Top new releases tasting
Wednesday evening the 27/06 I held a tasting of a few of the best of the new releases I have tried over the last month.
It was a chilly evening so I made a red lentil and vegetable soup and a seven hour slow cooked leg of lamb with some stuffed yellow peppers, roasted tomatoes and kifler potatoes.
The wines were......
Maddens Rise 2011 Rosso from the Yarra Valley. I tasted this wine yesterday for the first time and it is simply scrummy. A blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Nebbiolo. A beautiful savoury delight, a lick of sweet fruit hits the front of the plate followed by spicy, earthy notes finishing long and dry.
Man O’ War Cabernet Merlot 2009 another wine from this Waiheke Island vineyard and so good I had to have this wine on tasting. A mouth filling wine bursting with berry fruit flavours and a lick of soft oak.
Cooper Burns Shiraz 2009 from the Barossa Valley. I acquired a sample of this wine having just sold the last dozen of their previous vintage which Mr. Halliday had awarded 95 points. I was interested to taste how the new vintage stacked up. Production is up from a couple of hundred cases to 550 cases this vintage as they have dropped their shiraz viognier blend from the range and all grapes are going into this shiraz. This wine is sensational and the price on this vintage has dropped! The wine is silky smooth loaded with berry fruit flavours and a peppery hit, drinking wonderfully but will cellar for many a year.
Cheers, Michael @ Wineseek.