Talk-A-Vino

I’m sure everybody loves the holiday season – at least in the US, where the holiday season is typically the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. While there are many reasons for that, I think the wine lovers can have their own additional reason. All things wine make the perfect gift, and the wine stores want you to remember that – particularly, by running a lot more wine tasting events and bringing out more interesting wines!

Along these lines, I had an opportunity to taste a few of the great wines and whiskies, which I want to share with you here. Let me start with the wines first.

NV Ayala Brut Majeur Ay Champagne, France (12% ABV, 45% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Meunier ) – Champagne lovers, rejoice – as the New Year is getting closer, the opportunity to taste Champagne will be only increasing. But when it comes to this particular Champagne Ayala, this wine is a reason to celebrate on its own. Beautiful nose of everything you want in Champagne – baked bread, touch of yeast, a fresh apple. Considering concentration and complexity of all these flavors on the nose, it was more resembling a vintage Champagne than a regular NV (the fact that this AYALA Champagne ages for 2.5 years on the lees is probably a contributing factor). Fine mousse on the palate, light, effervescent, delicious – I had to ask for the refill of my tasting cup. At around $30, this well might be the best Champagne the money can buy. Drinkability: 8

2011 Mt. Beautiful Sauvignon Blanc North Canterbury, New Zealand (14% ABV) – I know that not everybody like the pronounced grapefruitiness of the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. So If you still want to experience the bright and uplifting character of New Zealand SB, sans the grapefruit, this might be the wine for you. Light straw color in the glass, the nose of lemon with some grass notes, vibrant acidity, clear cut lemon with a bit of a lemon zest on the palate, medium to full bodied, refreshing and invigorating. This wine will be great with food and on its own. Drinkability: 8-

2012 Mt. Beautiful Pinot Noir North Canterbury, New Zealand (13.5% ABV) – light garnet color in the glass, this wine was a quintessential Pinot Noir for me. First and foremost characteristic of this wine is a perfect balance and harmony, both on the nose and on the palate. Hint of cherries on the nose with the touch of mushrooms and earthiness – one of the wines you want to smell forever. On the palate, both red and black cherries, red plums, perfect acidity, soft tannins, medium body, overall extremely round and supple. Super dangerous – I’m sure the bottle will be gone in no time if you are just left alone with it. It is also a steal at $19.99. Drinkability: 8+

2010 Ferrari-Carano Siena Red Wine Sonoma County (14.1% ABV, 74% Sangiovese, 14% Malbec, 8% Syrah, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon) – dark garnet color int he glass, inviting nose of fresh dark fruit, very balanced on the palate with chewy cherries and touch of black plums. Good structure and acidity, overall very pleasant. Drinkability: 7+

2011 Damilano Barbera d’Asti DOCG (14% ABV, 20% aged in 225L Frenchbarriques, 40% aged in second use 225L French barriques, and 40% aged in 500L French tonneaux) – I would call this an ideal Pizza wine. Light cherries on the nose and the palate, with the addition of the tart blackberries, noticeable but balanced acidity. Drinkability: 7

2011 Produttori del Barbaresco Nebbiolo Langhe DOC (14.5% ABV) – excellent rendition of the young and approachable Nebbiolo. Brick color in the glass, earthy nose, good amount of dark fruit on the palate withaddition of leather and tobacco. Very enjoyable. Drinkability: 7+

2009 Damilano Lecinquevigne Barolo DOCG (14% ABV, aged for 24 month, 80% in 10,000L oak barrels, 20% in second use 225L French oak barrique) – this wine is a blend of fruit from 5 different vineyards, all from Barolo DOCG designated zone (Castellero in Barolo, Monvigliero in Verduno, Fossati in La Morra, Ravera in Novello and Cavourrina in Grinzane Cavour). This wine was [expectedly] similar to the previous Nebbiolo wine, but with “more of everything” – higher concentration of fruit, nice power, well integrated  after few hours of decanting, tobacco, leather, ripe cherries, hint of violet – a full package of an excellent Barolo. Also, at around $30, it is pretty much a steal. Drinkability: 8-

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And now, here comes Whisky. I will present to you 4 different whiskies – care to guess where they came from? I will give you a few seconds to think about it. So they actually came from … Scotland (of course), Japan and North Carolina!

Blue Ridge Distilling Defiant Whisky, North Carolina (41% ABV, 100% Malted Barley) – what a treat! This Whisky has a great story, which is well captured on the distillery’s web site and in this Huffington post article, so I will have to defer you to those sources for the full information. I can only tell you that this is a very young distillery (a bit older than one year), which uses a unique ageing process, where toasted white oak spirals are used instead of a cask to impart the color and character. This was a perfect whisky – smooth, round, with a touch of sweetness and perfect, oily, silky viscosity and texture, which is the trait of some of the best Scotland single malts. If you like whisky, this is something you have to experience to believe it. Outstanding.

Nikka Whisky Taketsuru Single Malt 12 Years Old, Japan (40% ABV) – Japanese Whisky are so hard to find! I have most of my experience with Yamazaki and Hibiki, both of which are some of my favorite. This Nikka Taketsuru 12 y.o. was nice but rather simple, without much of the explicit character. At around $70/bottle, this might not be the best choice for the money.

Nikka Whisky Yoichi Single Malt 15 Year Old, Japan (45% ABV) – this was a lot more interesting than the previous one – playful on the palate, with good power, hint of caramel, crisp acidity, nice and balanced. While this is a good dram, the pricing still makes the value somewhat questionable – at around $115, I’m not sure this would be the best investment.

The Lost Distillery Company Auchnagie Blended Malt Whisky (46% ABV) – in a word, spectacular! One of the best whisky I ever tasted, one of the very best! It also comes with the great story. The Lost Distillery Company has its mission to recreate the whisky made by some of the best distilleries in Scotland, which are long gone (actually, there are hundreds of those). Auchnagie, which existed for almost hundred years, 1812-1911, was a farm distillery located in Highlands. Recreation of the Auchnagie whisky was one of the first projects undertaken by The Lost Distillery Company – I can only direct you to their web site where you can read pages and pages of detailed research information. And to tell you the truth, I wouldn’t dare to describe this whisky from that few second I had to taste it (it was mostly a moaning session). I will hopefully get a bottle at some point and will write the whole dedicated post as this beverage deserves. But – if you are a whisky aficionado, I have only two words for you – find it! It is truly spectacular and you don’t want to miss it. Also, at around $65 /bottle, it worth every penny for the countless amount of pleasure it will bring.

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That’s all I have for you today. Happy Monday and a great week to all! Cheers!