Clear deep garnet. Mature, robust aromas of raisins, blackberries, marzipan, herbs and a bit of soy sauce. Full-bodied with mature cherry fruit and some typical Carménère greenish flavours. Will last another year. Good match for roast pork rubbed with cloves and cinnamon.
Highly perfumed, shining golden-yellow hued, with bruised apricot, orange blossom, pear skin leading the streaming, delicate and savoury form. The fading musk twinkles with lemon-lime sherbet before a bright, salted, white grapefruit twist on the lingering finish. It’s all wabi-sabi, on the edge riding floral/fresh and decay, all still intriguingly leading you to glass after glass (especially at 11.8%). Savagnin was brought to Oz from Spain and planted as Albarino. When folks discovered the cuttings they’d brought over were not actually Albarino, but Jura’s legendary Savagnin (mistakenly planted in Spain as Albarino), most vintners ripped them up. Brendon Keys, a fan of Savagnin and Jura, is one of the few who chose to continue with Savagnin, and is one of the few to work with the grape in Australia today. This is an “orange wine,” destemmed and fermented like a red with 1 month on skins in a fermenter before being pressed off to barrel for 9 months. In the mix is a new barrel from a forest in Jura, completing the circumference of this grape’s journey from Jura to Spain to Oz back to Jura.
This Southern Ontario brewery converted an old cinema in Chatham-Kent into a taproom and brewhouse mid-2017. 8 Track XPA (extra pale ale) drinks like the kid sister of the American-style IPA. Hazy with aromas of canned pineapple, citrus and a hint of fresh spruce, the malt character is muted but leaves a lingering sweetness, allowing the bright fruity and earthy hops to shine. After the swallow there’s a hint of lingering bitterness, but it goes away pretty quickly. A sessionable but juicy and hop-forward ale.
Sourced from the warm, sandy Black Sage Bench, this one offers fine red fruit with toasty, peppery, savoury and smoky aromas and raspberry, with peppery spice in the mouth. Smoothly textured with firm, but not overbearing tannins, it needs a little more time for youthful acidity to settle down.
This beauty shows rich aromas of cassis, blackberry, cherry-kirsch, loam and spices to go with wild herbs and cedar notes. It is simply gorgeous on the palate with soft, supple fruit that is ripe, concentrated and silky in the mouth. This is heady stuff, luxurious and complex yet not at all chunky with a gentle vibrancy through the long, lingering finish.
Dense ruby in colour with a herb-tinged, blackcurrant and cedar nose; full-bodied, dry and firmly structured. Will reward cellaring for 2 to 3 years.
A blend of Malbec, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon, the name refers to the elevation of the vineyard (1100 metres). Floral and spicy with dark berries, soft juicy tannins and a fresh finish. Great value for the dollar.