Holidays Specials

IT'S ALMOST THE NEW YEAR!

Here's our last post of 2012 to let you know what we've been up to this week:



Holidays are the perfect time to enjoy special bottles...


We had the opportunity this week to taste two very special wines and a very rare cognac.


The first one is called Nita:


(45% Garnacha, 35% Cariñena, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Syrah), 
It's a very dark red wine from Priorat, Spain, vintage 2009.
With a really intense nose, of ripe red berries, violets and flint, this wine also has beautiful notes of tobacco, chocolate and fresh cream.
Normally Priorat wines have a high alcohol level, but this one seems softer and lighter in alcohol.
It is fresh and easy to drink, with good acidity and juicy tannins. The finish is really long and delicate.




Priorat is one of the finest regions in Spain, similar to French Burgundy, making mostly red powerful wines. These are dark, purplish wines, very full-bodied and sometimes slightly astringent, but also with remarkable smoothness, balance and subtleties. 
The rocky hills of the region also give to the wines a great minerality, enabling the wine to be kept in cellar for 5 to 10 years.







The second wine is from the South East of France, called Hypogée, vintage 2002, AOC Maury. 

Normally this region is typical for sweet red wines. But this one has a garnet colour and intense liquorice and red fruits aromas. The palate is as sweet as a regular Maury, but the tannins are more present and deeper.
The finish is very long and refreshing, due to the liquorice sensation, making it a very remarquable wine.

The last special form 2012 is Tesseron Lot 29.

This is a very rare cognac from Grande Champagne, made from oldest stocks, in fact three generations of wines, from Ugni Blanc, Colombard and Folle Blanche.

This is the perfect mix between power and finesse.

I am not really good at cognacs tasting , but this one is very smooth, a exceptional balance between floral bouquet, mostly white flowers, and mocha notes.
I have tasted it with my grand father, uncles and younger brother. Though it was a very emotional moment to picture yourself drinking wines grown during at least 60 years. It was the occasion to talk about family memories, what we have all gone through during all this years, weddings, births and so on...

Its fruity, mocha and cocoa notes helped us being even more talkative...    ;)

Wherever you are celebrating your New Year, we hope it's a happy one with plenty of good quality wine!