Calabria to Umbria

Calabria at the tip of the Italian boot is a place I have never visited and also have not drank so much wine from. The wine Korone rosso from producer Poderi Marini is a new eperience. The vintage is 2015 and the ABV is 14%. The grapes used are mainly Aglianico and Sangiovese with some Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.  I get red fruits on the nose. In the taste I get dark cherries, black currants and some soft tannins and vanilla in the end.

Next wine if from producer Lungarotti in Umbria. Their Rubesco wine I have tried before but then it was the 2012 vintage and now I have tried their 2015 vintage. The ABV is 14,5% and the grapes used are Sangiovese and Colorino. In this wine I get red fruits on the nose. I get black currants and dark cherries in the taste with some tannins in the back that lingers for some time. A good wine that I think gets better with one or two years of storage.

Tomatin aged 18 years

A while ago I tasted Tomatins 12 year old and now it is time for their 18 year old. The 18 year old had been finished in Oloroso sherry butts and it is non chill filtered and no colouring has been added. The ABV is 46%. Tomatin call themselves the softer side of the Highland so let us see if that is true.

On the nose I get some soft sherry and honey. In the taste I get some sherry with some soft spices and some dark chocolate. The finish is some spices and oak. Quite true, a softer side of the higlands but still with some character. Better than their 12 year old.

Podium from Garofoli

The white wine Podium from producer Garofoli is a bit more expensive than the usual white wines that I drink so it will be interesting to see how it tastes. The wine Podium is from 2015 and has and ABV of 14%. It is a Verdicchio dei castelli Jesi from Marche so 100% of the grapes are Verdicchio. It has several processing techniques such as low yield per acre. Maturation was done 15 months is steel vats and then bottle aged for another four months before being sold.
In the taste I get pears and melon with some grapefruit in the finish. A foodwine that goes well with chicken or seafood. One of the better Verdicchios that I have had.

Wine from Croatia, Erdut Grasevina

For the first time ever I have tried a wine from Croatia. The producer is Erdut  and the grape is Grasevina also know as Welschriesling.  The vintage is 2013 and the ABV is 12,5. This wine feels like a dry sweet wine. Some grapefruit, apples and honey but not ripe apple but unripe apples. The aftertaste is not that good and there is something lacking in this wine. Could it be a bad bottle or maybe it should have been drunk over three years ago? I am not impressed.

Forlini Cappellini from Cinqueterre DOC

One of the places that I love to visit in Italy is Cinque Terre. Beautiful landscapes everywhere. Unfortunately to much tourists during daytime but up in the surrounding mountains and in the evenings it is very peaceful.

In the picture one can see the village of Manarola in the distance and the vineyards up on the mountain side. Here in Manarola the producer Forlini Cappellini makes the white wine Cinquterre DOC.  The grapes are a mix of Bosco, Albarola and Vermentino and the vintage is 2016. The ABV is 13,5%. For 2016 the production was 8103 bottles.  As can be seen in the picture it is quite labour intensive to make a wine here but the results have been very good for the wines that I have tasted so far. This wine has a quite intense taste with citrus, mango and gooseberries and has a quite lingering after taste. Goes perfect with seafood. Very good.

Cannonau and Sangiovese

Cannonau is a grape that is grown in Sardinia. It is also known as Grenache. It can give very strong wines. The producer Sella & Mosca is situated ner the town of Alghero in Sardinia. This company was founded maybe 130 years ago. They have a Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva from 2014 with and ABV of 14%. I don't get so much on the nose. The taste is quite strong with some hard tannins. I get some sour cherries, tobacco and spices. This will gain complexity with a few more years of ageing but is good today. Maybe not for people who don't like tannins.

From Tuscany and the town of Montalcino we have the producer Campogiovanni. I have tasted their Rosso di Montalcino from 2015. It consists of 100% Sangioveseand the ABV is 13%. I get red fuits on the nose. The taste is of black currant, red cherries and some smooth tannins. A very good wine.

Two Italian B wines

Time to try two Italian B wines, and with B I mean two producers that start with a B. namely, Biscardo and Bersano. First up is Biscardo and their wine Borgoa San Lorenzo which is a Soave Classico wine from Veneto. The grapes are Garganega and Trebbiano di Soave and the vintage is 2016 with an ABV of 13%. This wine has a deep flavour with some nice grapefruit and apples. Very nice.

Second winery is Bersano from Piemonte and the wine Roero Arneis. This wine is from 2016 and the ABV is 14%. The grape is 100% Arneis. I get honey, melon and a wee bit citrus in the taste. A very well balanced wine.

Tamdhu Batch Strength 2

Tamdhu distillery in Speyside, Scotland was founded around 1896 and is owned by Ian Macleod and they only fill their whisky in sherry casks. It is not a famous distillery but their batch strength whisky has gotten good reviews so this whisky has been on my list to try.  The Tamdhu batch strength that I have tried is the batch no2 and has an ABV 58,5%. It has all been aged in sherry casks and from the colour one can see that a lot of first fill sherry casks has been used.

Let's see how it is. In the nose I get a strong sherry with strong spices and and alcohol smell. Considering it is 58,5% one should get some alcohol in the nose.
In the taste I get strong sherry, spices and some oak. Of course an alcohol burn but quite pleasant one. In the aftertaste I get dried fruits and a long spicy warming aftertaste.

Now I add some water to get it down to around ca 48-50% ABV. On the nose I get less alcohol, with lighter sherry with some dried fruits.
In the taste I get sherry, oak, spices and dried fruits, maybe some Christmas cake. It is changing a bit with water to bring out some more spices compared to the original ABV. The aftertaste it is very long with spices, some sherry and vanilla.

An excellent high strength sherry monster. Which can take on different forms depending on how much water one adds. I love this one.

Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Buffalo Trace is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey from the Buffalo Trace distillery. It is made of corn, rye and malt and from I understood it is quite a large amount of corn, much higher than the 51% required by Kentucky Straight Bourbon. It is a small batch bourbon made from 25-30 barrels in a batch. On the nose I get caramel, vanilla and some spices. The taste is vanilla, oak and some caramel. It is very smooth to drink but I wish the ABV would have been higher, maybe 46% instead of 40%. A slight burn in the aftertaste. A nice Bourbon.

The Four Roses single barrel is also a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey from the Four Roses distillery. This is bottled at 100% and since this a single barrel the taste will change from barrel to barrel. From what i have read is that for this Bourbon is that they use a bit higher rye content than the normal Bourbon. The nose is strong, I smell vanilla and a very spice smell probably from the high rye content.The taste is of spices and some oak. It is a full bodied whisky and even at 50% one can drink it neat. It has a long nice aftertaste.

I like the Four Roses single barrel better than the Buffalo Trace because it is stronger and has high impact in the mouth. But I understand that for some people the single barrel could be to much and then the Buffalo Trace would fit them better.