Deeply scented raspberry and cherry, accented with a splash of spicy and herbal notes and sweet dark cherry flavour dominant in the mouth. Rounds out with dark chocolate.
Attractively scented red fruit with peppery spice lead the way for ripe berry flavours, a splash of vanilla and enough peppery and savoury bite to provide food-friendly balance.
From 75-year-old organically farmed Carignan vines, this wine is from Testa Vineyards’ sandstone and loam soils in Mendocino, just over 520m in altitude. After a 10-day maceration, it spent an additional 10 months in neutral French oak before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. Dusky plum, raspberry, mineral, black cherry and dried thyme is carried with fine, persistent acidity, lifted and bright, all with a persistent perfumed overhue of wild blueberry. Bottled unfined and unfiltered (so overtly cloudy), this wine has a grippy duskiness on the lingering finish. A lovely pour, though wish it was about half the price.
Deep purple-ruby in colour with a cedary, spicy, plum nose backed by an oaky note. Full-bodied, porty, sweet plum flavour with balancing acidity and well-integrated oak.
Deep ruby colour with an earthy, herbal, black fruit nose. Medium- to full-bodied, dry, black plum flavour backed by spicy oak with an engaging floral note and ripe tannins. A beautifully balanced wine.
Once again award-winning California winery, Kendall-Jackson proves its reliability with its delicious (and very affordable) Chardonnay at just under $20. Aromas of warm vanilla and honeyed orchard fruit will greet you at first. Luscious pineapple, ripe papaya and juicy mango flavours follow, dancing in your mouth. Round, supple and creamy mouthfeel with subtle hints of toasted oak and buttered brioche. Lively acidity pushes through on the finish providing a harmonious and balanced wine. Very approachable, exceptionally food-friendly and terrific value makes it the perfect staple for the festive holiday celebrations or any other day.
Going hiking, biking, boating? Packing a picnic? Let me introduce you to the drink box for adults: Bota Mini, in an environmentally friendly 500 ml sippy box. Ripe, round and generous, with an elastic mouth feel and brisk spicing up to the short, clipped finish.