5/13/2012 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Horribly corked.

2/19/2012 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Wonderful wine. Drank it over 3 days and it showed no signs of slowing down. Complex with notes of orange peel and hazelnuts and very satisfying. Can imagine this would be very good with food. Hold it and let it get better.

2/14/2012 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Drinking very nicely. Well judged oak and fruit balanced with acidity.

2/10/2012 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Nose evolved quite a lot over the night, initially a bit cheesy and apricot/peach smelling with clear classic definition of minerality, to open out into lemons and a hint of spice. It started to fall over itself after being open for a few hours, with hardly any and the finish isn't that lengthy, and the residual sugar clearly still there in fact becoming more apparent as it stays open. So on that basis I'd say drink up soon.

2/10/2012 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Agree with Otto's note - certainly very primary and will only get better with time. Deserves to be left alone for 10 years. A moment of weakness opening this!!

2/6/2012 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Not sure what this wine is trying to achieve - it's tannic yet not over extracted, oaky but not overblown, acidic but not too much - the fruit is dry and it's very bordeaux in style. Can guess I didn't really enjoy it - This isn't Rioja.

Will it open out -I don't know. But whether it's worth waiting that long is another question.

2/6/2012 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Very young and tight. Allow this another 5 years to open out.

1/22/2012 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Very delicious wine, acidic and saline, yet gorgeous enchanting nose that keeps inviting you in. Certainly very much alive and a long life ahead as it opened up very slowly. Much better than the previous bottle that was somewhat overshadowed by the 1991.

1/9/2012 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Good but a bit flabby. Low acidity and high alcohol with not a lot of complexity. Enjoyable but fell off a bit toward the end of the bottle (3 hours later). Good time to drink, wouldn't age these much longer without the acidity keeping the wine fresh. Drink now.

12/30/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Still tight, and young, but good.

Even better if you paid £15 for it. :D

Wouldn't pay more than £30 for it, though.

12/30/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Drinking wonderfully, just had the chance to try one bottle. Oxidised in style (that's purposeful), gorgeous nose and stupendous length. Started to get a bit hot on the palate toward the end of the bottle.

You'd be mad or stupidly rich to spend upwards of £50+ for it, though.

12/26/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Lovely Beau. Not dead at all. Bright and fresh still (no brett/barnyard smells) with a nice acidic backbone. Good length. At it's plateau now (for me).

12/17/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Horribly corked. My only bottle!

12/17/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Just lovely, really delicious at in a great place right now. Give it a few hours to open up though.

11/8/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

No formal note but just ok bordering good. Very hot from the alcohol at a stupid 15.5%. Tasted more like 16.5%..

10/22/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

horribly corked

8/15/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

I had this at WIMPS Iberia earlier this year when it was paired up against a 1991 IIRC. Then this wine showed quite well, taking some time to unfurl in the glass. Tonight, well yesterday, I re-visited this wine at home and I've found this bottle to be quite closed. It had nothing on the nose to start with but slowly it's evolved unwillingly to reveal a classc subtle oxidative nose, creamy and somewhat nutty (Macadamia) and some orange peel. I wouldn't say this bottle is honeyed (nor do I recall the last bottle to be).

On the palate it's acidic, very dry and slightly hard to work. The finish is good and long but I'm not getting much from it, it's oxidised with hints of lemon and some warmth from the alcohol.

Perhaps an odd bottle, or slightly closed - I'm not sure. I would hope for this to improve so look forward to seeing more notes in the future.

8/10/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Good acidity and clear enojyable minerality on this Auslese from Michael Schafer. It's a good wine although not pretty complex, it has a lasting finish and the sweetness is well balanced. Outstanding value for the money (£8).

7/25/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Lovely candied apples on the nose, nice palate but slightly cloying in the mouth. But where else can you pick up mature riesling for £8? Bargain.

7/25/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Last bottle from the consortium..

Enchanting nose, layered with spice and cedar, subtle but with restrained weight. Good on the palate but fruit slightly dried out. Just about right time to drink it, some bottles have been better, others not so good. What a wine it was for £18.62 a bottle paid by all. Would drink up.

7/18/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Fantastic wine, starting to come alive now - floral and delicate, with a real long length to it. Even better on day 2. White rhone blends are brilliant.

6/23/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Gorgeous wine. Still very young, but beautifully pure and fresh. Savoury nose filled with earth, blood, iron and stone. The acidity although somewhat tart and unresolved, I find to be quite enjoyable. The wine is slowly coming alive, enjoyable more so a year ago, though I would now start to cast my eyes away from these and think about something else. This well made wine deserves a little time to blossom.

6/18/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

On the nose a blossom of peaches and what I would imagine to be white flowers, perhaps a little honeysuckle, but nice and light, and not in your face.

The palate, although somewhat uncomplicated, has a nice balance of stone fruits. It is almost full-bodied in that it fills your mouth, but is not heavy nor bold, a lift of acid follows the relatively medium-ish finish, with notes of subtle spice lingering delicately after. I wouldn't say this is characteristically Southern Rhone Viognier, but there is a joy about this wine in that it's refreshing and a mouth-filling with it's flavour. Good, for the £12 I paid.

6/18/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

15.5% Oh dear- I said to myself after pulling out the cork, and on a wine that probably gets American Bob's taste buds salivating with excitement.

Initially whacked about the nose with confected strawberries, and what could have almost passed for an alcholic Ribena, this eventually opened up to reveal an earthy gravelly nose of ripe fruits, a little shoe polish and some other elements. But getting past that, clearly overly sweet on the palate, there's baked fruits, a little minerality, but no complexity, nor any acidity. Not a good wine by any means. Drinkable, just. Thankfully that was my only, and last bottle left.

Nice head the following day. :O

6/1/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Perhaps a dodgy bottle this one, but was quite acidic and dried out. Still had some orange peel and tea to it and seemed to turn a corner for the better after a cuuple of hours open, but, just ok (this bottle).

5/23/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Excellent, sweet, honeyed wine. Waxy and floral, floats across your palate. Delicous wine, drinking very nicely now whilst still very fresh.

5/17/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Just what the doctor ordered. A hearty, honest, chunky Cdr. Well balanced nose of some oak, licorice and aniseed amongst red savoury red fruits - not overdone, not gloopy, not ebobby-wobs typical tipple.

A good core of fruit, spice and warmth (although 14.5% it does not feel that way on the palatte, although I am slightly wobbly as this evening draws to a close), well judged oak and good length. Tannins are but chunky and unresolved, yet there is still good fruit to hold this up and develop/soften for a few more years yet. Great with bangers and mash. And a bargain to boot at £8.50! Another Ben Coffman bargain basement rhone. Who needs En Primeur?..

4/18/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Initially taking a few hours to open, and for the good well judged oak to blow off, my general thoughts are this is closed somewhat: Hints of shoe polish and and walnuts linger amongst bitterish dark smelling cherries and hints of roses, highish acidity on the palate that is slightly thin-ish yet carries a good elegant core of sour red fruits, and slight floral elements. Tannins, although not big, overbearing or dominant in anyway, are slightly unresolved and sort of "clunky". Drinking the remainder of a bottle of day two and the feminineness of it becomes apparent, becoming more floral with the rose hints more evident.
I would give this a few more years before opening another bottle. it's just getting into the secondary phase. Good, even better potentially with time.

3/16/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Quite volatile and oxidised on the nose initially, it does wear off somewhat but lurks in the background, I know it's deliberate though. Decent core of fruit but a lot of acidity on the palate. Shortish finish and quite simple. Nowhere near as complex nor as enjoyable as the 2003. Wouldn't rush out to buy much of this, buy 2003 if you can find any (at £10ish a bottle) instead. Wouldn't buy the 04 Musar of this either going on this showing.

3/11/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Deep in colour with a beautiful rose coloured rim, almost garnet in colour. On the nose though it's as tight as Col Gaddafi's backside. What does come through all that heavy armour is a deep, compact somewhat out of synchronisation orchestra of sour cherries, integrated oak with brooding crème caramel, undergrowth and an aroma of orange peel. On the palate the oak is more-so integrated, though he wine is still very primary and tight; after a three hour decant, finally, bitter cherries with an orange tinge emerge, cinnamon spice within oak emerge as opposed to caramel found on the nose. It is clearly an extracted, modern wine with as yet unresolved yet fine tannins and good acidity but there is a little alcohol evident on the finish which is relatively long. It seems this is slightly disjointed, give this a couple of years to settle down and the broodiness of it to stand to one side.

2/7/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Bit of a stunner this for the price ~ £15. Savoury richness to it with gravelly notes and a bit of licorice. Complex with well judged oak that's nicely beginning to integrate. Holds up well throughout the hours drunk, think this has a few more years yet to get better, but drinking very nicely now.

2/7/2011 - ChateauTooting wrote:

This bottle not as good as previous bottles, bit more oxidative at first but came round later on the evening - delicious waxy texture to it though with good acidity.

1/10/2010 - ChateauTooting wrote:

On the nose there's initially a very slight amount of oak, just a little bit of cedar, and beyond that you find what was the jammy fruit developing nicely, with hints of damson, black olives, and a bit of menthol intertwined with the slightly restrained dark fruit.

On the palate it's a different story - although initially a little watery to begin with, it has a nice amount of weight to it, medium+ with balanced acidity, though there is still quite a lot of chewy tannin to it. The fruit strangely feels quite extracted: big rich damson fruit, perhaps some black olives but not so much as on the nose, there's a little of cedar spice, but it doesn't feel like there's too much oak here in the mid palate, perhaps the fruit is masking it? Well I would add.

The mouthfeel is slightly grainy with a spritz of minerality but it then turns a little bitter at the end perhaps due to the oak? Slightly warming on the finish, there's a decent length to it leaving you with a little oakiness. Not bad at all, nice development but a little alcoholic for my taste - it's labelled 13.5% but it feels more like 14%+.

But, for less than £7 from Majestic this is surely a bargain to be had, if you can find it!

11/13/2009 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Garnet in colour with a bricking edge. This medium-bodied, slightly restrained nose opens to reveal damp undergrowth hovering over slightly stewed red fruits, cinnamon spice and hints of roses. I've had to work hard a little hard at this, probably because I think it's almost shut down a little only to then enter it's secondary phase. It's just not quite there yet.

On the palate comes soft silkly luscious cherries, tart acidity, notes of leather and cedar spice, a little of bitter orange peel, and again quite earthy and creamy. Tannins are refined yet still chewy. The finish is a decent, medium+ I would say, and finishes with a warming more toward the stomach than the back of the mouth.
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Overall this is a very enjoyable bottle, but its at it's midpoint, I reckon. Almost shutting down and beginning to develop those secondary characteristics of Vina Real which are so familiar, to anyone who's tried them. What I really like most about this bottle though, is that earthiness, lovely stuff. Will try to let my other two bottles show where this beauty can go.

10/29/2009 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Initially on the nose a nice soft attack of plummy fruits intermingled with cinnamon and lots of black pepper, leading onto nuances crème-caramel oak, with a lingering earthy feel to it. A bit harsh at this moment in time, needs to flesh out a bit but the oak is nicely done, a subtle touch.

Sharp red cherries on the palate, woven with spice, dominated by black pepper, slightly gamey, tannins a little coarse and drying, oak is as on the nose, not dominating, just jousting in the background and on the finish, which is a little warming. Very good, but needs time to soften.

8/13/2009 - ChateauTooting wrote:

Still quite ruby in colour with a slight bricking around the edge, though almost pink rather than brick, if that makes sense!..

Quite intense on the nose (medium+) - an interesting nose with lots going on - baked red fruits in particular (cherries predominantly), notes of warm caramel, some bacon interestingly enough, pepper, and a slight aniseedy note. There's a lot of fresh, clean fruit here for a Rioja?

The nose promises a bit more than what is delivered on the palate, though there's an excellent attack of fresh red raspberries, slightly tart I must say, the texture of the wine is interesting - not chewy, rather "gravelly", the acidity is wonderful - it's best aspect, perfectly poised, fresh, zippy. There's some cedar notes to the oak that's now beginning to integrate, a by-product could be a slight figgy/sultana note? A longish finish, slightly warming though. Not much tannin left, though there's plenty of fruit and excellent acidity that will further develop and prolong the life of this wine.

Overall - very good, lot's of fresh fruit still and the acidity in particular holds it up well in the finish, very delicious. 10 bottles left, will try to keep my mits of them for the next year or so to see where this is going..

8/2/2009 - ChateauTooting wrote:

A blend of 95% Tempranillo & 5% Mazeulo & Graciano - harvested by hand from 50+ year old vines on 10th October 1997, aged in new French oak for 12 months, with a further 6 months spent in oak approx 7 years old.

Almost brown in colour with a brick edge. On the nose it's a very intense wine (I can smell it almost a foot away) with typical notes of spice, vanilla, red cherries, though there's also a lovely amount of dried figs, some mocha/chocolateness there and a slightly herbaceous note to it. Very sweet in character, the oak has integrated nicely - a wonderful perfume.

On the palate you're first fit with a lovely savoury level of spice, then the fruit of sweet cherries and strawberries comes to the fore, there's the figs coupled with well balanced acidity and fine-grained tannins. The oak has settled very well into this, it's not too over-powering or dominating. There's a lovely amount of grip from the tannins and the finish of sweet cherries and vanilla lingers on well - a long delicious finish.

My overall impression of this is that it's a very well balanced wine that's probably at it's peak. The dried figs give a seductive element to an otherwise wonderfully perfumed nose, with a long finish from a very mature balanced palate. My only criticism of this wine would be that the fruit is slightly fading and the oak is just taking over a tad, though this does not discredit an otherwise altogether delicious finish.

Very good/At peak, drink soon/Buy again - Yes. Approx £18.