Pre-party wine tasting on December 14, 2007

Before our departmental holiday party, we tasted few wines. Initially present were Piroca, Uncle-E, Winepath and Uncle-E then big crowd joined in. We also tasted Sauv blanc to start. Since these are not our usual tasting, no score was given.

1. Molly Dooker "Blue Eyed Boy" Shiraz 2006

One of the Piroca's new acquisition of 2006 M-D wines. In 2006, all M-D proudly crowns screw tops. This is a very nice wine. Nice nose of plum, meat juice and black pepper. Good blackberries, plum and black cherry tastes on the palate with finish of black pepper. Nice soft tannin. Very easy to drink without any edges. Compared to other M-D, prominent "sugarfied" fruits are not present. Although it is a new world wine, it is walking the line between new and old worlds.

2. Karl Lawrence 2004 Cab Sauv

This is a special contribution from Uncle-E; one of three bottles from the two cases in existence in the whole state of Georgia according to him. Many of us were not familiar with this winery. Cab Sauv grapes were from Morisoli Vineyard on the valley floor near Rutherford and the Lamb Family Vineyard on hillside of Howell Mountain. This is a classic big young California Cab. Nice nose of cheery, vanilla and caramel. Complexed black and red fruits on the palate with long finish with taste of chocolate, vanilla and caramel. Tannin is rather chewy leaving some edge on the finish. Piroca thought that it reminded him of Numanthia from Spain and Uncle-N Lokoya Howell mountain. We felt that it, definitely, will improves on bottle aging.


P.S. At the party, Wood bridge cab sauv tasted like classic jug wines with grapey somewhat sweet taste on the palate. Score=1+