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Welcome to WineFoodEverything
This website is dedicated to the good and wonderful world of, you guessed it, everything to do with wine, food and everything else that's good in this world. Hope you enjoy browsing and feel free to email with suggestions!
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Saturday, 24 March 2012 09:21 |
1995 Greenock Creek Roennfeldt Road Cabernet Sauvignon
contributed by Andrew Brown of zenbeverages.com
I’ve never had this wine before, but I have been fortunate enough to have helped consume three differing vintages of its sibling, the Roennfeldt Road Shiraz. I was expecting a wine in a similar mould, with plenty of forward fruit in the character of a big Cabernet. I was expecting plenty of Cassis, black currant and dark berried fruits – soft velvet tannins, and still a big wine with years ahead of it, if cellared properly
On the nose, it wasn’t giving up much. Though you could smell plenty of wood intermixed with subtle notes of blackberries, salty tomato bush and capsicum. Its colour was saturated purple, really thick and dense in colour. A small amount of evident brown tinge was starting to emerge, nothing surprising really for a wine released 12 years ago!
The first mouthful of wine was interesting. Plenty of big fruit, but really only blackberries were evident from the fruit side of things, a small amount of mint (or camphor if you like) and lots of liquorice and iodine towards the back of the pallet.
The tannins were oh so very soft, but still chewy enough to dry the mouth out on first sip. This changed a little with an hour in the decanter and they eased up when it became time to drink this with the roast beef prepared.
Once given its time in the decanter, the second glass offered up tons of blackcurrant and liquorice giving the wines a slightly aniseedy-salty flavour. Vegetal flavours present of tomato bush, capsicum, started to make an appearance. Just wished there was some more plum or cassis flavours as evident as the blackberries, which can easily be greener or bitter in flavour.
The tannin structure was now super smooth and silky. This was a very intense yet delicately balanced wine. It was a terrific effort which I believe many people would truly be agape if they were to experience this wine. If you have this sitting in your cellar I believe now is the time to start opening this beauty, but if you’re a little hesitant I do believe it will still have another 15 years of live left in it.
Robert Parker rates this 99 Points. I agree it’s a brilliant wine and certainly a wine of its vintage – as in it has more the profile from a greener cooler vintage. This is interesting as the Barossa Valley in 1995 recorded one of its driest growing seasons over a 10 year period with the vineyards of the Barossa generally experiencing extreme water stress. Even though the vintage was dry this doesn’t necessitate a warm vintage – so this could explain the greener spectrum in the fruit profile it served up.
What am I trying to get at here? I guess you could say this is not the type of wine I would truly enjoy. If I have to analyse it, it would probably warrant such a score as given by Parker but I just don’t drink a wine to analyse, I drink wine to enjoy it then and there in that present moment. The wine has obviously made an impression on me enough to warrant writing about it so I did unequivocally enjoy this drop – I just wanted more from the wines fruit characteristics. I wanted and possibly expected more forward fruit associated with warmer vintages and of wines I would tend to hold up on a pedestal – wines like its brother the Roennfeldt Road Shiraz.
Additional notes sourced from eRobertParker.com
"The 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon Roennfeldt Road is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from 50-year old vines. The wine was aged three years in new French oak. It has soaked up the wood beautifully. This is an unctuous, blockbuster, opaque, purple-colored wine with a classic nose of charcoal, black currants, cedar, mineral, and licorice. The wine has phenomenal intensity, great purity, a huge, ripe, yet balanced attack, a multilayered mid-palate, and an awesome finish. The mid-palate seems to have layers of fruit that just cascade over the palate with no hard edges. This is a terrific classic that can be approached now but ideally needs 3-4 years of cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2025. "
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Friday, 09 March 2012 17:58 |
2009 Sons of Eden ‘Kennedy’ GSM
contributed by Andrew Brown of zenbeverages.com
The hot spell experienced in the Barossa during the 2009 vintage was a surprisingly boon resulting in lower yields for the late ripening varieties like Grenache and Mataro and you know the wine is off to a good start when the key ingredient is Grenache.
Together, the Grenache and the Mataro, add a nice mix of juicy, spicy black cherry, raspberry and blackcurrant flavours. Evident chocolate, plums and black fruit comes from the support of the 40% Shiraz used to finish the blend without dominating. There is a nice, earthy smooth tannic kick at the finish, combined with a more lingering clove, allspice and red fruit flavours.
There is a nice, voluptuous balance to this wine – sweet fruited but thankfully without the sometimes candied boiled lolly effect you can get with poor versions of GSM blends – predominately from overcooked fruit like Grenache. This means the wine isn’t stewed or overdone. While the stated alcohol is listed as 14.5%, it is not noticeable as the balance of this wine is superb.
The Kennedy is a tempting and approachable wine that will please many. A wine to be enjoyed, not contemplated. It is drinking nicely now and will do so for at least 2-3 years. Thankfully I have over 2 dozen left, so I’ll be able to follow it’s progression for some time.
Listed retail price is $22.
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Sunday, 29 January 2012 11:24 |
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2010 Luna Creciente Albarino
Alc: 13%
Grapes: Albarino
A good citrusy and delightful Albarino that has excellent balance and plenty of feel good flavours. Not the my absolute fave but right up there.
You can smell, taste and feel the ocean freshness.
Good body, a little savouriness, and plenty of tropics.
Drink with grilled white fish and salad - like a Thai mango and prawn salad or anything you like.
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