Twitter Taste Live

Last night two coworkers came over to join me for Hospice du Rhône Twitter Taste Live featuring:

2006 Boekenhoutskloof Syrah, South Africa

2006 The Old Faithful “Cafe Block” Shiraz (single vineyard), McLaren Vale, Australia

2007 Hewitson “Ned & Henry’s” Shiraz, Barossa Valley, Australia

2007 de Trafford Shiraz Stellenbosch, South Africa

2008 Torbreck Woodcutter’s Shiraz, Barossa Valley, Australia

2008 Mullineux Syrah Swartland, South Africa

This was a very fun night. Essentially we were provided with 6 wines, 3 each from Australia and South Africa and asked to tweet live with other bloggers on the taste Live Site. There was a countdown to start and notification as to when to move on to the next wine (this brought out my ocd, I had to be on the right wine!)

We started with Australia and the Old Faithful. My friends liked this one more than I did. It came in at 15% alcohol and was a big wine to start the night. Lots of fruit, but also oak.
Next up was the Ned & Henry, which I liked more. It was leaner, with lower alcohol and nice spice and was a hit with our bacon pizza. This one I would buy.
We finished our brief tour of Australia with the Torbeck. This one is made from 150 year old vines (nice to have winemaker comments.) It had a very sweet nose that one tweeter described as bubble gum/cotton candy and I had to agree. We were told that this was a very warm year and you could taste that in the wine. Am curious to see how it will taste tonight after being open for 24 hours.

We then moved on to South Africa. We started with the 2006 Boekenhoutskloof Syrah, South Africa which was my favorite of the night. This had a great nose with some great earth and spices. I'm expecting this one to be great today as it would have benefited from decanting. Also expect that it will only improve over the next few years.

Next was the de Trafford. One of my friends suggested that it "smells like a sewer." had to explain that that was not necessarily a bad thing. Earthy, spicy with lots of fruit. Felt that it was a bit hot.

Our final wine of the night was the 2008 Mullineux. This was my second favorite of the night. It was young, but balanced. This one also should be great tonight.

I'll be writing up a bit more tonight as I see what being open overnight does for some of these wines.

So for the Wednesday night report: I'm parenting so drinking very light. Have poured a glass of the Boekenhoutskloof which as expected is truly lovely tonight. I would be very happy with more of this.
Sending the Aussie wines with my ex-husband for a tasting with some of his friends tonight so hopefully can get even more feedback.


More info about Taste Live is available at http://www.tastelive.com/