BOTTOM OF THE BOTTLE (BOTTOM LINE):
The color is deep and rich making its appearance of seductive quality. If you would like a heartier "stewed" or "baked" flavor quality to your berry flavors then try this wine out. Its a bit heavy on the berries due to the stewed quality so its difficult to pick out other aromas and flavors but after some time getting to known the wine, you might be able to see some depth to its character. Its got a good alcohol content and the higher alcohol, tannins and acidity seem to balance well in my opinion. It might be a decent inexpensive example of a wine with good balance and complexity. It would seem better appreciated on colder days or night time and with meals to match its heartiness.
for a full account, click "read more"
The color is deep and rich making its appearance of seductive quality. If you would like a heartier "stewed" or "baked" flavor quality to your berry flavors then try this wine out. Its a bit heavy on the berries due to the stewed quality so its difficult to pick out other aromas and flavors but after some time getting to known the wine, you might be able to see some depth to its character. Its got a good alcohol content and the higher alcohol, tannins and acidity seem to balance well in my opinion. It might be a decent inexpensive example of a wine with good balance and complexity. It would seem better appreciated on colder days or night time and with meals to match its heartiness.
for a full account, click "read more"
THE BACKGROUND:
I was looking for a Tempranillo so i went straight to the Spain imports where i was sidetracked by this odd character. I was trying to figure out if it was man or if it was some sort of personified bull. It looks like a man but it has horns and a ball sack that could only belong to a bull. That drew me into the story below the name of the wine. It turns out it is a bull. I then noticed the large bold declaration near the cap of the bottle that said this wine received 90 points in what looked like some professional tasting competition. I'm pretty sure 90 points is a damn good scoring. Partly because it received 90 points I decided to taste it myself. Mostly, it came down to the fact that if its good enough for a personified bull with those horns and that ball sack, its good enough for me to try at least once....or twice.
THE BASICS:
A 2009 Spain import, recipient of a 90 point score from Jay Miller of the Wine Advocate, this Shiraz/Garnacha blend stands in at 13.5% alcohol by volume, medium to full body and high tannins and acidity. It is a catch at 12.99$ from your local BC liquor store.
THE BOTTLE"S BOAST:
The back of the bottle brags of its "garnet colour, its roasted coffee, baked berry and chocolate covered espresso bean aromas" touched with "sweet herbs." It then boasts of a "supple fruity medium to full body with tangy apple accents and lively and balanced tannins."
THE REVIEWER'S RANT:
over at pop and pour it is said: "The Selection was a deep but lurid bright purple colour, but came across as aromatically challenged: the overall aromas were fairly quiet and muted, and what was there was heavy on the wood (sawdust, cedar) and wood-induced (coffee, nuts) notes, which held court over lesser impressions of stewed dark fruit. It kicked things up a notch on the palate, with a full body, mouth-warming alcohol, increasingly aggressive powdery tannins and crisp acidity, a great skeleton of structure for a cheaper bottle, but unfortunately the flavours did not quite fill out the wine’s frame. I tasted baked black fruit, pomegranate, black pepper, leather and cinnamon, but it took a lot of straining to pull out those flavours; on a quick sip, it just tasted like red wine. There was a nice rustic earthiness surrounding the fruit notes, but nothing about this bottle screamed out either “Syrah” or “Spain” to me, and the flavour vanished quickly on the finish. "
THE AMATEURS ACCOUNT:
APPEARANCE:
As i pour a hefty ounce into my glass the colour is of a dark inky red, almost plum purple-black in some lower lighting. the colour speaks of luxuriousness and intensity that i hope the aromas and flavours live up to. The drags leave purple-pink tinges running down the inside of the glass and purple spots dry quite quickly on the rim where a drop hit and went down the wrong side of the glass. Just looking at this dark beauty has me salivating.
NOSE:
The nose speaks to the wines sweeter baked berry touch. The winery's choice of "baked" is a good word to describe this. "Stewed" is more what i'm feeling. I am reminded of stewed cherries, raspberries and plums, perhaps a warm fruit compote for French toast. Unfortunately, as reminiscent of French toast as this stewed berry goodness is, its heavy stewed fruit aromas are too thick to pick any of the more subtle elements out of, like the "roast coffee" and "chocolate covered espresso bean." However, over-lording all of this baked/stewed goodness is the distinct aroma of the spice and alcohol this wine will hold. The inhale leaves my nose warm and tingling with expectation as my mouth waters even more.
PALATE:
On the first sip, the tip of my tongue tingles with pleasure, my mouth heats up with the alcohol and dries with astringency and I begin to salivate more from the acidity. The body is medium to full as I swish it along my palate. What I thought was spice is less so spice and more so the warmth of the alcohol as it heats my throat and chest when I swallow. The berries are deeper in flavour than in aroma, the taste of stew overtaking all other flavours and lingering in the finish is the tart bitterness of an almost stewed or dried cranberry flavour.
What makes this wine interesting is that the more I drink, the more I want to drink. Every time i take in the aromas i start to salivate, every sip leaves my mouth and throat parched dry from the higher tannins and alcohol and yet i begin to salivate from the higher acidity, wanting more. What a combination! As i drink more, new flavours seem to kick in. I'm not sure what i would exact these flavours to, but there is a woody component and baking spice adding softness to the wine. This wine has complexity, and if I may dare say, balance, and that is what keeps me coming back for more.
WINE FOOD PAIRING:
I had this one with spaghetti though I have to admit that it was at a birthday party and the seating had no table so i put my glass down to hold my plate and fork. I did not get a chance to touch my wine before finishing the dinner, though I did eye it heavily as I ate. I think it would have gone quite nicely with the dinner though it was not picked specifically for the dinner and other choices would have been better. I do now have a strange craving for French toast and cherry-raspberry compote on top. Not that this heavily flavoured, full bodied red would necessarily be a good pair for that. It would go superb with a stew though. I'm seeing heartier meals with this one. Meals that go well will stewed fruits and wont be overpowered by its bold taste. Gamey meat would definitely find this wine a challenge to overpower.
BOTTOM OF THE BOTTLE (BOTTOM LINE):
The color is deep and rich making its appearance of seductive quality. If you would like a heartier "stewed" or "baked" flavor quality to your berry flavors then try this wine out. Its a bit heavy on the berries due to the stewed quality so its difficult to pick out other aromas and flavors but after some time getting to known the wine, you might be able to see some depth to its character. Its got a good alcohol content and the higher alcohol, tannins and acidity seem to balance well in my opinion. It might be a decent inexpensive example of a wine with good balance and complexity. It would seem better appreciated on colder days or night time and with meals to match its heartiness
Though this is an inexpensive wine, I might dabble in ageing with this one. Of course, I wouldn't age it long, a year, two, maybe three. But it has the components: higher tannins, higher acids, big deep flavours, all three balanced. My only worries might be the higher alcohol content but I'm not talking about ageing it for all that long. I would like to think that if I did age this just a little, perhaps then the other flavours. like that "chocolate covered espresso bean" might come out to play a little more aggressively.
I was looking for a Tempranillo so i went straight to the Spain imports where i was sidetracked by this odd character. I was trying to figure out if it was man or if it was some sort of personified bull. It looks like a man but it has horns and a ball sack that could only belong to a bull. That drew me into the story below the name of the wine. It turns out it is a bull. I then noticed the large bold declaration near the cap of the bottle that said this wine received 90 points in what looked like some professional tasting competition. I'm pretty sure 90 points is a damn good scoring. Partly because it received 90 points I decided to taste it myself. Mostly, it came down to the fact that if its good enough for a personified bull with those horns and that ball sack, its good enough for me to try at least once....or twice.
THE BASICS:
A 2009 Spain import, recipient of a 90 point score from Jay Miller of the Wine Advocate, this Shiraz/Garnacha blend stands in at 13.5% alcohol by volume, medium to full body and high tannins and acidity. It is a catch at 12.99$ from your local BC liquor store.
THE BOTTLE"S BOAST:
The back of the bottle brags of its "garnet colour, its roasted coffee, baked berry and chocolate covered espresso bean aromas" touched with "sweet herbs." It then boasts of a "supple fruity medium to full body with tangy apple accents and lively and balanced tannins."
THE REVIEWER'S RANT:
over at pop and pour it is said: "The Selection was a deep but lurid bright purple colour, but came across as aromatically challenged: the overall aromas were fairly quiet and muted, and what was there was heavy on the wood (sawdust, cedar) and wood-induced (coffee, nuts) notes, which held court over lesser impressions of stewed dark fruit. It kicked things up a notch on the palate, with a full body, mouth-warming alcohol, increasingly aggressive powdery tannins and crisp acidity, a great skeleton of structure for a cheaper bottle, but unfortunately the flavours did not quite fill out the wine’s frame. I tasted baked black fruit, pomegranate, black pepper, leather and cinnamon, but it took a lot of straining to pull out those flavours; on a quick sip, it just tasted like red wine. There was a nice rustic earthiness surrounding the fruit notes, but nothing about this bottle screamed out either “Syrah” or “Spain” to me, and the flavour vanished quickly on the finish. "
THE AMATEURS ACCOUNT:
APPEARANCE:
As i pour a hefty ounce into my glass the colour is of a dark inky red, almost plum purple-black in some lower lighting. the colour speaks of luxuriousness and intensity that i hope the aromas and flavours live up to. The drags leave purple-pink tinges running down the inside of the glass and purple spots dry quite quickly on the rim where a drop hit and went down the wrong side of the glass. Just looking at this dark beauty has me salivating.
NOSE:
The nose speaks to the wines sweeter baked berry touch. The winery's choice of "baked" is a good word to describe this. "Stewed" is more what i'm feeling. I am reminded of stewed cherries, raspberries and plums, perhaps a warm fruit compote for French toast. Unfortunately, as reminiscent of French toast as this stewed berry goodness is, its heavy stewed fruit aromas are too thick to pick any of the more subtle elements out of, like the "roast coffee" and "chocolate covered espresso bean." However, over-lording all of this baked/stewed goodness is the distinct aroma of the spice and alcohol this wine will hold. The inhale leaves my nose warm and tingling with expectation as my mouth waters even more.
PALATE:
On the first sip, the tip of my tongue tingles with pleasure, my mouth heats up with the alcohol and dries with astringency and I begin to salivate more from the acidity. The body is medium to full as I swish it along my palate. What I thought was spice is less so spice and more so the warmth of the alcohol as it heats my throat and chest when I swallow. The berries are deeper in flavour than in aroma, the taste of stew overtaking all other flavours and lingering in the finish is the tart bitterness of an almost stewed or dried cranberry flavour.
What makes this wine interesting is that the more I drink, the more I want to drink. Every time i take in the aromas i start to salivate, every sip leaves my mouth and throat parched dry from the higher tannins and alcohol and yet i begin to salivate from the higher acidity, wanting more. What a combination! As i drink more, new flavours seem to kick in. I'm not sure what i would exact these flavours to, but there is a woody component and baking spice adding softness to the wine. This wine has complexity, and if I may dare say, balance, and that is what keeps me coming back for more.
WINE FOOD PAIRING:
I had this one with spaghetti though I have to admit that it was at a birthday party and the seating had no table so i put my glass down to hold my plate and fork. I did not get a chance to touch my wine before finishing the dinner, though I did eye it heavily as I ate. I think it would have gone quite nicely with the dinner though it was not picked specifically for the dinner and other choices would have been better. I do now have a strange craving for French toast and cherry-raspberry compote on top. Not that this heavily flavoured, full bodied red would necessarily be a good pair for that. It would go superb with a stew though. I'm seeing heartier meals with this one. Meals that go well will stewed fruits and wont be overpowered by its bold taste. Gamey meat would definitely find this wine a challenge to overpower.
BOTTOM OF THE BOTTLE (BOTTOM LINE):
The color is deep and rich making its appearance of seductive quality. If you would like a heartier "stewed" or "baked" flavor quality to your berry flavors then try this wine out. Its a bit heavy on the berries due to the stewed quality so its difficult to pick out other aromas and flavors but after some time getting to known the wine, you might be able to see some depth to its character. Its got a good alcohol content and the higher alcohol, tannins and acidity seem to balance well in my opinion. It might be a decent inexpensive example of a wine with good balance and complexity. It would seem better appreciated on colder days or night time and with meals to match its heartiness
Though this is an inexpensive wine, I might dabble in ageing with this one. Of course, I wouldn't age it long, a year, two, maybe three. But it has the components: higher tannins, higher acids, big deep flavours, all three balanced. My only worries might be the higher alcohol content but I'm not talking about ageing it for all that long. I would like to think that if I did age this just a little, perhaps then the other flavours. like that "chocolate covered espresso bean" might come out to play a little more aggressively.
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