Hello hello,
I'm living in Auckland NZ and am looking for some comparison wines to the following that, I hope, I will not have tried and might start me on a new path to trying the wines of new producers, maybe new grapes and perhaps even different countries.
Wines I love include the following:
Lehmann Mentor 98 - The sage and basil nose on this combined with the bootpolish and deep base-like punch to the fruit really excite me for a wine in this price range.
Torbreck Steading 01 - The structure of this wine is simply excellent, even now, with tannins sitting comfortably behind the fruit. It excuses itself from the usual brashness of Aussie reds to reveal great fruit and plenty of other almost orange like characters with a good steely mouthfill to round it off. I find that I can liken it to the taste of blood after you've cut your finger. But kinda good alcoholic blood...
Rosemount Estate GSM 99 - Graphite, raspberry, something indecipherable on the nose - a faint hint of Victory Vs? I don't know. Wonderful wine
Esk Valley Merlot 02 - Spicy, warm with cherries and acceptably forward on the fruit. The tannins keep me quite happy.
I cannot say I am completely excited by the likes of full-blown licorice shiraz, especially those that have taken such high concentrations of oak that it becomes a fight between the vanillin and the espresso-like fruit. Please avoid these.
Prices? Well - I'm happy to hear anything from a $5 to a $500 dollar wine - however, my average bottle spend is about NZD$25 so anything pitched around there, and less if possible, would be marvellous.
Many thanks!
Aaron Remove NOSPAMTAMUCHLY from the email address to get through to me directly