Exploring Grapes in Ardclough contd.

The AC Wine Club at Ardclough           November 2016

Another great night where we explore grapes and their wine styles on the first Monday of every month.  

Essay South Africa 2014

Chenin Blanc  … with a touch of Viognier                                              O’Briens Wines

O’Brien’s Wines supply this label to their on-trade customers only ie restaurants and hotels. The name Essay is a play on the SA abbreviation for South Africa. It’s an excellent wine (as we would expect from O’Briens!) with the crisp Chenin balanced beautifully by a touch of peachy Viognier. We all ‘found’ distinct lanolin/wet wool at the edge of the bouquet – that’s good!

Paredes Crete 2015

Dafni                                                                              
Marks&Spencer        €15.00

     

This is from Greece and has a very obvious bouquet where ‘Torrontés rose petal’ meets ‘Gewürztraminer lychee’. Fabulous wine for those who like perfume! Beyond that it’s a credit to Greece (where white wines dominate local drinking patterns). Pity we don’t see more wines from Greece.

Silverleaf South Africa 2015                                                           

Dunnes Stores €8.99

Merlot  
Fabulous value. Soft and charming. Also, clean as a whistle fruit. Good to see.

  

Gianni Gagliardo Barbera d’Alba 2014                                        Independents  €26.00

Barbera

Brilliant winemaking from Gagliardo in Piedmont, NW Italy. Barbera is the grape and it’s a soft and concentrated wine with endless depth of flavours each of which threatens to be very serious but then pulls back and becomes charming instead.  

Gianni Gagliardo Barolo 2012                                                       Independents  €52.00
Nebbiolo

Barolo is the king of Italian wines. If they’re any good at all they don’t come cheap! They are however and experience in a bottle and Gagliardo’s is no exception. This wine is very modern with accessible fruit to the fore and lots of intense structure hidden well in the background. Bouquet is classic warmed asphalt and palate is rich fruit, acid, tannin and alcohol. The balance is excellent and it will keep from many, many years.