Ok boys and girls, I’m afraid I’m going to have to start doing some more serious tasting notes. I’ve got to get into the swing of it before my tasting exams, so I’m going to use this blog to start writing some serious notes. But don’t worry, they’ll have a translation with them! Let’s kick off with Gigondas…
I actually only tried the one this week, with my pepper and garlic steak strips. The good people at Sainsbury’s very kindly let me have a bottle of their Taste the Difference range to have a try of.
Are you ready for the tasting note??? Let’s give it a go!
Wine 1 – Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Gigondas
Appearance
Note: Clear, deep, ruby red
Translation: Wasn’t full of muck or anything, looked good enough to drink
Nose
Note: Medium + intensity of jammy red fruit flavours of strawberry, redcurrant, and red cherry. Also a bit of black pepper spice. Youthful
Translation: It’s hot down there, so it’s jammy fruit, and I got the red fruit I was expecting from a Grenache heavy blend.
Palate
Note: A dry wine, with medium + acidity, a medium level of ripe but grippy tannin, and medium + levels of alcohol. The body and flavour intensity were both at a medium level, with the finish a slightly disappointing medium -. The alcohol gave a slight warmth that opened up the black pepper spice on the tongue. Those jammy red fruits came through initially, but vanished soon after.
Translation: It was pretty refreshing, and ticked all the boxes of what you’d expect a Grenache blend to taste like. The flavours didn’t stick around too long though.
Quality Assessment
Note: A very good wine. The alcohol, although warming, was in balance with the rest of the structure. The acidity and fruit matched well to create a refreshing wine. It also went perfectly well with the extra garlic I through into the steak strips mix too. There’s not enough complexity to be anywhere near the outstanding column, and the shorter length of finish has it at the lower end of very good. But still, it’s very good! 13/20
Translation: You’re unlikely to get a better Gigondas for this money (£13). This ticks plenty of boxes of what you’d expect from this wine area, a fantastic start for anyone who’s looking to try it for the first time!
See that wasn’t too bad, was it?
Cheers
Mike
The scoring system:
0-4 Poor
5-8 Acceptable
9-12 Good
13-16 Very Good
17-20 Outstanding
