Tag: Merlot

WSET Advanced

2008 Chateau Grand Mayne Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, deep ruby
Nose: clean, med+ intensity, developing, darker fruit, peppery, oak, soy
Mouth: dry, med+ body, med+ acidity, med tannin, med+ to long length, med+ alcohol, med+ intensity, lush
All in all: Good to very good quality; drink now, but has potential for ageing.

It’s so tough. A wine like this has all the ingredients for a wine intended for ageing: a good amount of tannin, a good amount of acidity, and the beginnings of some youthful characteristics that can develop. The problem is that this wine, for the time being, is still quite amazingly boring. You can probably find the a similar blend from Southern France with the sacrifice of not having an age-worthy wine.

Much like the wine we compared this to, I mistook it for an Aussie Shiraz (eek…might have been what I’m guessing is an uncalibrated morning palate or the power of suggestion).… read more

WSET Advanced

2010 Chateau Roc de Segur Bordeaux Supérieur

Posted on by Josh

Tasting Notes:

Eyes: clear, med+ ruby
Nose: clean, med intensity, youthful, candied red fruit, prune
Mouth: dry, high acidity, med- body, med- tannin, med- length, med- intensity, med+ alcohol
All in all: Good quality; drink now, but not intended for ageing.

A blind tasting guess of an Aussie Shiraz might give you an indication of what this was like. Jammy, candied, and probably catered to the ever-so-slightly-sweet-impression-but-still-dry palate of the New World’s consumer palate. It seems, though, that I shaved some points of for a slight lack in balance and intensity. The length and complexity were also lacking, and this is definitely not what I would call a typical Merlot-dominated Bordeaux. It would break my heart to see people think that this was a classic example.… read more

Tasting

wine 101 @ UBC

Posted on by Josh

So yeah! I led the first tasting of this school year at the UBC Wine Tasting Club. It was awesome and complete with me spilling wine while demonstrating swirling, me speaking horrendously quietly and fast while avoiding the tens and tens of eyes on me, and me silently freaking out and wondering if people were getting bored as I barked on and on about the noble grape varieties. Which is great, because that’s me being normal.

Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating.

What was also fantastic was that Holly brought her Le Nez du Vin set which was amazingly fun. People were trying to quiz each other with smells or just smelled the little vials in general. My favourite picture was the one with the goat-looking beast with weird fangs (“Musk”).… read more