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Vinloq Time: January 2022 Wine Tasting

Throughout January 2022, we have been busy tasting wines and writing down our thoughts. We want to share some of the wines we have recently tasted and rated with Vinloq. We rated them on a scale of 1-5, and we hope you can start tasting as many wines as you want with Vinloq this new year. 

1. Isole e Olena Cepparello Red 2003 

Toscana, Italy 

 

cepparello

 

4.1⭐️In a good place👍 This Sangiovese from the hot 2003 vintage is doing well (good winemaking). Smooth, soft tannins. Most of the oak has integrated. This was drinking well after an hour of air. Red fruit and plums with licorice and mint are here with some light smoke and cedar. This went quickly with dinner featuring Chinese-style roasted duck and dumplings, showing no signs of fading anytime soon.

2. Rioja Gran Reserva 904 2005

La Rioja, Spain

 

Rioja

 

4.5⭐️ Fantastic Aromatics Traditional Spanish Riojas have the most alluring noses. This cherry fruit smells so sweet and fresh. It’s accompanied by American oak, which gives it a touch of dill and vanilla with brown sugar and cedar. It is rich and round and sweet and has no rough edges. The tannins are soft. If a wine can deliver that same mixture when you are drinking it, well, that would be hard to beat. The palate is a tick behind the nose at this point. Maybe a touch closed? This has a long life ahead….

3. Pauillac (Grand Cru Classé) 2009

Pauillac, France 

 

Pauillac

 

4.7⭐️ Stellar. The first 375ml bottle opened from a case. Opened and recorked 6 hours before serving. Fantastic nose with currants, cassis, and pencil shavings. The color was youthful red/purple with no signs of age. This wine had clear Pauillac signatures with beautiful fruit. Tannins were silky but quite apparent. This will be even more stellar in another decade.

4. Rosella’s Vineyard Syrah 2012 

California, USA

 

syrah

 

4.1⭐️ California Syrah with some bottle age Nose- Dark brambly raspberry fruit that is rich, spicy, even smoky. Palate-slightly bitter, acidic lead-in with dark raspberries. Finishes with licorice. Mild tannins With air, savoriness came forward. It paired great with smoked turkey.

5. Wasenhaus Spätburgunder 2016

Baden, Germany 

 

german wine

4.0⭐️ Excellent new German producer Bright red fruit on the nose. Cranberry predominates with ripe strawberries and cherries. The fruit is not nearly as forward on the palate. Bright acidity is most apparent, and the wine teeters on being thin, but it is so deftly crafted that it is charming and bright. The nose imprints the fruit in your mind, and it lingers on the less fruity palate. Manages to be bright without being tart. The wine was virtually unchanged over eight days with Vinloq preservation.

6. Grünlack Riesling Spätlese 2019

Rheingau, Germany

 

german wine

 

4.8⭐️ One of our favorite wines in 2021! Very aromatic. This is sweet, floral, perfumed, and delicious. Totally chuggable but way too good for that. The nose has sweet and slightly musky tropical fruit with pretty florality. The same sweet fruit makes it onto the palate, but this has plenty of nuance. Never heavy, this has just the right balance. It has a full mid-palate like so many 2019 rieslings in Germany. We went back for more!

Have you tasted any of these wines yet?

 

Let us know if you have any recommendations of wines you enjoyed that you would like to see in our next wine tasting blog. 

 

Cheers!

Author: Vinloq

 
Photos by Vinloq

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