Tasted at the Denver offline on 1/18/03.
12% alcohol. This was the ninth wine tasted out of nine. This wine was brought by FreeTheGrapes as a ringer, due to his friendship with the winemaker.
Color was a dark red to the rim. On the nose, this wine smelled of vanilla-tinged oak and butterscotch. One taster mentioned buttery popcorn.
On the palate, this wine tasted of the vanilla oak, cherry and raspberry. Well balanced, it had a medium long finish with the vanilla oak, spices, and smooth, well integrated tannins.
This wine was a huge surprise to all of us, once revealed. I can honestly state I have never had a Tasmanian wine, and would have laughed if someone suggested I try one. It has been exteremely rare that I have found a pinot for under $30 that I have even remotely enjoyed. While not totally sure of the pricing, FTG thought it was about $10 US.
While not a stunning wine, it was very enjoyable. The group rated this wine third of nine. I had this on my card as number two, mrs. mbansek had it as number five.
FTG is going to try to get us more of this for an everyday pinot. At this price, I will be purchasing more.
Summary of the night can be found
here. Mike