The Find Wine Competition Review - my big chance...

My initial excitement after receiving my sample bottle of The Opportunist Shiraz from Find Wine was beginning to fade as I struggled to round up five friends to help me review the wine.  Modern family life seems determined to make what should be the simplest of tasks difficult.  But you can depend on your work colleagues.

With a deadline approaching they’ll always muck in and help you out, and doubly so when free wine is on offer.  So, having resorted to bribery I’m now able to write this review.  We didn’t get off to the best start.  Their suspicion turned to uncertainty as I rounded them up and mutterings of  “I’ve a bus to catch you know” were distinctly heard.  My fears were reinforced when a quick straw pole revealed only one previous wine tasting attendee and someone confessed, “I don’t really like red wine”.  Too late now – I had my cohort and a wine to review!

One Chain Vineyard The Opportunist Shiraz 2008

Find Wine received as a sample but about £6.50 (tasted 10 March 2011)

In the glass The Opportunist Shiraz is an inviting intense purple-ruby wine, with fine legs – there is no escaping the 14.5% alcohol hit of this wine.  The clean nose suggests a developing wine full of black cherry cassis and hot cinnamon spiciness.  Dry.  The restrained tannins and acidity makes The Opportunist an unexpectedly light, but not lightweight, shiraz.  The same black fruit and spice flavours are now complemented with dark chocolate and white pepper notes. A firm long length reminds you of the alcohol load this wine packs.

Now, I enjoyed this wine, but is it the ideal introduction to red wine tasting?  Lets see what the panel thought…

Tom – “I think it’s got a lot of tannin…definitely a wine to savour.”

Maxine - “Definite cherries and decent fruit.”

Keith – “A good wine but could be more rounded.”

Steve – “It’s really warming – you can really tell it’s 14.5%”

Paul – “I like the spiciness.”

In general, The Opportunist was well received and enjoyed.  But what made it extra special was that with a little encouragement, everyone was happy to spend a little time thinking about one glass of wine and sharing their opinions with their friends.  If The Opportunist can do this, then in my opinion it is a fabulous and valuable wine.

One for the boys

Looking back through my tasting notes I have noticed reoccurring themes and that the wines tend to fall into two broad groups - no, not red or white - but pointy and curvy.  What am I talking about?

New wines are all sharp edges and pointy lines.  This is not always a criticism - the best young wines are  clearly expressed and tightly defined.  The separate elements of the body, aroma and flavour come together in beautifully intricate structure.  Where the facets cross and overlap one can glimpse how the wine will age and develop.

However, at its worst young wine will be agressive and unapproachable.

Individual components clash and grind against each other; the wine has no rhythm, no surprises or mystery.  One particular characteristic will always bully its way to the front: biting acidity; hand-grenade tannins; splintered oak; an abrasive finish.  Like a talentless burlesque dancer, there's no tease and everything is on display.

So, if in my wine-world new wines are pointy, the  mature wines must be curvy.  Time mellows a wine, eroding the edges like a pebble which is washed on the beach.  Over time, the individual characteristics of the wine drift apart before reforming into something more homogenous; your palette is forced to work much harder if you want to describe the separate elements of the wine.

I have another way of thinking about pointy and curvy wines - and I hope it doesn't offend anyone - as it involves comparing wine to women.

The ladies on the left front the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty - which aims to encourage women and young girls away from today's beauty stereotypes and to be confident and proud.  As a husband and father to a young daughter I wholeheartedly support these sentiments.

But what has this got to do with wine? Well, let's consider the alternative?

The picture on the right is of  the contestants from Britain Next Top Model 2010.   These are young girls who work incredibly hard to meet an artificial expectation of beauty - one which appears to require women to be thin, angular, and pointy.  Do these adjectives sound familiar?

So, on the one hand we have the Dove girls - all natural curves and confidence, and on the other we have the Next Top Models not looking very inviting with their pointy elbows and delicate necks.  I can appreciate the inherent beauty in the aspiring young models, but I hope that given time they will realise that beauty is achieved not through hard work but comes naturally through confidence - and it takes time to develop real confidence.

I know which group of ladies I'd rather be buying the drinks for and I also know which wines I prefer to drink - give me confident and curvy every time.

Mont Tauch Fitou 2008

Morrisons Supermarket £7.99 (tasted 16 January 2011)

A clear bright and ruby red wine giving both red and black fruit on the nose with some white-pepper spice.  It is dry with a big burst of acidity and a nice wash of tannins, medium bodied at 13.5% alcohol, the black fruit and cinnamon spice is more pronounced on the pallet and is now supported with chocolate notes and medicinal oak touches.  The length, whilst pleasant, was shorter than expected.

A perfectly acceptable southern France red which you should enjoy by the carafe.

A decanter WWA Bronze Medal winner 2010.

 Clos St Magdelaine Cassis 2007

Yapp Bros (tasted 13 January 2011)

A beautiful golden luster precedes the rich complex aromas rising from the glass: bananas and melons, vanilla and coconut blend together into a quite heady bouquet which lingers and continues to fascinate long after you have drained the glass.  Dry, with medium acidity and no tannins, the 13% alcohol ands structure to the body of the wine giving a terrific mouthfeel.  The same aromas return in the flavour but with more depth and also a distinctive pear component.  A excellent length rounds off this very good wine.  This wine as subtle curves - wonderfully complex and sophisticated.

Cassis is the oldest AC in Provance and 75% of their wines are white.

Thanks to Personal Wine Buyer for this fact and picture.

Taltarni Victoria T-Series Shiraz 2006

Latitude Wine (tasted 2  November 2010)

The intense ruby red colour is matched by an equally intense nose full of black and dried fruit and spicy hot hot hot white pepper.  Big tannins and the 14% alcohol bounce around your mouth in contradiction to what is a surprisingly restrained body and flavour: more black fruit and white pepper obviously, but supported by coffee and tobacco. A decent length concludes what is a surprisingly elegant Aussie shiraz.

Australia is a bit of a blind spot

I've decided to swallow my pride and get stuck into some antipodean tipple, and the 101 Australian wine has to be their Shiraz. But first perhaps I should explain my particular issue with Australian wines.

Ten years ago I was bored silly by having to chew my way through yet another obvious in-your-face red wine which shouted "I'm an Australian Shiraz pommy, deal with it!" At that time London seemed to be awash with Aussies and the last thing I wanted was for the contents of my glass to share the same social charms as the guy who served it. Others stuck with, it but I retreated to the safety of the old world and claret.

But you can't ignore progress and today I am constantly delighted and inspired by the ever increasing quality, variety, and sheer creativity of Australian wine. So (baggy) hats off, corks (on strings) out, and bottoms up(-side down), lets see what we can find!

SANDSTONE CLIFFS SHIRAZ 2007

The Wine Society £6.25 (tasted 17.i-'07)

100% Shiraz with a screw cap. The vibrant velvety red left a satisfying viscous film as I swirled it around the glass and a promising licquorice scent filled the bowl - and I'm a sucker for liquourice. With low acidity and quite pronounced tannins this was a full bodied wine with a nice mouth feel. I got chocolate and vanilla behind the spices, together with the promised underlined liqourice which stayed through the decent long length.

A decent Aussie Shiraz with plenty to offer.