Priorat is usually known for red wine so to find this white wine “blanco” from Morlanda was a treat. Made with White Garnacha its high in acidity, a pale yellow colour with faint aromas and flavours of grass, green apple and an underlying creaminess.
That’s the issue I have with the wine, its low in flavours and at £18 a bottle its very pricey. Eur9 in europe is a bit easy to swallow but there’s better wines out there even at that price.
Morlanda, Priorat, Blanco 2017, Spain
This Paddy Borthwick Pinot Noir is from Wairarapa on the south part of the north island of New Zealand. Light, smooth, dry and fabulous is how I can best describe this wine.
There are aromas of leather, cherry, redcurrant and strawberry with a oaky earthy notes in there. There are additional flavours of mushroom, plum, tobacco which are all in balance with each other, nothing too much poking through. This is a very enjoyable and very drinkable wine, recommend all year round with or without food. Cracking.
At £18 a bottle its good value for an excellent New Zealand Pinot Noir.
Paddy Borthwick, Pinot Noir, 2014, New Zealand
Burrowing Owl in the Okanagan Valley have a reputation of excellent wines and this Cab Franc underlines this.
Like many Cab Francs is dry, fairly acidic with a decent hit of tannins and a little jammy in taste.
This is a bold wine with aromas and flavours of blackberry, black cherry, plums and chocolate undernotes. Spice, tobacco, oak and earthy flavours make this an interesting wine, very good on its own, possibly excellent with food, esp lamb kebabs and BBQ ribs.
As with most canadian wines its not cheap at approx £30 a bottle.
Burrowing Owl, Cabernet Franc, 2012, Okanagan Valley, Canada
This Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere blend from Indomita in the Maipo Valley in Chile is a good example of what Chile can produce. Wine Snobs look away.
Its a deep purple colour with aromas of red and black fruits, redcurrant, blackcurrant, plum, cherries and leather. There are additional flavours of spice, vanilla and oaky notes. Its a dry, bold wine that has tannins but no enough to strip your mouth.
We had this with a big juicy steak and it went very well, cutting through the fat and giving that warm fuzzy feel, granted many wines give that warm fuzzy feel but steak is the perfect partner for this wine.
At £14 a bottle its about the right price, get it in a sale and it could be great value.
Indomita, Duette, Premium Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, 2017, Chile
Made with the Graciano grape rather than the usual Temperillo grape , this Rioja is pretty good, excellent I would say.
There a black fruit, chocolate and coffee aroma mix that is added to in the taste department with red fruit and oak notes. Its a full bodied, smooth with firm, but well intergrate tannins and is excellently pair with red meat or in front of the fire just being sipped.
At over £25 a bottle is not cheap but I think it is justified.
Altos R Pigeage, Graciano, 2014, Rioja, Spain
Sumac Estate is east of Vancouver in British Columbia an area that does some excellent wine. This won’t let the side down but don’t expect trophy winning wine.
Aromas of green apple and a hint of lime are followed through with tastes of grass, lemon, stone fruit and a slight creaminess on the finish. Its light and crisp with high acidity and perfectly paired with shell fish. A little grassy and acidic for me but I can appreciate the work thats gone into making this wine. A bronze medal winner at the IWSC its a very good wine.
Sumac Ridge Estate, Cellar Selection Sauvignon Blanc, 2018, British Columbia, Canada
St Clair, Estate Selection is a Sauvignon Blanc to rival the Cloudy Bay and Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc’s, not so much for the sheer quality but for the sheer value. This is a great wine wine, nipping at the heals of the other but at a £11 a bottle, the others are double or 50% more respectively.
The aromas are grassy notes with gooseberry coming through but the tastes change that. You get ripe pineapple, followed through with gooseberry and then a bit of lime and grass poking through. Its reasonably dry but the full fruit flavours hide the dryness and the acidity. The secret is to allow the wine to warm up a little to release the flavours.
This got a bronze medal at the Internal Wine Challenage which is a little stingy, silver medal in my humble opinion evey time.
Bulgaria makes some excellent wine and this organic one from Orbelus is a very good wine. Its a full bodied rich red with an underlying sweetness and fine but firm tannins.
Made with Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Melnik (a local grape), there’s an earthy aroma with cherry, violets and oak notes that are joined with black fruits and spice with a hint of chocolate in there.
I really liked this for its well balanced fruit and smoothness.
Orbelus Prima, Organic blended red wine, Thrace, Bulgaria
We went to Chateau De Berne and carried this Rouge 2014 back from Provence.
Wine in a square bottle is a De Berne thing, thankfully it doesn’t adversely effect the wine. Made with mostly with Syrah and chunk of Cabernet Sauvignon this is a dry, medium red colour and reasonably light wine. You get a hit of black cherry and plum on the noise with a hint of herbacious in there. This follows through in the taste with medium tannings and a pretty smooth texture. This is a fruit driven wine more than big tannins that grip your mouth.
At about Eur20 a bottle its not cheap, its good but a little overpriced.
Chateau De Berne, Rouge 2014, Provence, France
Made with the Klevener, of which there is only 4.5 ha of grapes in the region, this is not you typical wine from Alsace but Habsiger have done a good job. Its a mellow, soft wine, aromas of melon and Lychee with a taste of lemon poking through. Its not yu usual cheap, crisp, highly acidic, white wine.
Pesonnally I would have this on its own so the subtle flavours can be tasted. At Eur7 or 8 a bottle its an interesting wine that’s well worth trying.
Habsiger, Klevener de Heiligenstein, Alsace, France