I only started to writing about what I drink a couple weeks ago. So my TNs probably are very amature, sorry!
But hopefully my thinkings are useful? And hopefully, I get better with TNs soon!
Here is what I drank recently with my pen and mind ready:
Heartland Dolcetto & Lagrein 2007
My first TN! I hope it’s ok!! I like Ben Glaetzer’s wines because they are big and powerful, very real Australians. They are not wimpy wine! But I think they are more interesting that just fruit-bomms. The Amon Ra 2005 was amazing! It had powerful fruit and spice. But with teacher’s pay, I can’t drink Amon Ra every day, so now I tryed one cheap wine from Glaetzer Heartland Dolcetto & Lagrein 2007.
I was afraid that these Italian grapes make not so powerful and fruity wine that I like, but I was wrong to worry. I think it smells great! It is sexy and has tar and plum . I like Shiraz very much, but this wine was more elegant than Shiraz from Glaetzer, I think. It is a meaty wine with much, much fruit. But like other Glatzers, it has tannin and acid so it is not a boring fruit-bomm. WOW! It is only 15€ but I still say WOW many times when drinking! Perfect drinking for cold winter evening! I have not written TNs before, so I hope this is understandable? I also have not gave scores before (I am not profesional), but for my pleasure, I give this 91-92 points! I think next time I will try Glatzer’s Wallace.
2 wines with my friend Otto
Eric Texier St.-Gervais Vieilles Vignes des Cadinières 2005. I was surprised my friend bringed it because he does not like South Rhone (what bad taste he has, lol!). But with this wine, I see why he likes it. I think it is very elegant for Rhone especially since it was hot year. I like Grenache and Chateauneuf du Pape so I also liked this wine. I think it had beautiful smell like flowers and cherry - my wife sayd she wants to wear it for perfume! It had fruit (strange for Otto’s wines, lol!) and not too much acid. It had full flavours and I was surprised that it had so much stuff in it for only 12,5 alcohol! Maybe more elegant and feminine than what my favourite is, but I still enjoyd it!
Then we opened up an Australian, The Islander Estate Vineyards Bark Hut Rd 2004 from Kangaroo Island near Adelaide. It is blend of mostly Cabernet with Shiraz and a little Viognier. Wow! This is the real deel! It smells like mint and eucalyptus from the Cabernet but is also meaty and sweet like good Shiraz. Deep body with much fruit - no wimp wine! The Texier was feminine but this was masculine wine. I like it!
2 qpr Australian
First we drank Hewitson Miss Harry 2008 which is Grenache, Shiraz & Mataro blend and only about 13€ here! For this price this is awesome wine! It smells of sweet, dark chocolate and mulberry and taste of rich fruit with nice strawberry taste. For a cheap wine the endtaste goes on for long time. For my pleasure rating this is almost a wine that make me say WOW! I think I say about 89 points. Usually those wines cost 25€+ here.
The second wine we drank was Glaetzer Wallace 2007 which is blend of mostly Shiraz with some Grenache. This is 18,5€ here, and like the Hewitson, it almost make me say WOW! So two wines much less of 20€ that make me almost say WOW is great! There is much pepper fruit here and jamy dark fruit. But like with all other Glaetzers (a favorite wine maker for me!) I think there is also much tannin and acid so this wine is not fruit bomb. It is much fruitful and much structured. I like that addition of the two. What I do not like is that on the endtaste there is some alcohol.
This is not what I see in other Glaetzers.
I like everything else, so it is still 88 points for me. But when Hewitson is cheaper and better (and I am only high school teacher so little pay!), I think I buy the Hewitson more often! But this is wierd! I usually like Glaetzer’s wines so much more than others!
Both are great wines for price!
Tagonius Crianza 2004
This is quite cheap wine (20€) from Madrid and Mr. Miller liked it (he gave 91 p.). I remember here reading some critical comments of Mr. Miller’s Spanish choices but with this wine he made for me very good choice. Also when I saw my friend Otto’s funny parody TN on this wine on CellarTracker, I knew I would like it because we have oposite taste! This is great wine for the money. It smells beautiful like blueberry and sweet fruit. Maybe it has some cigar smoke smells, too? There is nice oak - not too much for me, but it gives nice sweet aroma to the fruit. It has big body but is nice smooth like modern Spainish wines at best are. It has spicy taste and the taste lasts and lasts and lasts! Wonderful wine and I think Mr. Miller was correct! Thank you for good recomendation!