The Affair

 

Last Saturday night I had an affair.  It’s not as wild and crazy as you think, it was a fundraiser for the Dartmouth General Hospital and it featured some fantastic wines from Australia and New Zealand.  I am going to share my surprises, because I tried a few new wines at this event, and discovered some wines I really liked.    Let’s start with my biggest surprise of the evening!

I really like Pinot Grigio, but if it has too much acidity, I find it can give me heartburn.  I love it, it doesn’t love me so much.  This wine, however, I loved and it seemed to love me back.   Imagine how delighted I was to find a Pinot Grigio where we have a mutual love!  It was smooth and refreshing and what a great finish.   As a matter of fact, in my tasting notes I wrote “unbelievable finish”.  This wine stayed with me even after I put the glass down.  Gorgeous flavors of apple, stone fruit and citrus notes, this has to be my favorite Pinot Grigio to date and I’m looking forward to enjoying it again.  This is a very food-friendly wine, and would go with a wide variety of food.

Another great wine I tried from the Oyster Bay collection was the Merlot.  Recently I told you about another Merlot I found from Australia that I really liked, the Exhibitionist.  And this one didn’t disappoint either.  Australia is putting out some fantastic Merlot wines.  The moderate climate and gravel-based soils of Hawkes Bay make it an ideal location for Bordeaux varietals such as Merlot.  This wine was delicious and plummy and very well-balanced.  Plummy is a word, right?  Thats what i had in my tasting notes.   I really enjoyed the Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc as well.  I like Sauvignon Blanc with those mango and passion fruit flavors.

And here was the most popular wine of the evening and my wine of the week….

The Wee Angus from the Angus the Bull collection.   Named after the winemaker’s brother, Angus is the perfect wine to compliment beef.  The blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot makes for a juicy wine with grip.  With a hint of vanilla oak, this easy to drink can be enjoyed with or without food. Because of black pepper notes,  in my opinion it’s a great steak wine.  My friend Judy, who went to the Affair with me, said it was her favorite wine of the night.

I saw this yesterday and it made me chuckle, so although today is Saturday, this is a little laugh to get you through the work week.

Till next week, Cheers

Darlene