Brave New World Tasting

Our first tasting of the year was a total sell out last night with over 20 guests sampling 9 wines - 2 bottles of each just to get around everyone.


As ever the aim was to be as informative as possible but still keep it informal. I'm sure that by the laughs had that everyone had a great time.




We started with a cheeky wee off-dry California rose that went down better than we thought it would. Then it was a round trip through the whites taking in New Zealand Sparkling, Argentina Verdelho, South African Sauvignon Blanc and finishing with Chilean Chardonnay. As interesting as they all were it was the Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc that was the most impressive for me - the ripe green fruit was right up your nose but the palate had a fantastic balance. This one can give any of the New Zealand Sauvignons a run for their money.


With the reds we started with a very soft, fruity, easy going Aussie Shiraz that lead perfectly into the Obvio Malbec from Argentina. The Obvio was a big, juicy, fruit pumping beast that was picked as the best value wine of the night and at £6.99 a bottle who are we to argue. Then came the last wines of the tasting Grove Mill Pinot Noir and the Meerlust Rubicon. These two produced the most discussion - the Grove Mill had quite a distinctive Burgundy-esque style but more red berry fruit and would be a good one on a blind tasting. The Meerlust Rubicon was a Cabernet/Cab. Franc mix that I would go for over most of the same priced Bordeaux's.


Question of the night: If all the vines in France have American root stocks does that not mean they are New World?


What we tasted in full...

Humbolt Coast Zinfandel Rose(USA)


Pelorus Brut NV(New Zealand)


Don Cristobal 1492 Verdelho-2008(Argentina)


Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc -2009(South Africa)


Santa Ema Chardonnay-2009(Chilie)


Dry River Shiraz-2009(Oz)


Obvio Malbec-2009(Argentina)


Grove Mill Pinot Noir-2009(New Zealand)


Meerlust Rubicon-2005(South Africa)





If you wish to attend a future tasting or set up a night of our own please visit our website http://www.inverarity121.com/ or call us at the shop on 0141 221 5121.

Review: 3 Stones Riesling 2007

To prepare for the Brave New World Tasting tonight we thought we would try the 3 Stones Riesling 2007 from Hawkes bay in New Zealland. In order keep our highly trained senses of smell and taste trained to the top level I served this to Pete blind.

Pete's tasting note: On the nose lemon skins, slightly oily, touch of ripe sweet fruit. A little off-dry on the palate but very balanced and very drinkable.

For a blind tasting I have to say that he got the wine spot on. We will have on tasting for the rest of the day or until it runs out.

Pop in if you want to try it.