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.

A Jura Kind of Afternoon

How to pass an afternoon while reading up for a wine tasting - an impromtu Jura tasting.

Two offerings from one of our top distilleries the Isle of Jura, the superstition and a single cask release from 2005.

For those of you who have never visted the 'Isle of the deer' it is well worth the trip over and the distillery is one of the must see distilleries of Scotland. The still room is magnificent and you will not believe the size unless until you see the stills.

Anyway.......

Jura Superstition is the slightly more peated version and is widley available. We found it to be such an approachable malt - while Pete was wishing he was sitting back in leather chair with a Romeo & Julietta cigar enjoying the mix of smoke to the peaty notes I was thinking more of sitting on a pier, near a peaty fire, as the fishing boats come in. Either way this is one very drinkable malt and I have to say so much beter than when it was first released. If you've not had this one for a while give it another try.

Jura-13 year-old Cask Strength was a completely different drink. Distilled 12th Feb. 1992 and bottled 20th May 2005, at 56.6% volume. The nose is quite dense with both touches of fruit but also a rather strong wood element, both fresh oak and old dunnage warehouses. With water there was a lot of fresh fruit and a lovely penny sweetie note but with a constant oaky edge. Pete felt it was tasty but the higher abv. dominated his enjoyment and I have to agree - when compared with the superstition this is not the best example of Jura. It should be repeated that this bottle was released over 5 years ago and is no longer for sale.

Keep tasting.....

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.

CAO Gold Maduro Review

The Maduro wrapper from Brazil adds a dark, sultry spiciness to this creamy, medium bodied cigar. One to enjoy with a strong coffee and a good book.

Hazelburn-8 year-old

Springbank but with a twist....

Hazelburn is the triple distilled single malt from those fantastic boys and girls down in Campbeltown. They only started producing this style in the early 1990's with a limited edition picture image.

This is one of the malts that I had always wanted to try but never really got around to. Boy did I miss the boat on this one - it is such a different malt to Springbank but I loved it. The triple distillation has added another layer of sweetness and taste.

We have one open for tasting if pop in.

On tasting now Inverarity Ancestral-14 year-old. A very easy drinking Speysider that has that classic sherry influence on the nose and plate.

Come in and see us...

theperfectsip is now the online blogspot for Inverarity121 the retail arm of Inverarity Vaults. The shop is located at 185a Bath Street, Glasgow and is run by comedy duo Peter Stewart and Andy Bell.

We will be posting up blogs of anything new that we feel you maybe interested in.

If you have any questions please contact us social@inverarity121.com or give us a buzz 0141 221 5121.