GINI Wine Tasting

AC: Had these two wine on consecutive nights last long weekend. I am officially spoiled with these great wine I’ve been having these couple months… I had the 04 Lascombes first and when I tasted it at the time, it just confuses me as to what makes a good vintage for these great estates! 04 [...]

Tasted these wine 1 week ago. The order of tasting were: 1) 1998 Boisrenard CdP 2)1996 Haut-Brion 3)2001 Casa Lapostolle Clos Apalta. All three are extraordinary wine but of course, all attention were still pulled into the 1996 Haut Brion. Especially this was my first time having a sit-down dinner with a first growth! 1998 [...]

VW: Lots of tobacco on the nose, almost cigarette ash, cigar box. Strong sour cherry palate with spices. Good concentration and length. Unmistakably Bordeaux that is drinking well now. Just a little bit too acidic. 90 (June, 2009)

VW: Dark purple, looks young. Nose of deep currant, rather grapey, cedar and some leather. Creamy and smooth palate that is full of minerals. Tannins already integrated into a refined texture. Focused and pure, this Reysson is a great value from the 2003 Bordeaux. Taste good now but it will continue to improve for 2-3 [...]

VW: Owned by the famous Thienpont family and situated in Cotes de Francs, Puygueraud represents a value Bordeaux of classic quality. This 2005 opens with some toasty notes and orange rind. It’s not giving much on the nose at the moment. Great texture, very silky and full palate of dark fruits and mineral. The tannins [...]

AC: Quite frankly I had some expectation of this wine, not because of a 92 from RP but because of the price tag attached (C$40+). It’s not often that we hit a bordeaux over $40… or I should say not from a tasting event anyway. Not remembering the nose, I do remember the earthy, leathery [...]

VW: Bastor-Lamontagne is a pretty good value from Sauternes. Nose is showing lots of boytritis with some dry figs and dry pineapples. Also a tiny bit of nail polish. Palate is very full, rather sweet with just enough acidity. This does seem a little too sweet after drinking more. Showing mostly boytritis now with little fruits, some [...]

AC: This night we had 4 cab blend: 2006 Stratus Red, 2003 Hess collection Cabernet Mt. Veeder Napa, 2003 Chateau Phelan Segur Saint Estephe, 2004 1707 Selection de Barricas Almansa Spain. The Hess Collection has easily become my favourite as I find good balance and finish in the wine. Its mouth-feel in the palate and [...]

AC: This old Saint Emillion confuses me whether what a ‘fruity’ wine should taste. New world (or younger) wine is usually easier to taste the fruits in the wine. But fruits in old world wine usually does not link up with the word ‘sweet’ what-so-ever so makes it much harder to detect. Coming back to [...]

VW: Deep purple, looks very young with slightest aging rim. Typical bordeaux nose, currant, cedar and little leather. Young on the palate, just like a 5 years old. Fresh and vibrant but not densely fruit like the 96. More elegant and classy fine example. Turning just a little sweeter with time in glass. Can be [...]

VW: Dark with plum and black berries on the nose. Opulent palate with espresso, plums and different berries. Not difficult to see this is coming from a hot vintage. The fruits are sweet and low in acidity. Intensely flavoured giving lots of enjoyment already at this early stage. Tannins are ripe and soft. There is [...]

VW: Very dark and young. Black fruits and little cedar, still quite grapy and primary on the nose. Rather dense on the palate with focused berries and leather. Ripe mouth coating tannis showing how young this is. The tannis does soften up towards the end of the dinner. Tightly knitted and quite fine. If it [...]

VW: Medium bodied and length. Quite elegant although not much complexity. Not as good as a bottle I had a year ago. 89 (Nov, 2007)

AC: These bordeaux wine do need a longer time to decant. This fifth-growth from Pauillac has a nose of dark fruits and oak. Concentrated, it’s mid-palate is so enjoyable and balanced you almost don’t want to swallow… would be even greater if finish can last just a bit longer. I find it very enjoyable now [...]

AC: This Grand Cru from Saint Emilion has a mix of leather, smokey nose. Quite enjoyable in the mid-palate but no surprise either. Tanin level is low telling me this is the time to drink this wine now.90

AC: Started off with quite an impressive nose with cherry and plum, hint of oak. Once in the palate this gives a very ordinary straight forward acidic taste. There is still some tanin remaining but just not enough fruit to balance off. If you still have this in your cellar, think about drinking it tonight. [...]

In this second installment of blogging my trip to Bordeaux in June.. Here’s Château Beau-Séjour-Bécot in Saint-Émilion, which was the first château in Saint-Émilion we visited on the first day. Château Beau-Séjour-Bécot is rated as Premiere Grand Cru Classé B in the St. Emilion Classification System of 2006. http://www.flickr.com/photos/thevince/sets/72157600401189184/show/ Slide show of my Flickr set. [...]

Two weeks after returning from Bordeaux I finally have time to 1. GIMP my 10Gb of pictures and upload them to Flickr 2. Slowly annotate the pictures. The first château that is ready for presentation is Château Lascombes, which was the first winery we visited on the 2nd day in Bordeaux: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thevince/sets/72157600545741178/show/ Slide show of [...]

AC: This is yet another great Bordeaux from the 2003. There are just lots and lots of surprises from this vintage in this part of the world. Started off with a great fruity nose, the woody (oaky or cedary?) mouthfeel is a total pleasure. This medium-concentrated wine would get an extra point if the finish [...]

AC: Nice strong nose with leather. Medium to full body with a medium concentration. Definitely fruity but not sweet with all sorts of flavour which is really why I like a nice Bordeaux. The super long finish lasted even when I was eating a spicy Korean dish and when I was washing the decanter! 92 [...]

AC: Another typical Bordeaux wine experience. Carrying a floral tone, you cannot complain about its aroma. One great thing about Bordeaux wine is that you usually don’t have to guess how much attention it tries to get from you in the beginning but you can expect the result to be satisfying. This medium-bodied wine is [...]

Medium purple. Already showing good amount of black berry, toasty oak and tobacco. Initial entry is quite tannic but it did soften a bit over time. Open knit and controlled alcohol, it doesn’t show any overripe character from this hot vintage. Tannic medimum finish which can use couple of years. Overall pretty nice except the [...]