Marcia and I went to a restaurant with one of those enomatic machines that dispense wine into your glass then pump nitrogen into the remaining space. There were 58 wines to choose from, in portions of 30, 60 or 120ml. We felt like children let loose in a candy store, and notes are cursory, as the amount (fourteen) was overwhelming (at least in a non-spitting situation).
2005 Amelia Chardonnay Casablanca Valley 14%
Intense oak vanilla nose. Hollow mid-palate and insufficient acidity. Decent fruit, but too much butter. Marcia liked it better than I did.
2006 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc
Lovely aromatics, guava, gooseberry, pine needles and what seems like sundried tomatoes (maybe this is what Dale means by capsicum). Unfortunately the taste doesn’t live up to the aromatics: a tad dilute, insufficient fruit, hollow mid-palate.
2006 Felipe Rutini Chardonnay Mendoza 13.7%
Rich nose, floral, citric, oak caramel. Too sweet, like glucose, not enough acid. Pass. A disappointment from one of my favorite producer of Argentine reds.
2006 Tabalí Pinot Noir Reserva Especial Limari Valley (Chile)
Light but elegant cherry nose with bramble and caramel. A touch too sweet for my taste. Good density, but otherwise unexceptional.
2006 Matariki Aspire Pinot Noir Hawke’s Bay
Would have guessed Beaujolais from the bright raspberry nose. Light but very pleasant and fruity. Good balance and acidity. A nice surprise and a pleasure to drink, though a second pouring, from a newly opened bottle, was slightly frizzy, so it needs some aeration.
2006 Peter Lehmann Riesling Eden Valley
The worst wine of the evening. Thinner and glue aromas, off-dry, detergent flavor, bitter finish, weak body. Didn’t taste like a bad bottle, just like bad wine.
2006 Bodegas Chacra “Borda” Pinot Noir Rio Negro Patagonia
Sour cherry and caramel nose, more burgundian than preceding pinots, but with off-putting sour finish. A bit too sweet, with an artificial note.
2004 Jacob’s Creek Reserve Shiraz Barossa Valley
Nose of underbrush and violets, a bit too acidic, not well balanced, not pleasurable.
2004 Elderton Shiraz Barossa Valley
Dark berry and vanilla nose followed by yummy fruit, good body and correct acid/fruit balance. A pleasure.
2005 The Colonial Estate Etranger Cabernet Sauvignon Barossa ValleyDark berry nose. Tasty, good acid/fruit balance. Marcia’s favorite of the evening.
2003 Springfield Estate Whole Berry Robertson South Africa
Sour cherry nose, with tar, eucalyptus and glue flavors. So-so.
2003 Norton Pedriel del Centenário Malbec 14.5%
Rich berry nose, sour cherry taste, good extraction, dense mid-palate, long finish. High-ish alcohol very well integrated. A pleasure.
2005 Quinta do Vallado Douro Reserva
Eucalyptus nose, spicy cassis fruit, good, grippy tannins. Not bad.
2004 Beni di Batasiolo Barbaresco 13.5%
Not very expressive nose with some coffee. More sour than fruity, very tannic. May be closed, or just needs some time.
An inexpensive way to satisfy curiosity about certain styles and regions. At the end of the day, it was a lot of fun, but the experience was too scattered to be pleasurable. But we’ll probably do it again when the line-up changes.
