syrah

Chilean Wines Making Impression on U.S. Consumers

Filed under: Wine

Argentina and Australia have both widened our national palates and expanded our wine vocabulary. As they have grown in prestige and density the U.S. has embraced their unique qualities and beamed with pride at the continued diversity of personal wine knowledge.

Another country home to the Southern Hemisphere is also prompting increased interest among oenophiles -- Chile. Although known for their Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet blends exports for Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Carmenere and Syrah have increased in spite of the American recession. To capitalize on consumers' continued interest in the range of wines from Chile the 'Wines of Chile' is to open a new U.S. office in NYC.

If you're unfamiliar with Chilean wines I suggest you start with the Carmenere -- typically they are full-bodied and hold a deeply colored essence plus it sounds sensual when it rolls of the tongue.

Gallery: Chilean Wine Tasting

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Tags: cabernet blends, cabernet sauvignon, CabernetBlends, CabernetSauvignon, carmenere, chile, chile wines, chilean wine, ChileanWine, ChileWines, pinot noir, PinotNoir, sauvignon blanc, SauvignonBlanc, syrah, wines of chile, WinesOfChile

Annika Sorenstam To Launch Pricey Syrah

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine, Sports

Golfers and wine seem to be a natural match. Greg Norman, Ernie Els and Nick Faldo are just a few of the golfers with a label to their credit. Now the list swells to welcome one of the best female golfers to play the game, Annika Sorenstam Sorenstam has been working with fifth generation Winemaker Karl Wente of Wente Vineyards on her own namesake Syrah, Annika, which will be released in May 2009. The ultra-premium Central Coast Syrah will sell for $75.

Gallery: Celebrity Wine Projects

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Tags: annika sorenstam, AnnikaSorenstam, syrah, wine

Hyde de Villaine Wine Tasting At The Beverly Hills Hotel

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Yesterday I had the chance to attend the Hyde de Villane vertical tasting at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The wines are a collaboration between the Hyde family of Napa and the de Villaine family from Burgundy bringing together California grapes with French practices. They believe that gentle handling of the grapes and minimal intervention leads to a superior product. At the winery they use equipment which uses gravity to minimize mechanical pumping. Overall, the grapes are lovingly babied.

The luxury of a vertical tasting is the sense of sinking into a wine. The same winery, similar grapes but often such different results. It's a bit like having a friend that you have known through the various decades of life from the foolish teens to the mature forties. After the jump, my notes on the wines along with more photographs from the tasting and a few glamour shots of the Beverly Hills Hotel.

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Tags: beverly hills, cabernet sauvignon, california wine, chardonnay, merlot, syrah, wine, wine tasting

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Clarendon Hills 2003 Syrah Astralis Vineyard

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

The 2003 Syrah Astralis Vineyard from Clarendon HIlls is the latest addition to my list of fantasy wines. Usually the thought of an Australian Syrah doesn't inspire me to dream of the day my ship comes in and my wine cellar runneth over but this is no ordinary Syrah. This wine has received high marks from Wine Advocate which proclaimed it as being nearly as good as the 2002, a wine Robert Parker referred to as being "akin to midnight oil." Parker has anointed Clarendon Hills winemaker as one of the world's best. The Astralis vineyard is planted with the old clones of low-yielding Syrah grapes and matured in French oak barrels. The 2003 has an inky purple color with aromas of white flowers, chocolate and espresso roast. It sells for $319.99 from wine.com and should be cellared for another five to eight years for maximum enjoyment.

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Tags: australian wine, clarendon hills, ClarendonHills, fine wine, luxury, syrah, syrah grapes, wine

Australian Wine Sales Down

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Is Australia losing its taste for the fruit of the vine? Australian wine has been grabbing a larger share of the worldwide market over the past few years but sales of wine in Australia are down 4.2 percent from last year. Red and rose wine sales were off 9.3 percent. The news was even worse for brandy, down 44.7 percent, and fortified wines, down 18.4 percent. Also with wine consumption down through much of Europe and wine surplus issues rising, the tide seems to be turning for the Australian wine industry in general. The Barossa winemaker Cockatoo Ridge saw profits fall 42 percent in the second half of the year and their chief exec, Ivan Limb was quoted in the The Advertiser as saying these are tight times for winemakers.

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Tags: australia, australian wine, cockatoo ridge, shiraz, syrah, vines, vineyards, wine, wine consumption, wine facts, wine surplus