Saturday, February 6, 2010

atw - tint(ara)ed lenses



So unfortunately, I've been suffering from a nasty cold (flu? still not sure which) this past week, which has made wine practically undrinkable. But I've finally turned a corner and allowed myself to taste a bit. Not a whole bunch, mind you, but just a little bit. And that's what wine samplings are for! Just had a small one last night with my boyfriend, Julien (see above). And no, I didn't let him drink all my wine, of course! Just a bit.



The wine I tasted was a 2004 Tintara McLaren Vale Grenache from, you guessed it, McLaren Vale in Australia, a region famous for fabulously deep and sensual reds like Shiraz. I tried it in a wine sampling at LALLAgrill in Monterey, CA, which boasted a pretty impressive selection of wines available for immediate sampling - which is good for me, since I personally prefer having smaller samples of different wines so that I can get a good variety.
The color on this wine was a deeper purple, which gradually lightened into the soft fuschia halo. The nose had strong notes of fig, with some balsamic, red apple, general spices (couldn't really pin them out, after all I'm still getting over the cold). It also had just a hint of lavender, which I found to be a refreshing shift in the general scent of the wine. The mouth was syrupy. I could taste the balsamic and red apple - and, honestly, it tasted a bit yeasty to me. I still don't understand why, but that's why I got out of it. Overall, I did enjoy this wine quite a bit; except for the yeast part, which I'm still a bit confused by.

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