Sleeping on the Job (South Africa / Australia / Portugal)
30 Nov 2014- Details
- Category: Uncorked Tonight
(September 27, 2014) ... There are certain crowns you relinquish quite readily ... And I pass the falling asleep at you own shindig to my good buddy Joe ... Not once, not twice, but thrice. He is the master and I bow to his supremacy. As for the wines that did him in they were all pretty good, but I think ultimately it was probably the Port that sent him over the edge - or was it the refill? Follow along:
Tonight's first wine was a South African Cab I had fallen for a few years ago: Ayama 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon - which is pretty impressive because of late the wines from South Africa we get here in Ontario have not been very impressive at all. Now, sometimes I hold things too long in my cellar, the reason could be that I remember how good they are and don't want to ruin that impression, thankfully this was not the case here, it proved to be just as nice tonight as I remember it being oh so many moons ago. The nose gives off a mix of dark fruits likes cassis and blackberry along with subtle aromas of smoke and coffee bean - this all pretty much previews what you get on the palate, to a somewhat lesser degree in some cases. Blackberry leans more towards black raspberry, the cassis comes along intact, smoky turns cocoa, and yes, the coffee is there as a flavour, especially on the finish. This wine had nice tannins and good complexity... a good start to the evening.
Next up was bottle of Tawse 2005 Echos Bistro Red (from Ontario), the review of which can be found here.
My final bottle of still table wine was from Australia (yes we did a little globe trotting tonight): Tapestry 2009 B & V Shiraz, which is made up of 38 year old Bakers Gully grown Shiraz (93%) and 7% that is bought in from "Vignerons". This was really a very appealing bottle and my favourite of the night. The nose was full of cassis, vanilla, and smoked meat (not usually a note I find in Aussie Shiraz); the palate was silky and smooth with cocoa and vanilla leading the charge, along with hints of coffee and a meaty goodness. The wine was just ready with all it's fruit and other elements that added to the enjoyment. No surprise this bottle was drained before all the others.
At some point near the end of the evening the topic of Port came up and off I went to grab a bottle - Quinta do Infantado Tawny - not sure how long I have had this bottle as it is a non-vintage tawny, but it is still a beauty, and I'm thinking I've had it a minimum 4years. Aromas are reminiscent of hazelnut and cherry, while the palate has a rich cherry flavour backed by good acidity and a finish that is indulgent with hazelnut and lightly caramelled ... and of course, the hallmark of any good Port is a pleasant linger that keeps you coming back for more ... which I think is where my buddy Joe went wrong, he dipped into the Port-well one too many times and off to bed he went - leaving the rest of us (4 guests + his wife) to wonder where he went and what happened to him ... his son later reported he passed out on the bed with one shoe on and one shoe off. Sleep well Joey.
(September 24, 2014) ... Holding wine from a trip is a double edged sword, sure you can bring yourself back to the time you were there, but if its been to long the wine can deliver poor memories even while you're trying to remember the good ones.
My next cork to pop was the Sumac Ridge 2005 Black Sage Cabernet Sauvignon, this one fared a little better with a nose of anise, dried raspberry, vanilla and oak. The palate kicked things off with oaky notes before giving way to dried raspberry and earthy elements, then finishing with some gritty tannins. An hour later the mid-palate of the wine seemed to be smoothing out nicely across the mid-palate though it kept the tannins fairly aggressive on the finish.
Neither of these wines proved to be to my mother's liking, as she prefers something a little on the smoother side ... So I had also brought a backup Italian bottle of Frescobaldi 2008 Tenuta di Castiglioni. Now this was a wine that was peaking nicely: aromas of black cherry and plum with a nice smoky-toasty note backing it up. The palate was full of lush fruit and good acidity along with a pleasant minerality, and a hint at a chalky finish. There were even hints of some bitter cocoa on that finish. This one just kept getting better and better with each sip ... And by my estimation still has a good 3-4 years left, if not more.
Since the first bottle of Italian wine went down so well we opened another, this time mom pulled out a little something from her stash, an Umani Ronchi 2007 Jorio. If we thought the 08 Frescobaldi was good the Ronchi proved equal to the task of matching it. Nose was plummy and earthy with a touch of oak ... At the outset there seemed to be an underlay of corkiness in the aromas, but it did not seem present on the palate, so I chalked it up to barrel or earthy notes ... As the evening wore on corkiness never seemed to materialized more, and as seasoned wine drinkers know cork-taint does not improve with time, it gets more prominent, thankfully here it did not.
