Tesco Delicious Dozen final part...

Welcome to the final part of the Tesco "Delicious Dozen" review. If you're not familiar with the Blog then please see my other posts over to the right and down a bit in the Blog Archive, and read my welcome notice here: 

Ok, so these were again served up blind, without me seeing the bottles. Bit of a disappointing end to the case this...First up the two reds, or so we tried...

Faustino Rivero, Rioja Reserva "Black Label", 2003

Really looking forward to this...13%

The Look: Beautiful brick red with signs of brown showing its age.

The Smell: Urgh. Not good. Musty, dusty, old cardboard. Off.

The Taste: Not good. Musty, dusty, old cardboard. Off.

The Score: Disappointingly off - corked. 1/10 Corked.

VFM: N/A.

 

The Stonewalker, Cabernet Sauvignon, South Africa, 2009

14%. Again, looking forward to this one, but again...

The Look: A really deep hue of purple.

The Smell: FFS! Off again! Musty cardboard, bad cork.

The Taste: Horrible cork taint.

The Score: Bleurgh.  1/10  Corked.

VFM: N/A

 

Lets hope the whites do a bit better...

Jacktone Ranch, Viognier Reserve, California, 2008

A stable mate of the red in the earlier Tesco review. 13.5% alcohol this one.

The Look: Again, a typical pale, mid-yellow.

The Smell: Floral and perfumed, grapefruity.

The Taste: Smooth, but with an almost "bubbly" acidity. Long finish of mellon and grapefruit. Refreshing. Was great with our cod fillets and parsely sauce. Ever so slightly off-balance with the acidity a bit too sharp, but not too distracting.

The Score: This is good, especially for a fiver! 7/10 Recommended.

VFM: at the case price of £5 a bottle it gets an excellent VFM = 1.4, At its regular price of £10 it still gets a respectable VFM =  0.7.

 

and finally...

The Stonewalker, Sauvignon Blanc, South Africa, 2010

Fresh off the blocks this, being a 2010. Failry light at  12% alcohol.

The Look: Not quite water-white, but a lemony pale yellow.

The Smell: A nice smell of tropical fruit and the characteristic limey, grassy hints of Sauv Blanc.

The Taste: Not quite as good as the smell suggests. Ok flavours of tropical fruits and zesty citrus, but pretty poorly done. Nagging bitterness on the mid and back palate.

The Score: Ok, but no great shakes. Ok, it's only a fiver but I think I'd rather pay another quid or two to get something with better flavour. 5.5/10 

VFM: at the case price of £5 a bottle it gets an excellent VFM = 1.1, At its regular price of £10 it gets a pretty average VFM =  0.55.

 

So there we have it. A pretty poor end to the Tesco Delicious Dozen case. 3 bottles were corked out of 12. I'm not sure how to get refunds (or even if the do them) from Tesco Wine so I'll have to let this one slide. There were a couple of recommendations and pockets of great stuff, but essentially limited appeal. 

 

Three corked bottles in 12? I think I'll be avoiding Tesco mixed cases from now on, at least until they get their shit together, but will probably still pop in to the store, or order things online that I know are good, like the excellent Taniwah Sauv Blanc here: and the odd bottle of Maycas del Limari Syrah here:

 

 

Semi-blind tasting continues...

So as I've said in  previous posts, I'm trying to develop my blind tasting skills. D serves them up at random, with bottles hidden from view and I have to guess at the 

• Grape type
• Country or Region
• Year
• Alcohol level

So, here are my notes, transcribed directly from my note book: We'll forget the two corked reds and just show the whites this week....

Wine #1:

Initial nose is intriguing, floral perfumed, maybe Viognier or Gewurz? Medium yellow, pale. 13 to 13.5%. Initial thoughts are Viognier - bubbly acidity, smoothness, melon and grapefruit. Ever so slightly off balance - acidity-wise. Nice with the Cod.

The guess: Viognier, New World - maybe Australia?, 2008, 13.5%

The reveal: Californian Viognier, 2008, 13.5%! Ah, nearly!!! I wouldn't really know how to tell Cali from Oz in a Viognier anyway. NOTE TO SELF: Once you can pick out a grape you need to examine the nuances of each region to identify them. Learn!

 

Wine #2:

Not water-white but pale lemony yellow. Lovely limey, citrussy, grassy smells. Sauv Blanc? Ok. Tropical and zesty/grassy citrus but not very good. Too bitter. Acidity over cooked. Light one, not much alcohol, 12.5%? Young.

The guess: Cheap Sauv Blanc, not very good vineyard, Chile or South Africa, 2009. 12.5%.

The reveal: Soth African Sauv Blanc! 2010. 12%! Again pretty close. I think I could pick out Sauv Blanc even with a cold now! Still, I have no idea how to pick out the individual regional characteristics apart from maybe France vs. New Zealand. NOTE TO SELF: Need to learn the regional differences. Drink more wine to find out! Yeahssssssssss! :)

 

So, there's the first two cases finished! Not a bad drinking effort. This coming friday (24th Sept) we have an Oddbins in-store tasting. I will write that up at the first opportunity over the weekend (probably). I've also devised a plan to get the maximum diversity out of picking your own mixed 12 - to try and discover new wines or beat old favourites. Stay tuned for that. Anyway...

Speak to you soon!

 

Cheers.

WBFTF