Tuesday Blind Tastings
John Duval Wines Entity Shiraz 2012
Barossa Valley, Australia
Price: $40
Rating: 93
Source: Cellar
Description: Full bodied with red on the rim. Pepper, spice, vanilla and aniseed on the nose. The palate was savoury and rich with silky tannins and good acidity. A beautifully made wine that will reward further cellaring.
Tasting date: 23 January 2018
of Rioja to the deeply misunderstood and underappreciated Sherries in the south that mix nuts and caramel, orange zest and honey in a glass and offer you a sip, Spain is about hedonism. Spanish wines pretend not to be anything but a glassful of raw gratification. And without the tradition of selling wines to cellar, Spanish bottles are cast out of the wineries aged and ready to drink. Portugal offers light-shattered tawnies rich in roasted nut and butterscotch aromas, as well as the velvet tapestries of Vintage Port from fine years. Port is perhaps the best-known Portuguese sweetie, but Madeira is her very bewitching sister that lives on an island of the same name. Germany gets a bad rap. Sure, the country makes sweet wines at a time when most people prefer dry but even the sweeter ones are often undervalued charms of considerable balance, harmony, and substance. Besides, so much of the world thinks dry, and drinks sweet. Perhaps the resistance to German wines, with their touch of sugar, has to do with the obstacles they can toss in the way of menu planning. Off dry ones are too sweet to pair with most main meals and too dry Revealing the Flavors of the World 57