2014 Château Mercian Muscat Bailey A Hosaka

Community Tasting Notes (2) Avg Score: 88 points

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  2/23/2019 - Man in Black wrote:

  Pale ruby colour. Nice complex nose showing a lot of sweet spices such as vanilla and cinnamon, with some coconut and ripe strawberries, raspberries and red currants.
  
  Soft and silky in the nose, fruity albeit it may be lacking a bit of concentration at this stage. Quite drinkable.

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  5/29/2018 - forceberry wrote: 88 Points

  12,5% alcohol.
  
  Translucent cherry red color. Quite understated and somewhat sweet-toned nose of ripe red fruits and a hint of raspberry marmalade. The wine is medium-bodied, lively and quite acid-driven on the palate with rather intense flavors of tart cranberry-driven red fruit, some peppery spice, even something almost like Pinosity, a little bit of toasty oak and milk chocolate and a hint of tart lingonberry. The wine is high in acidity with very modest, soft tannins. The finish is long, acid-driven and crunchy with quite intense flavors of brooding oak spice, tart lingonberries, some peppery spice, a little bit of earthy Pinosity, a hint of milk chocolate and a touch of cranberry.
  
  A surprisingly sophisticated Muscat Bailey A that reminds me quite a lot of New Zealand Pinot Noir - including the heavy-handed oak treatment as well. Overall the quality here is high, but the dominant oak aromatics distract from the pleasure quite a bit. For a Muscat Bailey A this is good and stylish an effort, but I can't help thinking how much better this would be without all the new oak aromatics. Perhaps a bit pricey at ¥2675 (20,70€).

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