pronounced intensity, developing, butter, toast, oak, floral (camomile)
Mouth: dry with a slightly off-dry impression, full body, med+ to long length, med- acidity, high alcohol, pronounced intensity, nutty, toasty, oak, buttery
All in all: Very good quality. The rather impressive quality immediately gave me the impression that it had the potential to age, but apparently this wine shouldn’t. It sounds easy to determine: lower acidity – sure, don’t age it – but it’s sometimes too good to be true.

Definitely my favourite of the day. Of the many Chards I’ve had, this one is definitely in the top. Such a nice example of a dense and viscous Chardonnay with just a light to medium dusting of oak.… read more