Classic White Burgundy

Bouchard Perer & Fils
Le Chamville
Macon-Villages

General wine notes:

Nose: Lots of fruits, and floral notes.

Palette: Slightly acidic with fruity and floral, lemons, and soft grapefruit.  A supple wine characterized by its spontaneity.

Finish: Doesn’t stick around long but leaves you wanting more.

Region:

My favorite part of French wines is the region and history.  Created in Volnay in 1731, the Maison Bouchard Père & Fils has patiently assembled, over several generations, one of the finest domaines in Burgundy. Moreover, installed since 1820 at the Château de Beaune, it benefits, on this site classed “Monument Historique”, from ideal natural conditions for leaving its precious bottles to age. See their website for a more in depth history of this amazing domaine

The Dark Luscious One From Down Under

For our wine tasting this weekend I wanted to share some notes from the wine maker Thorn Clarke:

2004 Terra Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon

Comments

Deep red in colour. The lifted nose is a complex mixture of lush blackcurrant fruit, liquorice and dark chocolate oak. The palate starts off with rich blackberry fruit and Satsuma plums. The seamlessly integrated oak then appears offering rich mocha and the sweet Indian spices of live cloves and cardomans. The oak and tannins combine to offer a rich and rounded mouthfeel, leading to a long and flavoursome finish. The Petit Verdot adds an appealing fragrant character to the wine.

Winemaking

The grapes were crushed and destemmed into fermenters. Yeast was added immediately once in the fermenter and the ferments are pumped over twice daily to maximise colour, tannin and flavour extraction. Cooling was used to ensure ferments remain in the 22-25°C range which allowed maximum fruit expression. Pressing then occured approximately seven days after crushing and the wine was then put into predominately French oak to mature.

Maturation

12 months in tight grain French oak.

Varieties

95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot

Vintage

At our Milton Park vineyard in the Barossa, the 2004 Vintage varied from mild and warm resulting in a good size crop, with outstanding quality fruit. The grapes were ripe, but quite small thereby producing wines of intense colours and flavours.

Harvested

March and April 2004

Something A Little Different

Pasil Rueda Verdejo

2005

On The Nose: Pears, Grapefruit, citrus

Palate: Nice acidity that goes away after the first few drinks.  Then  flows into soft tender fruits, with a long soft finish.

The 100% old vines Verdejo is a classic example of a top class Rueda Verdejo. Sold as Blanco Nieva Pie Franco in Spain, it’s made from grapes from very old ungrafted vines. It’s got great concentration and aroma. Very good with fish or fowl.