Inaugural day for the garden, and the usual crew gathered to do some leisurely tasting.
2001 Poplar Grove Pinot Gris Reserve - I hadn't tasted the reserve wines from PG, so figured it might be fun to try them. This one is fermented in steel but aged in (presumably old) wood. Quite an intense floral nose, good flavour concentration and good length. The only slightly jarring note was a sudden shot of sharp acidity on the roof of the mouth toward the end before then floral motif kicked in again.2001 Poplar Grove Chardonnay Reserve - this one is also fermented in oak, and that comes through in the lemon vanilla nose. The oaking is just slightly clumsy, but it has good length and is smooth on palate - a good effort.
1994 Henry Estate Winemaker's Reserve Pinot Noir - not available her - $50 US at the winery in Oregon. We had a slightly corky bottle recently and it was nice to have the chance to retase a good bottle.The nose was clean berry fruit and the balance was better than the previous bottle - a pleasant mature Pinot Noir.2002 Escudo Rojo - I have always been a pretty big fan of Los Vascos, the joint venture by Eric de Rothschild of Lafite in Chile, so was very interested to taste the similar co-operative effort from Mouton and Concha Y Toro ('Escudo Rojo' or red shield being the English version of 'Rothschild'). Delicious Bordeaux styled nose with smoky cassis and vanilla. Good fruit, very similar in style to the Los Vascos, and perhaps a tad less elegant than that wine, but it is hard to compare as the only vintages I have tasted of the latter have been at least 4 years older. This was very good and even SWMBO agreed that our cellar should house some to see how it develops over the next few years. Very tasty right now, though!