Category Archives: Red wine – Asia

Granmonte, The Orient Syrah, 2012, Thailand

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Granmonte, The Orient Syrah, 2012, Thailand

Granmonte, The Orient Syrah, 2012, Thailand

Anyone can make wine but not everyone can make good wine let alone excellent wine, so where does The Orient Syrah come? Its good, very good for an 8 year old Syrah. This was made by someone that clearly knew how to make good wine.

There are aromas of plum, oak, spice and hints of pepper. The flavours of plum, blackberry, blackcurrant are still there but is nice and smooth with mellowness and softness that is a delight.

Thailand is now on the list of countries that can make decent wine, I hope all Thailand wine makers can get to this standard.

Tbilvino, Khvanchkara, 2016, Georgia

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Tbilvino, Khvanchkara from Georgia is an interesting red wine, its meant to be sweet but personally I think its medium red but what really hits you is the jaminess and red fruit, its got a massive amount of flavour, redcurrant, strawberry, cherry, its amazing the amount in there.

I had this over a few evenings and it did grow on me, apparently Stalin enjoyed this wine!

Tbilvino, Khvanchkara, 2016, Georgia

Tbilvino, Khvanchkara, 2016, Georgia

Chateau Ningxia Saint Louis Ding, Farsight, Merlot 2013, China

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Chinese wine is not rubbish. Said it, drunk it and really liked it.

Ribena is what you smell, concentrated and with sweet tannins. Flavour is much less than the aroma, you get a little blackcurrant, but lots of dryness. Normally I would say this was simple and one dimensional. A cheap wine that’s best as the last bottle of a party BUT the length is reasonable and the smell is great and given that its 7 years old its OK.

This would have best at 4 years ago when it would have been vibrant in colour and just fruity. If the chinese can do this in the few years they have been producing then in 10 years time the french had better watch out.

Chateau Ningxia Saint Louis Ding, Farsight, Merlot 2013, China

Chateau Ningxia Saint Louis Ding, Farsight, Merlot 2013, China

 

Ho Lan Soul, 2015 Marselan, China

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Chinese wine can be very good, I tried the Cab Sav 2015 version of this wine earlier in the year. It’s good, medal winning quality. This is even better.  This is from the north west part of China, south of the Gobi desert. They reckon Marselan is the Chinese grape, like Bacchus is for the UK.

There are aromas and flavours of red fruit, black fruits. Soft tannins and mellow tasting make this a great bottle

Ho Lan Soul, 2015 Marselan, China

Ho Lan Soul, 2015 Marselan, China

Ho-Lan Soul reserve 2015, Dry red from China

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China is making a lot of wine, its area under management has been said to be the biggest of any country and production of wine will no doubt follow. People poo poo Chinese wine but it’s pretty good and getting better all the time. There are a few that get Decanter gold medals for their quality, now it doesn’t get much better than that.

Previous vintages have received Decanter awards in the past but I can’t see if this vintage got one. Made in the North West China, near the Gobi desert and with Cabernet Sauvignon and  organic this is a dry red wine with loads of dark fruit, cherry, plum with medium tannins. It’s the tannin level that shows that the wine makers thought of balance and complexity and got reasonable right. Theres lots going on here and for me a bronze medal wine. Its not outstanding but better than so many others out there. If you see Chinese wine give it a go.

Ho-lan Soul reserve 2015, Dry red from China

Ho-lan Soul reserve 2015, Dry red from China