Right, what are we/you drinking now .. tonight

[Sean]

deleted

[Cactus]

2015 Lakes Folly Cab popped and poured. At first thought it was damaged, a bit funky or something. But after 5 mins in glass cleaned up to be just what doctor ordered on this cold night.

[mychurch]

36919879-D581-4D5E-819A-3714BBEA87FD.jpeg

19FDDE7A-5773-4AD5-B118-FF47C12F28F3.jpeg

Finished the Envinate last night with some pasta. This is their lowest level wine and it’s a cracker - cool, refined and with just the right amount of acidity. I have been a fan of their white and red wines from the Canaries for a while, and if you are a fan of the Etna red and whites, these will appeal

The Aligote is just brilliant. Some flint on the nose, good citrus fruit, cream a hint of toffee and oatmeal all bound together by great acidity. Yum.

[Ozzie W]

Finished the Envinate last night with some pasta. This is their lowest level wine and it’s a cracker - cool, refined and with just the right amount of acidity. I have been a fan of their white and red wines from the Canaries for a while, and if you are a fan of the Etna red and whites, these will appeal

The Albahra sounds intruiging and right up my alley. Will seek out a bottle to try.

[mychurch]

The Albahra sounds intruiging and right up my alley. Will seek out a bottle to try.

Just to be clear, the Albaraha is more Northern Rhône than Etna. If anyone wants an Etna lookalike, then try the Taganan range.

2E7C96C7-85DF-4924-90E8-ADB553B57E05.jpeg

Tonight’s cracker. 10.5% alcohol, which means no worries for tomorrow. This is more Loire than South Africa and it’s delicious.

[Ozzie W]

After mychurch's recommendation, I sought out a bottle of Envinate Taganan Tinto. This one is the 2016 vintage. My first wine from the Canary Islands.

It's a blend of numerous red grape varieties native to the Canary Islands, including Listan Negro, Listan Gaucho, Malvasia Negro. 12% ABV.

[url=https://postimg.cc/MvGmZy57][img]https://i.postimg.cc/MvGmZy57/IMG-20190813-184011.jpg[/img][/url]

Light to medium bodied, almost sweet ripe strawberry fruit (in a Peleverga sort of way), red cherry, tart red currants, banana, white pepper, saline, earth, pumice, smoke. Medium tannins. High acidity. Dry finish, but a bit short. Elegant, nicely balanced and smashable. An interesting and unique wine that I'd happily enjoy drinking again.

Thanks for putting the wines from the Canary Islands on my radar, mychurch.

[mychurch]

Glad you enjoyed it Ozzie. I really like the whites in particular - the Cuvee Amogoje is incredibly complex. I started with the 2013 Vintage and I know from then and other reviews that the wines were very reductive. I think that has changed now - the 2016 I had last Okt was much better balanced.

Don’t know how much these wines are here in Auz - I presume around the $60 mark. The value wine in the Envinate range is the Lousas, which is a red wine from Ribiera Sacra.

Suertes del Marquis are the other house I have tried a lot. Defiantly easier to find and a similar quality. The Vidonia, is my favourite, but again it’s white and a bit funky. Only seen the Trenzado (white) and the 7 Fuentes (red) so far in Melbourne. Both good, but not the best they do.

[mychurch]

684E9872-CB17-43D8-95FB-1CA4175DA6A7.jpeg

Well it’s not wine, but it’s the final bottle of Rum from my collection. I opened 23 different bottle at my 50th 3 years ago and now they, and all the replacements, are all gone. I really prefer dry rums to the super sweet ones - the best ever was a BBR Rum 10 year old Demerara Rum that I picked up years ago - and this is in that style. There is a lot of vanilla of course, but it’s quite dry and comes over more as a whiskey than a rum. As usual, I drink with some coke and lime, although you could sip this on its own.

[Croquet King]

Last night I had a Giaconda 2010 Pinot.
Lots of lightly smoked charcuterie, gamy and briary flavours. Very burgundy like.

It was paired with a cheese board - a white fox from leicester, a creamy italian blue with truffled honey and a soft french. Bloody fantastic.

[JamieBahrain]

This week each evening I had a bottle of Grosset Gaia.

1994- Tired. Lively acidity with violet fruits offering a spark .

1995- I loved this wine in youth . Extracted and unyielding dark fruits in an elegantly crafted frame . Still seeing some of the wine’s youthful characteristics .

1996- Beautiful dark shaded Clare cassis and mint . Good volume of fruit and structured towards and even and long finish .

1998 - Round and neatly plump. Holding .

I think these wines have a real spark at 10-15 though all the above in varying degrees of decline .

[Mahmoud Ali]

Well it’s not wine, but it’s the final bottle of Rum from my collection. I opened 23 different bottle at my 50th 3 years ago and now they, and all the replacements, are all gone. I really prefer dry rums to the super sweet ones - the best ever was a BBR Rum 10 year old Demerara Rum that I picked up years ago - and this is in that style. There is a lot of vanilla of course, but it’s quite dry and comes over more as a whiskey than a rum. As usual, I drink with some coke and lime, although you could sip this on its own.

I don't usually drink rum but a couple of rums that were on the dry side have really impressed me in the last couple of years. The first one was, likely akin to your BBR rum,(Berry Brothers & Rudd?) a Rum Nation's Barbados Rum, Distilled in 2001, 10 Years Old(40%) that I bought on a whim. The rum sweetness was definitely in the background and the dry finish made it a perfect sipping rum and, as you mentioned, much like a whisky. I went back and bought the two remaining bottles.

The second rum was s Duncan Taylor Single Cask Rum, distilled in 2000 by Hampdens Distillery in Jamaica. The cask was shipped to Scotland and later bottled at cask strength (53.1%) at 12 years of age. Because Duncan Taylor is an independent bottler of single malts I considered including this in a cask strength scotch tasting. A clerk at a store told me that the usual rum fanciers tended not to like this style but that it appealed to scotch drinkers. That piece of information was enough to convince me to include it in the tasting. It was indeed very, very, dry, and laced with all sorts of unusual aromatics and flavours that leaned towards smoke, rubber, sulphur, and laboratory chemicals, a veritable melange of good and bad dueling to capture attention. It was highly appreciated by the tasters. By the time I held the tasting the rum had sold out. Only a trickle remains as you can see in the bottle.

DT Hampden 12.jpg

What were some of the other dry rums you had?


Cheers ……………………… Mahmoud.

[mychurch]

4885BAFF-0FEE-4412-9104-9ABEC7977C97.jpeg

This is the picture I took on the day. Quite a few Plantation and of course OVD, which is one of Scotlands other National drinks. It’s a very sweet rum, although not as sweet as the Gossling (big black bottle to the left).

Looking at it now, I seem to have already drunk some of the rarer ones (the BBR is not there). Behind the Abuelo is a bottle of produced by one of the whiskey producers. I think I had at least 3 different types of this at one point, but they must have been good and been drunk up. Can’t quite make out the producer now.

The best of those in the picture was the Secret Treasure Single Cask Guadeloupe. Really crunchy. I think it was a vintage. 1992 Perhaps.

No Mount Gay in the picture - along with Abuelo, one of my go to rums. Just great QPR. Diplomatico and Zacappa used to be good 10 years ago, but I was going off them around this time as the blends were obviously using a lot more young rum. No Cuban either. Again, I remember bring back a few bottles from holiday there, but obviously they did not last.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Thanks for posting a picture, it looked like it was an interesting tasting/drink session.

The one behind the Abuelo 12 that you referred to, the opaque bottle, looks like something I've seen before. Though I cannot recall the name I recall that the cask was stored at Bruichladdie in Scotland. The one I considered buying for the cask strength tasting was a 1998 Cuban run, an 11 year old that was finished in an Amarone cask. I opted for the Duncan Taylor 12 because it was less expensive by a good margin.

[Ozzie W]

2002 Chateau Musar

My first Chateau Musar and first wine from Lebanon as well.

A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, and Carignan. 14% ABV.

[url=https://postimg.cc/4nL4rz65][img]https://i.postimg.cc/4nL4rz65/IMG-20190816-134011.jpg[/img][/url]

Medium to full bodied ripe red fruits, plum, leather, tobacco. Fine tannins. Fruit sweetness not quite balanced by the high acid. Long spicy finish with a hint of balsamic. Not showing any Brett or VA that is often associated with this wine (from what I read). Plenty still left in the tank for this bottle.

[mychurch]

You are having a good week Ozzie !!!

It’s a rights of passage for all collectors I think to have a “Musar Moment”. It’s a good wine, and the younger vintages are not as funky as the older - I think there was a change of style 3 or 4 years ago.

I actually think his entry level wine is pretty good - the Jeune - and it’s definitely more appealing to the masses.

[mychurch]

F61DACBC-CCF5-4D00-8E89-9E8C4BBE4F12.jpeg

Don’t drink a lot of red at home, but it’s a home cooked rich Malaysian chicken and pork belly soup for dinner.

This is one of these youngish, well made modern reds that is smooth to drink and rather dull. Nose is complex, the oak is perfect, but it has no personality. Come back in 10 years ? Maybe,

[Ian S]

2002 Chateau Musar

My first Chateau Musar and first wine from Lebanon as well.

A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, and Carignan. 14% ABV.

[url=https://postimg.cc/4nL4rz65][img]https://i.postimg.cc/4nL4rz65/IMG-20190816-134011.jpg[/img][/url]

Medium to full bodied ripe red fruits, plum, leather, tobacco. Fine tannins. Fruit sweetness not quite balanced by the high acid. Long spicy finish with a hint of balsamic. Not showing any Brett or VA that is often associated with this wine (from what I read). Plenty still left in the tank for this bottle.

Yes a few grumblings from the Musar faithful that these days it lacks the (alleged) faults that made it such a compelling wine. Don't get me wrong, it's still wonderfully interesting and characterful, and more so than its price suggests. A long time favourite and my cellar always has a few vintages in it (currently odd 1s and 2s between 1999 and 2004, plus a few 2008s IIRC, plus a bottle or two of the Hochar pere et fils, and a bottle of a newer release entitled 'Levantine' which is released to market much younger.

[felixp21]

sitting on the balcony on a warm, muggy summer evening, storms about, and looking across to what seems to be about 100 armoured cars complete with gun turrets lined up on my son's sports-ground!!!!
here's hoping everyone comes to their senses before D-Day, which is Sunday. Hope everything is OK over there Jamie

anyway, back to the wine

2013 Bass Phillip Premium Chardonnay
this wine took about 5 years to reach some sort of drinking plateau, and was pretty mundane before that. Now, it's yet another brilliant Aussie chardonnay, full of white stone fruits, fruit salad, white flowers and river pebbles. Beautiful, complex wine that would easily pass as a top notch villages from a good vintage. Thus, at $60-odd, it's great value. Ripper. 93pts drink: now-2023.

[JamieBahrain]

D5 Bulldozers and main battle tanks work best for proximate urban warfare . A few Hong Kong taxis could trap their light APC’s in narrow roads .

Still not drinking my absolute best stuff . Hoping for a sensible outcome as well !

Had an amazing Chianti Classico dinner last night in the old Bank of China building . A private club and the event hard to so genuinely replicate outside of Italy. Hong Kong is an amazingly cool place . Sad it’s gotten to this with goons at the helm .

[felixp21]

yea, situation is now pretty much exactly the same as the Spanish government has faced for years, with no solution in sight. In the current situation, both sides have goons at the helm, those in Beijing looking to be heavy-handed, and those in HK looking to be completely stupid and politically far too naive.

[Sean]

deleted

[Scotty vino]

1996 Wynns BL CS.
Cork looking great.
Into a decanter for 30-45 mins.
Monitored this from the 10 min mark.
Smelled very jammy and oxy off the bat but slowly blew off.
Once it hit the glass it was starting to really open up.
Hints of Dark Cherry, leather, dried herbs, tobacco and aniseed.
The slightest touch of menthol/mint floating around
Getting gamey meats in spades here. Loving it.
Finish was lonnnnnng.
Tannin just hanging on by the skin of it's teeth and just enough to round everything off.
Still some decent fruit here and it made all the difference.
Drank over hour or so and it just kept improving. Last sip probably the best.

Still showing fairly well i reckon but I'd be getting into this in the next 12 months.

[ticklenow1]

2011 Marius Symphony Shiraz. McLaren Vale. I've long been an admirer of Roger's wines and this made that admiration even stronger. As most know, 2011 was a horrendously wet vintage in SA. I've had a few half decent Cabernets, but that's about it. This wine bucks the trend. I don't mind a bit of pepper in my reds, but almost all Shiraz and Grenache I've tried from 2011 were just over the top. The slight pepper in this is so well balanced with beautiful spice and sweet oak. The fruit is still showing really well with dark fruits and a dash of chocolate. A stunning wine and a triumph for the vintage. I tip my hat to you Roger. 4/5

Cheers
Ian

[phillisc]

Opened the first Wynns 2008 BL, black in colour, black dark fruits, restrained but not austere, great nose, berry, spice, olive, savory.
Palate is medium with gentle tannins and lovely fruit sweetness. Under stelvin, who knows where this will be in 20-25 years. Very nice wine.

Cheers Craig

[Hacker]

Celebrating tonight with a 2002 Pierre Peters Chetillons because of great results on an investment. See signature below.

[Alex F]

Vidal Estate Reserve Cabernet Merlot 1991 - From what I gather was quite a good Hawkes Bay vintage comes this wine which is a blend of 82% cabernet sauvignon and 18% merlot, clocking in at 12.5% alcohol. I wanted a gentle, soft wine, and this did not disappoint. Cigarbox, smoke, dried herbs, earth on the nose, quite some lift. Palate is one dimensional and light bodied, but has this awesome spine tingling sour blackcurrant taste. Lingers; medium length. I have caught it at the end of its graceful decline, like getting lost watching the waves lap the shores of a lake...

[Croquet King]

Taylors St Andrews Riesling 2009

Pale golden colour (rather than light yellow)
Lanolin oily nose with crushed citrus leaf.
Palate very lemony with hints of lime with good acid structure.

Very good wine and I can only see this getting better - potentially another 15 years.

As an aside - I was going to serve the dozen I have left at my 50th but might keep it now.

[Ozzie W]

2015 Bartolo Mascarello Dolcetto d'Alba

[url=https://postimg.cc/CZrvZcmd][img]https://i.postimg.cc/CZrvZcmd/IMG-20190826-182848.jpg[/img][/url]

14% ABV.

Fresh and lively spicy dark fruits, strawberry, earth, herbs. Acid, tannins and fruit in perfect harmony from start to finish. Quite powerful, yet elegant and restrained. Incredibly long concentrated finish that's slightly sweeter than I was expecting. All the taste receptors on my tongue from front to back and side to side are having a party! Not many wines do that.

I need to pinch myself to remind me that I'm drinking Dolcetto. It gets better and better the longer it sits in the glass. I'm told this drinks even better on day 2, but I'm not sure if the bottle will last that long.

[phillisc]

deleted

Hope all is good, enjoyed reading your posts.
Cheers Craig.

[Snoopy]

F61DACBC-CCF5-4D00-8E89-9E8C4BBE4F12.jpeg

Don’t drink a lot of red at home, but it’s a home cooked rich Malaysian chicken and pork belly soup for dinner.

This is one of these youngish, well made modern reds that is smooth to drink and rather dull. Nose is complex, the oak is perfect, but it has no personality. Come back in 10 years ? Maybe,

It's just too young. Bottle I had a year ago was drab and boring on opening, but was excellent after around 3 - 3.5 hours in the decanter. Sounds like nothing much has changed. How much air did you give it?