We have previously reviewed the entry level “Hard Yards” Shiraz from Sylvan Springs here on Winetastic and found it to be most agreeable. As you can imagine when a bottle of their premium Sylvan Springs Cyril’s Reserve Shiraz 2006 arrived unannounced, I was somewhat excited. It is fair to say that Sylvan Springs are currently doing a lot right at both the budget and super-premium level.

Showing a vibrant crimson hue, the aromas are currently subdued with a little vanilla oak, blackberry and cherry showing. Full flavoured but refined and impeccably balanced, the juicy Shiraz fruit glides across the palate and is well supported by spices and a hint of oak. The finish is very long, mouthwatering and leaves you wanting more. This is a Shiraz to put to sleep in the cellar for several years.

Straight after opening the aromas were a bit muted, however this is not to be unexpected from a recently bottled premium red. My reaction to the first sip was something along the lines of “wow, this is the best young red wine I have tasted this year”. After a couple of hours, the flavours became even more intense with loads of ripe blackberry fruit coming to the fore.

Score: 93/100
Price: $40
Closure: Stelvin Lux (Fancy Screwcap)
Alcohol: 15%
Other Opinions: Winorama
Would I buy this wine?
Yes, At $40 per bottle, I feel it does represent decent value for money. Squashedgrape have it for $35 if buying a case.

Reader Dag from Norway (Oslo rep-re-sents!) poses a question about Eiswein:

"May I raise a question after a discussion we had in Luxembourg recently, about icewein.

Must be picked at minus 7 degrees and pressed while still frozen.

But, I was once told that there is also something else happening to the wine stock at minus 7. That some ?elements? are withdrawn from the grape during this freezing process, which also contributes to the divine taste of eiswein. Therefore, real eiswein should/must be made this way ??

Have you heard about this process and which elements are withdrawn ??

Hope you have the answer.

Eager to hear from you.

Best regards from an eiswein lover in Norway."

Well, Dag.  Allow me to first refer you to a fun article I wrote a few years ago called, "Ripeness or Ruin."  It is my understanding that the divine taste of Eiswein is derived from the fact that the extract is devoid of most, if not all, water (since it's frozen).  Thus the extract is fruit-essence goodness (sugars, -ols, etc.), which apparently ferments slower than typical must.  Perhaps the combo of less/no water and slower fermentation adds to the otherworldly flavor of Eiswein.

Any Eis-experts out there care to chime in?

Are you the Mac-daddy/-mommie when it comes to creativity? 

Have you ever looked at all the blasé wine labels out there and thought, "I could do so much better."? 

Well, here's a chance to explore your creative side and score a case of a soon-to-be classic red wine - Juice Crew Red.

So far, the J.Crew has nicknamed our maturing vino, "The Mighty Brick."  I think we'd like the label to reflect her personality (perhaps listening to a little Rick James could inspire potential label designers out there):

"So all and all, the blend has resulted in what we wanted - a rich rhone style wine with some backbone. The different varietals playing nicely in the sandbox. Great dark color, long sexy legs and built to party"

Here's the deal - submit a label design, which reflects our sexy Rhone brickhouse and you could win...1 case of JC Red.  Now that's what I call a case for creativity!

Details: Submit* your design entry by November 15, 2007.  The editor will select 3 designs to be voted on by Juice Crew members and Basic Juice readers.  The winning designer will receive the case of Juice Crew Red when it's released (we award no wine before its time).

*by submitting a design, designer retains no rights to design, but will be credited by name

Gentlepeople, start your creative engines..

Love is in the air this month.  For those of you looking for a way to dress up your Valentine?s Day, consider the object of your affection ?the one with the sparkling personality? as your inspiration.

Accordingly, pop open the sparkling wines and celebrate.

If Valentine?s Day is not your thing, there are plenty of other reasons to celebrate with bubbly this month, from Presidents? Day to any other day of the week, which ends in ?y.? Why? Because sparkling wines add a touch of festivity to any occasion and they taste too good to wait for a special event. And, even though you may not have a fondness for this Hallmark holiday, you always have your love of wines to keep you warm.

Sparkling wines, of which Champagne is most well-known, capitalize on harnessing the CO2 created during the fermentation process to provide the fizz we all know and love. This capture takes place during a secondary fermentation, which is coupled with allowing the spent yeasts to remain in the bottle throughout the ageing period. The yeasts impart the bready/toasty aromas and flavors that are characteristic of sparkling wines.

There are several ways to make a wine sparkle, the simplest, cheapest and short-lived being the injection method (aka pompe bicyclette), which injects CO2 into the wine. These man-made bubbles tend to be large and coarse on the palate.

Conversely, the traditional method, based upon Methode Champagnoise, provides a longer-lasting, smaller bead, which has more finesse in its mouthfeel. These traits stem from the labor-intensive process which includes an initial blending of still wines (assemblage) that is then bottled and capped, along with a yeast and sugar mixture (tirage), to facilitate a secondary fermentation. The wines are then left to age on the spent yeasts for a period of time as set by the appellation (in Champagne, this is a minimum of 15 months for non-vintage wines, while Cavas are generally aged for 9 months).

The sediment left behind must then be carefully shifted from the base of the bottle to the neck in a process known as riddling. The bottles are gently tilted and turned throughout a period of several weeks, forcing the sediment down into the mouth of the bottle. The necks are then immersed into a cold, briny solution, thereby freezing the sediment. The caps are removed and the frozen sediment is thrust out of the bottle and discarded (disgorgement). The remaining wine is topped off with a blend of wine and sugar/must (liqueur d?expedition), which impacts the resulting dryness or sweetness of the finished sparkling wine. The final step is the insertion of the cork, which is much denser that those used for still wines given that sparkling wines can be under up to 6 atmospheres of pressure (be careful where you point that thing).

A similar process is used in the transfer method whereby the steps above remain the same with the exception that the sediment is removed in bulk and the wine is then filtered and bottled. Such wines will note that they have been fermented in the bottle, whereas the wines in the previous method are labeled as having been fermented in this bottle. An additional method involves the use of a tank in which the entire secondary fermentation, ageing and disgorgement takes place. While this is of course a much less expensive process than the other two, it is frequently used to produce wines that have a distinct freshness to them such as Astis from the Piedmont region in Italy.

The Champagne region in France has done a good job in marketing itself as a luxury product and this joined with increasing demand, limited supply and expensive processes has pushed up the price on these wines. Vintage sparklers (those produced entirely from grapes grown in a particularly great year) and prestige marquees (i.e. Crystal, Dom Perignon) command even higher prices. However, many sparkling wines from other regions in France (such as Burgundy and the Loire Valley) as well as well-made American, Italian (Asti and Prosecco), Germany (Sekt) and Spain (Cava) can offer the consumer a wonderful experience without the hefty price tag.

After having a look through the supermarket shelves for the first time in ages I was actually pleasantly surprised that there were quite a few decent mid-range wines on offer.

I don't think that makes up the majority of wine sold to their customers and if you regularly go to just one supermarket branch I think you'd get bored quickly.

However the point is that there are some good even great wines being offered. I have been especially impressed with Tescos and Sainsburys premium own brands which have gone to specific regions and made authentically regional wines. Sounds easy but too often I have drunk a winemaking- rather than wine- style.

Over the past three weeks Waitrose put on their annual press tasting showing their 270 wine range. For the first time all the fine wine was shown together  with the everyday drinkers. This was an admirable show of confidence in all of the wines but did lead to a couple of unfairly marked contrasts - a 2005 Fitou after a 2003  Ch Mouton Rothschild 1^er cru Pauillac (delicious, by the way).  However despite this I think it was a brilliant way to show the wines and a thoroughly enjoyable tasting.

It would be too long to list all the wines here so I will add a new section to the site for tasting notes from various merchants etc and publish them all together. As soon as time allows. Highlights though for me, apart from the Mouton Rothschild were Corton-Pougets Grand Cru 2003 from Louis Jadot, Ch Lagrange 2000 St Julien, Ch Rauzan-Ségla 1998 Margaux, Ch Cos d'Estournel 2003 St Estèphe.

Yes ok, not exactly hard to have picked those out, there were also lots of more affordable lovely reds, Ch d'Aiguilhe 2002 Côtes de Castillon - a former neighbour of mine though I didn't hang out with the Count, Cuvée Constance 2004 VdP des Côtes Catalanes + lots more - 2004 Gigondas from Gabriel Meffre, CNdP 2004 from Perrin et Fils and I haven't even left France yet. Ormanni Chianti 2003, Viña del Olivo 2001 from Contino in Rioja, Columella 2004 from South Africa, Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah2004 from New Zealand, Cape Mentelle Cab/Merlot 2004 from Margaret River in Western Australia and the fabulous O'Leary Walker duo with their Claire O'Leary Reserve Shiraz 2002.

The whites, tasted the week before, were of a similarly high standard. There was a consistent level of quality and of typicity across the range. Again some fabulous Burgundy leading ladies but also a Ch Jolys Jurançon Sec 2005, another VdP des Côtes Catalanes Matassa Cuvée Marguerite 2005, CVNE Monopole Rioja Blanco 2005 a super food wine, Cono Sur's dependable Limited Release Gewurztraminer 2006, Villa Maria Single Vineyard Graham Sauvignon Blanc 2005, Torbreck Woodcutter's Semillon 2003 - outstanding, I thought. O'Leary Walker Polish Hill River Riesling 2006, Paul Blanck Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg 2002 from Alsace.

Some of the top wines are only available in a very few stores, even only one store in a couple of cases and clearly there are limited stocks. However Waitrose are taking themselves very seriously as wine merchants and are doing a better job than any of the other supermarkets on current evidence. Their new winelist is as good as anything a very good independent merchant would produce with introductions to countries and regions, tasting notes and lots of helpful information.

It is no surprise that this year they scooped two top awards : the International Wine Challenge Supermarket Wine Retailer of the Year 2006 and Decanter World Wine Awards Best Supermarket 2006.  Congratulations.

2002 Grosset Watervale Riesling ?
A little bit shy on the nose, but some citrus and floral characters can be noted. Palate has racy acid but is beautifully balanced. Full and long. Lovely wine, drinking well now.
91/100

1989 Jeffrey Grosset Polish Hill Riesling ?
Honey, toast and ginger on the nose. Palate is tired, with some prickly acid and rapidly fading intensity.
81/100

1995 Penfolds Yattarna Chradonnay ?
Honey, butter, some caramel and pine aromas. Nice richness to the palate with good carry across the palate.
88/100

2003 Te Kairanga Reserve Pinot Noir ?
Stalk, liquorice, raspberry and sour cherry. Interesting texture, with lots of rich fruit leading into a dry finish. Not really my preferred style.
86/100

1968 Lindemans Reserve Bin 3820 Auburn Burgundy Hunter Coonawarra Clare ?
Sweet perfume, leather, earth and raspberry. Soft, delicate palate. A lovely, fully mature wine.
89/100

1996 Henschke Lenswood Abbotts Prayer Merlot ?
Briary, ash, graphite and chocolate. Medium bodied, with medium length but some alcohol sticks out and disrupts the line of the wine.
85/100

2001 Domaine Bruno Clavelier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru La Combe d’Orveaux Vieilles Vignes ?
Lovely perfumed nose, black fruits, some earth, cherry and floral notes. The acid on the palate stands out a bit, although the structure seems good otherwise. Short to medium length, probably just struggled among the bigger wines surrounding it tonight.
87/100

2001 Brokenwood Graveyard Shiraz ?
Sultana, smoke and earth. Palate is dry and spicy, with the acid sticking out over the fruit somewhat. Disappointing.
85/100

1996 Leasingham Cabernet Sauvignon Classic Clare -
Mint, blackberry, vanilla and blackcurrant. Rich fruit to the palate, long and bright. Very young still.
88/100

2004 Henry of Pelham Riesling Icewine ?
Nice nose of peach, apricot, citrus peel and mandarin. Palate is rich and very sweet. Quite simple, but enjoyable as long as the massive sweetness isn’t an issue for you.
89/100

NV Buller?s Rare Muscat ?
Raisin, spice, tea leaves and some alcohol showing. Softly sweet on the palate, not as complex as previous bottles but still very nice.
90/100

I've often wondered why New Zealand was anointed/anointed itself as the land of Sauvignon Blanc.  To be sure, NZ SB has been quite successful as an import to the US wine market (and certainly names like 'Monkey Bay' don't hurt its mass appeal to the garanimal-wine-loving crowd).  However, I think this success has come at a price.  Kiwi Blanc has overshadowed every other grape variety.  And this is a very sad thing.

Think about it.  When was the last time you sampled a New Zealand Riesling or Gewurztraminer?  These grapes have found a very cozy home on the Islands way down under.  In fact, while I find most New Zealand Sauvi Blanc, easy-to-enjoy, I also find it a tad bit uni-dimensional (see here for a great descriptor of NZ SB).  I have discovered extraordinarily sublime Riesling and intoxicating (in the figurative sense of the word) Gewurz.  Think I'm nuts.  Take this little NZ non-SB challenge:

Huia Gewurztraminer 2006 - A chewy, thick wine, which echos the Alsatian style but with a bit less earth

Villa Maria Riesling 2005 - A remarkable feat of a wine.  This Riesling stews together new world heft with teutonic crispness.

Am I alone in thinking the OenoKiwis might want to diversify their white wine portfolio?