December Wine Club – Bonus Tasting

After our regular six month long session of Wine Club we change up the format and do a bonus tasting.  In the first six months, I buy a case each month and we split the case eleven ways and do a tasting with the 12th bottle and normally have another bottle of something else as a comparison bottle.  For the bonus tasting there is no take home bottle so it is just two bottles for the tasting and that’s it; this usually allows us to pick up a couple of wines at a much higher price point than usual.

Here is the LCBO information on both of the wines we had for the bonus tasting –

BERINGER PRIVATE RESERVE CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2005

VINTAGES 149955
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 99.95
Wine, Red Wine
14.6% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : D
Made in: California, USA
By: Treasury Wine Estates
Release Date: Jun 11, 2011

Description - This vintage is being offered at a special one-time reduced price. Robert Parker awarded it 92 points and Stephen Tanzer rated it 94.

Tasting Note - Offers richness, concentration and depth while remaining elegant and supple, focusing on the ripe, spicy currant, mineral, herb and sage notes. Ends with a measure of finesse and polish, with the right mix of tannins. Drink now through 2016. Score - 93. (James Laube, Wine Spectator, Oct. 15, 2008)

YALUMBA THE SIGNATURE CABERNET SAUVIGNON/SHIRAZ 2006

VINTAGES 528356
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 51.95
Wine, Red Wine
14.5% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: South Australia, Australia
By: Negociants International
Release Date: Sep 3, 2011

Tasting Note - The 2006 The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz is composed of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon and 31% Shiraz. Deep garnet-purple in color, it offers intense notes of blackberry preserves, warm cherries, black currant cordial plus an earthy / gamey undercurrent and nuances of marmite toast. The tight-knit medium to full-bodied palate is firmly structured with a high level of grainy tannins, high acid and just enough savory flesh giving a long finish. Approachable now, it should be best 2012 to 2018. Score - 91. (Lisa Perrotti-Brown, MW, erobertparker.com, Dec. 2010)

The two wines were both excellent but in different ways.  The nose on the Beringer’s was more aromatic of the two with cassis, raspberry, green pepper and leather whereas the Yalumba it was black pepper, strawberry and mint.  Tasting the two wines, the Beringer’s had flavours of cherry, mint, coffee and a leathery flavour to it.  The Yalumba was all fruit with blueberry, blackberry and raspberry notes.  The structure on both was good but the Beringer’s was more tannic than the Yalumba and the Yalumba acidity was more pronounced than the Beringer’s. 

I brought in bars of Lindt 70% dark chocolate and a LaRocca Hazelnut Bomb Chocolate cake to go with the wines.  The general consensus was the Beringer’s was the favourite with the dark chocolate and the Yalumba was the better wine with the Cake.  Overall the Yalumba was the bigger hit as most people liked both wines equally but once the price points were taken into account (the Yalumba at just over half the price of the Beringer’s) was the winner.

We will be looking at more wines again for Wine Club in January when we start the next session and I’m already looking forward to it.

Note - the Blog is probably going to be quiet until the New Year as the next couple of weekends we all have different Christmas obligations to attend so we won’t be together again until New Year’s Eve.  So I will take this time to wish my 3 or 4 loyal readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Cheers!

Mark