Sunday, December 23, 2007

MITOLO



I just tested G.A.M. Shiraz 2005 from Mitolo Wines. It's so nice and fine that i fell in love with it when i took the first sip. The one i had is from year 2005.

G.A.M. represents the first initial of each of the Mitolo children's first names - Gemma, Alex and Marco. You can check out Mitolo's history in this website: http://www.mitolowines.com.au/wines_gam2006.html.

Avg. Rating: 94.0/100
Winery: Mitolo
Vintage: 2005
Varietal: Shiraz
Country: Australia
Region: South Australia: McLaren Vale

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Grape Varieties

There are more than 600 kinds of grapes and wine grape varieties is only a small portion. Each grape variety has its own unique combination of characteristics including color, size, skin thickness, acidity, yield per vine and flavors. While many grape varieties are used to produce wines, only a few grapes have distinguished themselves as being particularly suited for the production of fine wine and must still be matched with the right micro-climate and winemaking techniques in order to live up to their potential.

You can view this link to understand the various grape varieties: http://www.cellarnotes.net/key_grape_varieties.html

In Malaysia, red wine dominates the market with almost 80% of volume sales. Cabernet (28%) is the most popular red variety followed by Shiraz (18%), largely due to the popularity of Australian wines. Chardonnay (36%) and Sauvignon Blanc (21%) are the most popular white varietals. White wine is generally preferred by females.

I'll explain the above wines flavored by Malaysians in my following blogs.

Old World vs New World


http://www.hungary-tourist-guide.com/image-files/balaton_wineyard.jpg

Old world wines come from the “classic wine making regions” in Europe. New world wines come from everywhere else. Throughout this 2000+ year period growers were able to figure out which grapes grew best and which areas of land consistently produced the finest quality. Naturally the growers from these regions-France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain have some pride in this history. Many growers are descended from families that have been tilling the soil for generations. The picture showed a wine yard at Balaton-Europe.

New World wines come from Latin America, Australia, America, South Africa and New Zealand. Faced with an unbridgeable time gap these growers have had to develop new technologies to insure the quality of what they grow. Whatever the methods used many New World have managed to come up with a lot of good wine. In the case of Latin America and Australia and South Africa this wine is often a very good value. The Southern Hemisphere growers are helped by a climate that changes little so there are fewer vintage variations. However, many wine drinkers are of the opinion that this homogeneity has come at the cost of less interesting wine. Much of the wine from these regions does not bear a recognizable thumbprint of the soil from which it sprung. A good deal of the pleasure of wine drinking is developing the ability to recognize and grow fond of a certain region. By removing this element of the earth much of the interest in wine is reduced.

While generally deploring much of the wine of the New World, the Old World is being forced to take notice. Australian wine has displaced French wine as the top import to the British Isles. Many traditional makers are employing some new techniques to insure a better, more marketable product.

Taken from: http://www.wineworlddelivery.com/blog/

The Lackey

Avg. Rating: 90.0/100
Winery: Kilikanoon
Vintage: 2003
Varietal: Shiraz
Country: Australia

This is one of my fav. Not suitable for beginner. It had been said that it was called The Lackey because the producer focus so much on making the wine to a good ones until no budget for the designs of the bottle. Therefore the bottle has a very simple design and can hardly attract the attention of buyers.