Personal wine tasting notes

My wife love grapes.

She also loves wine which is good for me since we get to share. 2007 was a good year for us wine-wise, I got to taste some wines which would otherwise be out of reach to me. I havent been a wine drinker for that long to give expert wine opinions to anyone. But I know what I like and wine drinking perferences evolve, these are some of my notes so far of what I had so far:

1. French Bordeaux red - really complicated. To understand Bordeaux wines, you probably need many many years of tasting and a wine degree. A good start however, would be Wikipedia, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux_Wine_Official_Classification_of_1855 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux_wine. The most important thing to note for French wine is the concept of "terroir", wine tastes different because of the region where the grapes were grown. French wine just tastes different. The most outstanding wine I have tasted so far was Chateau Haut-Brion 2003. Although relatively young and accessible, this wine had it all, it tasted good at the beginning, goes down nicely and had a great ending that persists. At 900 bucks pop, not something you will taste every week. Not a First Growth, but I kind of liked Chateau Lascombes as well. These are wines that should be decanted well and can be enjoyed by themselves, or with good cheeses.


2. Australian Shiraz - most people in Singapore start with Australian wine for no better reason than it is readily available in supermarkets here and because of its easy drinkability. The most distinctive type of wine produced in Australia is made using the Shiraz grape (better known as Syrah, actually Shiraz is a city in Iran where the name was taken). This wine typically is drunk young - about 2-3 yrs old, and besides classics like Penfold's Grange - tastes better young in my opinion. The wine is typically strong and distinctive in flavor, when I first drunk Shiraz, I thought it tasted "spicier" and drier than Cabernet Savignon. I personally think Shiraz goes well with Asian food, especially stuff like Cantonese food although I have cheese with it occassionally. Some examples of good Shiraz I have tasted - the Penfolds Grange/St Henri, Leewin Estate Art Series. Most of the other labels I have tasted are drinkable but not memorable e.g. Mad Fish, Vasse Felix. Maybe its me but Australian wine alcohol levels are rather high compared to other country's wines, 2 glasses and I feel it a bit more. Best drunk relatively warm at around 20degC.


3. Argentinian Malbecs - I really like this. The zinginess of this wine is great for drinking with steaks and red meat. So far, I have only tried a $20 bottle from NTUC and also a nicer $60 dollar bottle.


4. Canadian Ice Wines - I think the wines from Inniskilin use Riesling to make it. Too sweet sometimes but nice after a meal. Nice when served really cold, can taste a bit cloying when warm. Great with my home baked carrot cake.


5. New Zealand Savignon Blanc - great wine to go with a light meal like a caesar salad on a hot day or seafood - think fish and chips. Serve from the fridge - around 10degC? Have had nice ones from Coopers Creek but nearly all from the Malborough region in NZ are good. Avoid overly expensive ones e.g. from Cloudy Bay unless u can afford it.


6. Western Australian Rieslings - I have tasted Rieslings from Germany and they werent half as good as the one I tasted from Margaret River especially the ones from Howard Park. Rieslings taste like an in-between wine from Chardonnay and Savignon Blanc and they go nicely with grilled pork chops.

Other notes

----> we typically dont drink much Chardonnay (typically over oaked) or champagne (only a little during special occasions). The bad ones taste something awful.

----> A good wine I tasted recently was Leewin Estate's Cabernet Savignon 1998. Leewin is more well known for their Chardonnay but I really liked this one.