[Old World ] Spanish Wine

                                      Bodegas Borsao Tres Picos Garnacha 2013

I love Spanish wines, it always surprise me and show unexpected flavor. Recently, I tried different price range of Spanish Wines and want to share with everyone.  

BodegasBorsao Tres Picos Garnacha 2013

Tres Picos is a 100% Grenache red wine, made by Borsao winery, from Northern Spain Campo de Borja. The wine name “Tres Picos” means Three Peaks, which is the Grenache for this wine are exactly from mountain vineyards between 35-60 years old, located in 600-700m altitude. It fermented in stainless steel tank, and then spends 5 to 10 months in French oaks. This wine has dark purple color, shows plum, cherry, menthol and spices aromas. In the mouth has rich fruit like plum and blackberry, it is medium to full body, dry red wine but after taste can find the sweeten of ripe fruit. The price is around HKD $125~150 ( at Watson Wine).

                                Bodegas Faustino I Gran Reserva Rioja DOCa 2001

BodegasFaustino I Gran Reserva Rioja DOCa 2001

The Faustino Gran Reserva used traditional packaging like a gold wire wrapped the bottles and Faustino iconic frosted bottles which are easy to recognize in wine shop. Bodegas (Winery) Faustino established in 1861, located in Oyón, Rioja Alavesa. The Gran Reserva blended with mainly Tempranillo, plus Graciano and Mazue. It spent 26 month in French oak and at least 3 years in bottle. This is a traditional Rioja style wine, it very plummy, it has ruby red color with light orange on the rim. The aromas have plum, spices, tobacco and little of oak. In the mouth have delicate palate, medium body, mild and acid, tannic. The price is arouns HKD $250~$300. 

                                     Bodegas Borsao Tres Picos Garnacha 2013

                                 #1 Greatest Value wine of 2014 By Robert Parker 

                              Bodegas Faustino I Gran Reserva Rioja DOCa 2001

我都幾鍾意飲西班牙紅酒, 因為每次都飲都會有驚喜或意想不到的發現. 近來試了兩枝不同價錢的西班牙紅酒, 想和大家分享一下.

BodegasBorsao Tres Picos Garnacha 2013

Tres Picos 採用100% Grenache 來釀製, 酒莊 Borsao來自西班牙北部的  Campo de Borja.酒名"Tres Picos"是西班牙語解, 三個山峰的意思, 因為釀製這款紅酒的葡萄就正是在山上的葡萄園採摘, 樹齡大約35-60歲, 位於600-700米高. 首先會在不銹鋼酒桶內發酵, 之後再放在法國橡木桶內5-10個月. 深紫色的葡萄酒帶有西梅, 車厘子, 薄荷, 香料的芳香. 口感非常豐富, 有濃郁水果香, Medium ~ Full Body, 這是一款Dry紅酒,  不過After Taste可以找到一些類似水果熟透時的甜. 價錢大約 HKD $125~150 (屈臣氏酒窖有售). 

                               Bodegas Faustino I Gran Reserva Rioja DOCa 2001

BodegasFaustino I Gran Reserva Rioja DOCa 2001

Faustino Gran Reserva 用了最傳統的包裝, 金屬酒瓶網和他們代表性的磨砂瓶, 所以在紅酒鋪內非常容易認得出. Bodegas (酒莊) Faustino 在1861年創立, 位於Oyón 在Rioja Alavesa內. Gran Reserva主要是用Tempranillo葡萄, 加配多兩款葡萄Graciano / Mazue. 葡萄酒會在法國橡木桶陳年26個月, 裝瓶後在酒瓶內再陳年多3年. 這款酒可品嚐到Rioja的傳統風格, 非常  Plummy, 帶有紅寶石色的酒, 在紅酒的邊緣位有輕微橙色, 比較舊年份的紅酒都有機會帶有橙色,銅色,等等. 芳香都有李子, 香料, 煙草, 輕微的木桶香(可以當是雲呢拿). 口感細緻帶有美味水果香,Medium Body,輕輕的酸和柔和的單寧. 價錢大約 $250~$300, 己忘記在哪裡買.

[HK] Watson’s Wine Lucky Bag

[HK] Watson’s Wine Lucky Bag

From now on to 21 Aug, HK Watson’s Wine has a Lucky Bag (福袋) for $668. Lucky Bag is kind of lucky draw, you pick your own bag and inside the bag has 3 bottles of red wine that total is value from $1000 - $2000. The range includes French wine, Italian wine, Spanish wine and Australian wine. This deal has nothing to lose, why not give it a try, only $668 for 3 bottles of red wine that is around $222 for each and I have a chance to pick the expensive one.

Let ‘see which wine I got:

• Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere 2010
• Chateau de Lamarque 2012
• Penfolds Cellar Reserve McLaren Vale Tempranillo 2012

Wow…Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere!! In HK it cost minimum $800 to $1000. The Staff told me that I picked the most expensive one lucky bag, it values around $2000. Only Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere is already over $668 and it is quite amusing and exciting. If, you intend to buy one, please hurry up, because those bags have limited number for each shop.   

從現開始到8月21日香港Watson’s Wine有一批福袋 (Lucky Bag)售價＄668, 大家對福袋應該唔會好陌生. 福袋內里有3枝紅酒總供價值到＄1000～＄2000, 款式包括有法國,意大利,西班牙和澳洲紅酒. 個福袋＄688有3枝紅酒每枝酒大約＄222, 其實我覺得係好低玩, 仲有機會抽到一D貴價酒.

大家睇下我抽到咩酒：

• Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere 2010
• Chateau de Lamarque 2012 
• Penfolds Cellar Reserve McLaren Vale Tempranillo 2012

嘩!! Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere, 香港正價最少都要賣＄800﹣＄1000. 個STAFF同我講, 話我抽到呢一袋係價值最高既一袋, 價值大約＄2000. 其實單單一枝Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere 已經超過＄668, 抽到靚酒, 又有得玩, 真係咩都低哂. 如果有興趣就要趁快, 因為佢同我講數量有限！賣完即止！

[France / Italy] Montirius Gigondas Confidentiel 2010 & Fattoria Le Pupille ElisabettaGeppetti 'Poggio Valente, Morellino di Scansano Riserva DOCG Italy 2009 Wine Tasting

I have been so busy on these past weeks but still have time for wine tasting. These 2 wines are worth to try, let’s share these simple wine reviews for your reference.

The 1^st one is Montirius Gigondas Confidentiel 2010, from Gigondas which is locating in Southern Rhone Valley. The terroir here is limestone and clay slopes up to 1,300 ft. Here is Mediterranean climate hot temperature, dry and sunny. Gigondas only has black grapes plantation, so no white wine is yielding. The wine blended big amount of Grenache grape, it gives the wine firmer and longer aging potential. Montirius Gigondas Confidentiel 2010 blended with 80% of Grenache and 20% of Mourvèdre, the average age of the vines are 75 years old. Before, I decanted for around 30 mins. The color is dark purple, has plum, cherry, spices, black pepper and light smoke aromas. In the mouth can found richness of plum and cherries, powerful tannins, aftertaste has little mineral. Overall, this wine is dry and full body with luscious fruits, can drink now or keep in cellar for aging.    

The 2^nd one is Fattoria Le Pupille Elisabetta Geppetti 'Poggio Valente, Morellino diScansano Riserva DOCG Italy 2009, an Italian wine from Southern Tuscany. Morellino di Scansano DOCG is a dry red wine region from Village Scansano. Here the wine made with at least 85% of Morellino grapes, which is identical with Sangiovese grapes, the characteristics are medium to full body with cherry, plum, herbs and cedar aromas. Then, it matured in barrel between 4 to 12 months, for “Riserva” wine had 2 years of maturation which has 1 year in barrel. Fattoria Le Pupille winery owns by Elisabetta Geppetti, she is also the President of Morellino di Scansano Consortium. This Morellino di Scansano blends with Sangiovese and Merlot, the grapes are from Poggio Valente vineyards. After fermentation, the wine matured in a big barrel for 15 months. This wine shows very fleshy fruits aromas such as cherry, plum, raspberry, and it has tobacco, nutmeg and liquorice aromas. Overall, it is full body, dry with high acid and balance tannins, then aftertaste has richness of fruits come out, I found this is ready to drink now

近期因工作比較忙所以好少出文,不過都可以抽少少時間出嚟飲下酒. 就飲咗呢兩枝紅酒感覺都值得同大家分享一下.

第一枝係 Montirius Gigondas Confidentiel 2010, 來自法國隆河谷南部的 ”Gigondas”. 這裡是地中海氣候, 溫度比較熱, 乾燥和陽光普照. 主要土壤是石灰石和粘土, 地勢是斜坡型最高可到1,300FT. Gigondas主要種植黑葡萄為主, 所以只有釀製紅酒沒有白酒. 而釀造紅酒的主要葡萄是Grenache, 這款葡萄釀出來的酒會比較硬身, 可陳年, 帶有香濃的Plum(李子)風味.  Montirius Gigondas Confidentiel 2010 用了80% Grenache 和20% Mourvèdre來釀製, 每棵葡萄樹的平均年齡是75歲. 飲之前Decant大約30分鐘, 酒色深紫色, 有李子, 車厘子, 香料, 黑胡椒芳香和輕微的木桶煙燻香. 口感方面帶有豐富的李子和車厘子味道, 單寧較強勁, Aftertaste 可感覺到一些礦物質既感覺. 整體這是一款Dry 和Full Body 紅酒, 而帶有出色的水果風味, 濃郁得嚟又容易飲. 現在可以飲用或可以繼續陳年.

第二枝是來自意大利Tuscany(托斯卡納)的紅酒Fattoria Le Pupille ElisabettaGeppetti 'Poggio Valente, Morellino di Scansano Riserva DOCG Italy 2009. Morellino di Scansano DOCG 主要生產紅酒, 位於Tuscany南部的一個村莊叫做Scansano. 這裡的紅酒最少85%都是用Morellino葡萄來釀製, 而這款葡萄其實是跟Sangiovese "山吉歐維榭" 同一種葡萄, 釀出來的酒是近乎中等到厚身, 帶有車厘子, 李子, 草藥和雪松芳香. 釀成酒之後會放在木桶內陳年4至12個月, 如果”Riserva”紅酒需要陳年2年最少1年在木桶內. 酒莊Fattoria Le Pupille的莊主是Elisabetta Geppetti, 她又是Morellino di Scansano聯盟的會長. 這款酒主要是用了Sangiovese其餘是Merlot, 所有葡萄都是來自Poggio Valente葡萄園, 當紅酒釀成後放入大型木桶內15個月. 這款酒有飽滿的水果芳香, 有車厘子, 覆盆子, 李子和有一些煙草, 肉荳蔻(Nutmeg), 甘草的芳香. 整體這款酒的口感是, Dry, Balance 單寕, 酸度較高的紅酒不過Aftertaste可帶出豐富的水果甜味, 我覺得現在可以飲用.

[Argentina] Familia Zuccardi ‘Zuccardi Q’ Malbec 2013

Nowadays, I became interested in tasting of Malbec wine. Maybe last time, I had YarraYering Agincourt which has little bit of Malbec in the blend, make me want to try the Malbec from Argentina. At first, I tired Santa Julia Reserva Malbec 2014 from Argentina Uco Valley, which is not an expensive wine buy from Supermarket. Overall, this Santa Julia Reserva provided basic Malbec characteristic likes dark red purple color, rich, juicy, ripe and warm fruit flavors, tasted full body, dry, balance acid but lack of tannins. Normally, Malbec wine would contain higher level of tannins. Then, 2^nd time I tried Zuccardi Q Malbec 2013 which buy from Watson wine shop. Unexpectedly, Santa Julia and Zuccardi are owned by Zuccardi Family.   

Zuccadi winery is in Uco Valley, the major wine region of Mendoza, Argentina. The climate here is high altitude, dry, high temperatures during the daytime and at night the temperature will decrease to be cooler. The winery located in the foot of Andes Mountains which is desert area and the weather is dry, vineyard here must need to use irrigation cultivation, the only water source came from Anders Mountain snows. In the old time the owner Joss Zuccardi father Alberto Zuccardi developed the first irrigation system in Argentina. After the success of the irrigation system, Alberto became interested on winemaking, around 60’s he established Zuccardi winery. The Malbec for Zuccardi Q is from 2 different vineyards La Consulta and Vista Flores. After fermentation, the wine matured in French oak for 12 months and 6 months more in bottle before release.

My Taste Note: I decanted the wine for 30 mins. The color shows dark purple, it has complicate aromas such as, plum, cherry, little strawberry, spices, herbs, licorice, lavender, and mint. The palate is dry and full body, it has soft acid with firm tannins and slightly sweet for aftertaste. Actually, drinking this wine is similar to Chinese Herbal Tea, it has complicate taste and little bit of tannins astringent. Overall, this is worth to drink, which is around HKD $130.   

   

Santa Julia Reserva Malbec 2013

近來,我突然愛上了Malbec這款葡萄,可能上次飲Yarra Yering Agincourt內有少少Malbec成份,所以令我想試清楚來自阿根廷Malbec的味道是如何.剛開始的時候我在百佳超市買了Santa Julia Reserva Malbec 2014來自阿根廷Uco Valley,這枝酒價錢大約$100以下.整體這枝Santa JuliaReserva都有Malbec的基本味道,例如顏色上有深紫紅色,口感豐富,帶有溫暖和濃厚的果味, 酒身偏厚,DRY,不算太酸只是單寧比較薄.正常Malbec的紅酒都會帶多少少單寧. 第二枝,在Watson Wine買了一枝Zuccardi Q Malbec 2013.當我上網找多一些資料,原來Santa Julia和Zuccardi這兩個酒莊,都是Zuccardi家族旗下的酒莊.

Zuccardi酒莊是位於阿根廷的主要酒產區Uco Valley,這裡的氣候都是高海拔,白天溫度會較高, 夜間溫度會降低,葡萄熟成時間比較長.酒莊設置在Andes Mountain山腳,周邊都是沙漠,由於這裡的氣候比較乾燥,葡萄園需要用灌溉種植,唯一的水源是來自Andes Mountains山上的積雪.在1915年莊主Joss Zuccardi的父親Alberto Zuccardi在阿根廷研發了第一套灌溉系統.之後,當灌溉系統成功後Alberto開始對釀酒有興趣,大約在60年代他創立了Zuccardi酒莊.這款Zuccardi Q的葡萄是來自兩個不同的葡萄園La Consulta and Vista Flores.當酒釀成後會放在法國木桶裡陳年12個月和裝瓶後再陳年多6個月.

My Taste Note: 飲之前我將紅酒Decant 30mins. 顏色是深紫色,帶有複雜芳香包括有,西梅,車厘子,小小士多啤利,薰衣草,香料,草藥,甘草和輕微薄荷.味道方面是Dry, Full Body,適當酸度,帶有精細單寧,不過在舌底可感覺到輕微的單寧澀,最後Aftertaste略有微甜.其實這款酒有小小似飲緊涼茶,複雜的味道加一些單寧澀和輕微的甜味.整體我覺得這枝紅酒非常低飲,價錢大約$130.

[South Australia] Yalumba Patchwork Shiraz Barossa 2013

Shiraz is one of my favorite grapes, the origin of Shiraz is from France Southeastern Rhône Valley, and in French it calls Syrah. It is one of the main varieties of Rhône Valley wine, but most of the wine would blend with other types of grapes. In the old time, Syrah had brought in to South Australia (New World), and then it became Shiraz in the New World region. The characteristic of this grape are dark skin, shows a robust berry flavor, black pepper, licorice, etc. aromas, it taste berry style and little spicy. This time, I tried a good value of Shiraz wine from South Australia Barossa Valley, which is Yalumba Patchwork 2013.

Yalumba established in 1849 by Samuel Smith. Until today, this winery is still own by his family and run by hid grandson Robert Hill Smith. Due the winery has excellent performance, Australian wine critic James Halliday gave a highly recommend on Yalumba winery. Moreover, It worth to mention, Yalumba has their own barrel factory, each year production has around 600 barrels. But the self-made barrels are only enough for the high end wine series, such as The Octavius. It made with 100% Shiraz from the oldest vine in Barossa and then aged in small barrel (90-100L), famous wine critic Robert Parker gave a high rated on this wine. From some reviews, people called Patchwork as Baby Octavius. Patchwork made with 100% Shiraz, from Barossa region, average age of vines is 20 – 30 years old. After nature fermentation, the wine aged 14 months in American, Hungarian and French oak.    

My Taste Note: I didn’t decant for this wine, just opened the screwcap and breathe for around 20 mins. The color is deep purple, it shows full warm fruits aromas like black cherry and blackcurrant, licorice and little of floral aromas. The taste is dry, full body, juicy with fresh acid and structure tannins, after taste find plenty of berry flavors and little bit tannins. Overall, this wine gives ripeness of fruit flavor and dense body, which shows a bold style of Shiraz.  

Shiraz (西拉) 入係我最愛的葡萄品種之一,它有一種非常吸引的野果芳香,但飲落又會有少辣, Shiraz 的來源係來先法國東南部 Rhône Valley (隆河),而法文稱為 Syrah. 它是 Rhône Valley 區主要品種之一,通常都會溝另外幾款葡萄來釀製.在很久以前有人將Syrah移植到南澳,之後所有新世界地區都改稱為 Shiraz . 它的特色帶有深色果皮,強烈野果風味,帶有黑椒,甘草,等等芳香,味道都是野果為主和有少少辣.今次我就試了一枝非常低飲的 Shiraz, 來看南澳 Barossa Valley (巴羅莎山谷) Yalumba Patchwork 2013.

Yalumba 酒莊係由英國人 Samel Smith 在1849年建立,直到現在大約160年之後酒莊依然由他的家庭擁有和孫兒  Robert Hill Smith 運作.由於酒莊一直表現優良,澳洲評酒家James Halliday都讚好.更值得一提的是,酒莊內設有自家製木桶廠,每年產量大約600個.不過自家製酒桶只係足夠提供給它們的高級酒用,比如The Octavius.這款酒用100% Shiraz 釀造,葡萄來自

Barossa 的老藤,之後在自家製小型木桶內陳年(90-100L),著名評酒家Robert Parker都給予高評.不過今次我唔係飲The Octavius,而係另一款有Baby Octavius之稱的 Patchwork. Patchwork 都係用100% Shiraz 釀酒, 葡萄都係來自 Barossa, 葡萄榭年齡大約20-30年.當天然發酵後,葡萄酒會在美國,匈牙利和法國木桶內陳年14個月.

我的品酒筆記: 這次我沒有醒酒,只係擰開樽蓋,讓酒透了大約20分鐘氣.顏色是有深紫色,它充滿野果的芳香,有車厘子和黑加侖子,再帶多一些甘草和小小花香.口感方面Dry,厚身,清爽的酸味,帶有結構的單寧.After Taste可以找到豐富的野果味道,和小小單寧.整體這款酒提供到成熟果味和濃厚Body,可以表現到Shiraz強勁的一面.