Wine Tasting Notes from Bishop's Cellars Best Values under $25

This evening we had to opportunity to attend the Best Value Wines Under $25 Tasting at Bishop's Cellars (@BishopsCellar) here in Halifax.  It was a great event that was well attended.  This was our first opportunity to attend such an event and we were very pleasantly surprised with the event and wines selected.

We were not exactly sure how many wines we were going to taste and we were again pleasantly surprised to find out it was ten wines (4 Whites and 6 Reds).  The wines selected were those items that the staff felt like were the best overall wines under the $25 threshold.  Having tried all the wines in the order that was specified, we took some general notes and wanted to share those.  They are listed in the order tasted and with our overall opinion of the wines:

1) 2010 Poggio Alloro Vernaccia (Italy) $17.25 - this was a very crisp and complex white wine.  It was such a nice flavourful white wine that we purchased a bottle.

2) 2011 Spy Valley Sauvignon Blanc (NZ) $22.25 - we had tried this wine previously and it did not disappoint.  It is a very crisp Sauv Blanc with excellent notes of grapefruit, mango, and pineapple.  This is a great wine and a recommended purchase.

3) 2010 Torre Quarto Greco (Italy) $19.50 - this was a perfumed and complex white wine from a grape we had never tasted before.  Overall, it is a nice white wine which while enjoyable did not have the flavour characteristics of the others.

4) 2009 Tawse Sketches Chardonnay (Niagara) $24.50 - this is from a winery we visited in the Niagara Valley in Ontario.  The winery is beautiful and has been voted the best winery in Canada previously.  This typical Niagara Chardonnay had vanilla/oak notes but still remained light in colour.  The wine was great but also lacked some of the structure that the other wines we had.  At $24.50 it is a little more than we would like to pay for a Chardonnay.

5) Riff Rosso Merlot/Cab Sauv (Italy) $16.75 - this wine had a surprisingly elegent nose which is medium bodied with notes of oak as well as dark fruit.  At this price point, this is a buy recommendation.

6) 2009 Lavau Vacqueyras (France) $24.50 - very nice nose but it certainly the wine falls flat on the palate.  There are fruity notes but it does not have enough structure to sustain the medium body in the wine.  This was only so-so.

7) 2010 Monte Velho Tinto (Portugal) $16.00 - this is a little thin and surprisingly not what we would expect from a Portuguese wine.  The acidity is a little strong and it was definitely hot on the nose.  The price was okay but we have had better wine from Portugal for less.

8) 2010 Org de Rac Merlot (South Africa) $17.50 - this was a great wine, truly a great value.  Full bodied wine with excellent nose.  It smelled like a $30 or $40 wine and tasted just as great.  Delicious flavours and solid structure and organic to boot.  This is a high recommendation to buy, we certainly did.

9) 2009 Santa Ema Carmenere (Chile) $18.00 - this is another high recommendation to buy.  We loved the comparison to the Cabernet Franc's we have had recently.  There was lots of herb and vegetal notes on the nose.  Green pepper on the nose and black pepper on the palate.  Really a great tasting wine.  Another great value that tastes like a $30 or $40 wine.  Another one we purchased.

10) 2008 Katnook Cabernet Sauvignon (Australia) $21.50 - as a Cab it was presented as being full bodied Steak wine and while there were Cab Sauv commonalities it was much thinner than we expected.  It had a nice flavour profile but as we have mentioned previously Aussie wine is certainly not afraid of keeping a very slight amount of residual sugars in there.  If you like that, you'll like this.

If this event is any indication of the typical Bishop's Cellar tasting, we will certainly be back.  Great night!

Keep on drinking!

Chris & Shannon