How much is your wine worth?

“How much is your wine worth?” A good question and the answer is usually less than you think it is! However, in some cases, you may have a sought-after brand made in one of the best years and it can be worth much more selling it than drinking it. How can you find out how much is your wine worth?

Wickman's LogoOne way to know is by studying research data bases, results of wine auctions and exchanges, and to put a great amount of time into this field of study. A simpler and more trustworthy way would be to review Wickman’s Fine Wine database of results. Wickman has been buying and selling wine for almost two decades and has achieved million of dollars in turnover for his customers. He has been tracking prices and actual sales results. I sold 500 bottles of wine through Wickman’s Fine Wines so far and have been pleased with the result.  However, I had to do a bit of a level set as in some cases I spent more to purchase the wines than I was able to get selling them. But Wickman helped me understand and set the optimal price point to move the wine quickly. I have moved far greater volume through Wickman’s than Langton’s or other wine auction houses or exchanges because Wickman’s knows how much your wine is worth!

Check out Wickman’s data base and also his post on how to get the most from selling wine and the factors that influence wine sales.

And check out my previous post on the various outlets to consider if you want to sell your wine. But to find out how much is your wine worth, Wickman’s post and sales statistics for the major brands is the quickest way to do so.

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, available now!
© 2015.  Steve Shipley. All rights reserved.
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2011 Riversdale Estate Crater Chardonnay

Cellarmasters provided a bottle of the 2011 Riversdale Estate Crater Chardonnay to review.  This is an extremely well-awarded Chardonnay as have been the previous two vintages.  The 2011 Riversdale Estate Crater Chardonnay is a single vineyard Tasmanian Chardonnay with a bold taste. The 2011 Riversdale Estate Crater Chardonnay surprised me in being far fruitier than I was expecting. Its aroma is of lemon and orange peel. The taste is very fruity and alive, with the citrus almost popping off your tongue. I also taste pineapple and grapefruit along with lemon and lime. It is crisp and clean on the tongue and the 2011 Riversdale Estate Crater Chardonnay has a nice, moderately long finish.

Crater ChardonnayWith the strong citrus flavors, you could easily mistake this wine for a Sauvignon Blanc, except the 2011 Riversdale Estate Crater Chardonnay is richer in texture and has a better mouthfeel. Yet, for my taste, the 2011 Riversdale Estate Crater Chardonnay is too crisp and fruity for a Chardonnay, but then, I drink most of my Chardonnays with some age on them and either sourced from Montrachet, or in Australia from Margaret River or the Hunter Valley.  This is the first Chardonnay I have ever had from Tasmania. The 2011 Riversdale Estate Crater Chardonnay is a lovely drop and immediately drinkable, but different from what I was expecting.  Now that it has warmed up a couple of degrees, I taste watermelon and papaya.  If you like an abundance of citrus and exotic fruits, you will love the 2011 Riversdale Estate Crater Chardonnay.

I must apologize to Cellarmasters, as the 2011 Riversdale Estate Crater Chardonnay is out of stock, similar to the 2011 Krondorf Growers Barossa Shiraz that I reviewed earlier. I need to do my reviews as soon as receiving the wines.  (Unfortunately, I was sick and waited until my palate was better.)  But like the 2011 Krondorf Growers Barossa Shiraz which is out of stock, if you want another good Chardonnay, check out Cellarmasters fine selection of Chardonnays to find a suitable replacement.  They do carry the 2012 Riversdale Estate Crater Chardonnay which should be just as good.

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, available now!
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2012 Krondorf Growers Barossa Shiraz

About one month ago, Cellarmasters sent me several wines to review.  I have been extremely busy and am just getting around to reviewing the first wine this evening, which is the 2012 Krondorf Growers Barossa Shiraz.  Fifteen years ago, I used to drink far more big Barossa Shiraz, but over the last decade have come to appreciate slightly less alcoholic content Shiraz and more from the Hunter Valley.  I also tend to drink my Shiraz after it has been in the cellar for a decade or more. Yet immediately upon opening the 2012 Krondorf Growers Barossa Shiraz, I could tell it was going to be a great wine.  The nose was full of refined fruit. It is not often I use the term ‘elegant’ when nosing a wine (even though I sometimes do when tasting it), but the 2012 Krondorf Growers Barossa Shiraz smells elegant.  It immediately increased my desire to get this wine decanted as soon as possible and to drink it.

2012 KrondorfThe 2012 Krondorf Growers Barossa Shiraz sits beautifully on the palate and has has a long and very pleasant finish. I love wines that not only taste good, but feel good on the palate and provide the extra enjoyment of finishing far after swallowing.  And the 2012 Krondorf Growers Barossa Shiraz certainly provides that!  I like the tactile feeling of a good wine as much or more than the flavor.

The color of the 2012 Krondorf Growers Barossa Shiraz is a vibrant red.  The taste is of dark fruits / berries, plum and spice.  As refined as this wine is, I would have had a hard time picking it as a Barossa Shiraz in a blind tasting.

For a young wine, the 2012 Krondorf Growers Barossa Shiraz is immediately drinkable. It will not cellar long (3 – 5 years?), but it does not have to as you can buy it and drink it immediately. This wine was such good value though, that Cellarmasters has already sold out of it.  However, the next vintage should be outstanding also and you can still look for other great Shiraz that Cellarmasters still has in stock.

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, available now!
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1998 Keith Tulloch The Kester Shiraz Review

My apologies for not having written many posts recently.  Having finished and published Wine Sense followed by a large trip to the US and immediately taking on some concentrated consulting work, my ‘retirement’ has been anything but!  But I have missed writing and especially writing about wine!

Living in the iconic Hunter Valley wine region two hours north of Sydney, we have a choice of about 150 wineries to visit.  From the 30 or so we have visited, we have six or seven we buy from regularly, while continuing to expand and purchase from others.  We have made the point to try a new winery or two every month.  One recent new entry was Keith Tulloch Wines on Hermitage Road.  What a great winery!  We were fortunate to have Keith Tulloch, owner and winemaker host our tasting for several hours and what a treat it was.  We bought several styles of Semillon and Shiraz and some Rose.  Their wines for the money are tremendous value.  And the facilities are amazing, including the Muse Cafe, one of the very few hatted regional NSW restaurants.  You could spend the entire day at Keith Tulloch Wines tasting, eating and just admiring the scenery.  And if you are fortunate to get a few minutes with Keith, he will provide you a real wine education!  I also love that it is a true family winery.  When we visited, Keith was working and his wife and son were working the cellar door.

Kester ShirazThe wines I bought when there recently though will be a long time in the cellar; they are mostly ready to drink now, but I am certain all will improve a good deal given some time lying down.  Fortunately my father-in-law had a vintage Keith Tulloch wine, the very first vintage of the 1998 The Kester in his cellar which he gifted to me as a Christmas present.  I opened it this afternoon with great anticipation as I would any 15 year old Hunter Shiraz – and it did not disappoint!  This is a beautiful Hunter Shiraz and you can while you can feel the heat of 14.4% alcohol, it is delivered with a smooth velvety mouthfeel.  The fruit is powerful, and delivered with medium weight and texture.  I pick up plum and boysenberry flavors, plus good spicy overtures.  And the finish lasts a long, long time.  As good as this wine is, I might be dipping into the 2011 The Kester and The Doctor Shiraz sooner than I thought!

We are having this wine tonight with a New York Strip steak and chips with a side salad.  We tend to use a lot of spice when cooking steaks, so the 1998 Keith Tulloch The Kester Shiraz will be a great match!

 

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Minnesota Meritage – seriously!

We had a fun day visiting our first ever winery in Minnesota; a great little gem of a place in Cannon Falls called Cannon River Winery.  I must admit that I was hesitant as to what we would find of wine in Minnesota, but it was a pleasent surprise.

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I will be writing a series of posts on the wine industry in Minnesota.  Cannon River Winery is owned by friends of my parents and (I) having just written a wine book, my parents wanted me to visit their friend’s winery.  Cannon River Winery is only about a 40 minute drive out of the Twin Cities, mostly south on US 52.  Cannon Falls is a quaint small Midwestern town with a lot of character and the winery and cellar door right in the heart of the city with the vineyards being outside.

We learned a great deal today about the challenges of making wine in Minnesoata.  It would appear Minnesota would be similar to a lot of cold wine growing regions, but it is not.  I always knew that the Twin Cities had the highest variation of temperature from coldest to warmest seasonally, but I also found out that the daily variations can be extremely large.  Therefore, they needed to craft grapes that could deal with the local climate and both extreme hot and cold temperatures.  There is a vitaculture unit associated with the University of Minnesota that has been working for the last 30 years to create cross-bred varietals to deal with the extreme temperature fluctuations.  Therefore, there exist a number of unique grape varietals specific to the region and growers need to be approved by a state industry association.  These local grapes all start with the ‘MN’ designation.

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The Minnesota winemakers need to be gifted blending several varietals into a pleasent drinking wine to provide the right balance and integration of flavors and textures.  This is no easy feat when trying to use only local grapes!  Sometimes using a bit of Shiraz or some other grape from another region can be the final piece in the puzzle to making a drinkable wine.

We tried about 15 different wines, including dry and sweet reds and whites, dessert wines and an apple wine and honey wine, and ended up buying four bottles to take along and share with our friends over the next few days.  The winemaker also spent an hour with us tasting the wines direct from the vats containing the recently harvested grapes.  These wines are still cloudy since they are unfiltered, but showed great promise and will be better than last year’s vintage.  Some of the wines were still on skins.

So there is a Minnesota Meritage which is a blend of several different grapes and quite different from Hermitage or Australian Shiraz; however, it is a very drinkable blend with a slightly sweeter taste.

I was not expecting much from Minnesota wines, but was positively surprised and going to try some more.  While not on par with the best Europe, Napa or Australia has to offer, they are very drinkable and at very reasonable prices.  If you want a great day out from the Twin Cities, you should definitely try Cannon River Winery!

I need to do some further research, but will be discussing the Minnesota varietals and the history of Minnesota wine making in the next several posts.

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, available now!
© 2014. Steve Shipley. All rights reserved.

2013 Kelman Cate’s Paddock Chardonnay

The vineyard where we live is known for making decent, but not great wines.  However, over the years, they have won a few medals and produced some exceptional wines.  I was taken by surprise today tasting the 2013 Kelman Cate’s Paddock Chardonnay.  It is magnificent for such a young wine.  Tangerine and rock melon flavors, orange citrus flavoring, nutty and honey also.  But most impressively, this wine has body!  It has medium-plus body and structure and smooth, yet full texture which fills the mouth and finishes long.

The Cate’s Paddock line is meant to be the second tier of Kelman wines, but with some of the best 2013 Chardonnay grapes and the way it has been structured, this wine should be getting some top prizes.  It will not last long at the cellar door at the price.  If you are coming through the Hunter Valley, you need to stop by Kelman Estate and definitely buy some of this wine.  After tasting it today, I picked up a dozen on the spot and will be getting another dozen to cellar for a few years – it is an outstanding buy.

2013 Kelman ChardAs it is getting into winter, we are having our first winter soup for dinner this evening.  My wife is making one of my favorites, which is wild rice and mushroom soup.  As rich and creamy as the soup is, we usually have a Montrachet to go with it, or a Penfolds Yatarnna.  However, this evening we are drinking the 2013 Kelman Cate’s Paddock Chardonnay at a fraction of the cost of a Montrachet!  This is a fine, fine wine and will be sold out soon, so make sure to stop by and get some while supplies last.  And if you do, let me know so we can share a glass together!

 

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, due out July 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
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What dessert wine with chocolate mousse?

Several weeks ago, we had a great dinner with two other couples.  We started with salmon mousse tarts and a choice of a Hunter Valley Semillon or a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.  Even though we knew it was going to be a scorcher of a day, everyone wanted DAZ in the Kitchen’s famous beef stroganoff which we paired with a 2009 Bouchard Pere & Fils Pulingy-Montrachet.  We wanted to have creme brulee for dessert, but did not have a torch available, so decided to go with chocolate mousse instead.  (The recipe for all courses is provided in the obvious links.)

I had a number of good sticky dessert wines, including some very nice Sauternes to go with creme brulee, but was uncertain as to what dessert wine would work well with chocolate mousse.  After some internal debate including considering Port or Muscat, I felt a peppery Hunter Valley Shiraz could work, so put aside a 2007 Tyrrell’s Stevens Shiraz.  This is a typical high-end Hunter Valley Shiraz from a great vintage.  However, through the generosity of our guests and them offering to help determine what dessert wine to drink with chocolate mousse, we had a bottle of Ivanhoe Madeira and Audrey Wilkinson Muscat to choose from.  I also had a bottle of 1993 Lindeman’s Porphyry leftover from the evening before (notice the small cork bits in the bottle from the shattered 20-year-old cork).  So we decided to try all three dessert wines and the main lesson learned is that sweet wine and sweet food match quite well, regardless of other characteristics involved!  All three wines provided unique, but pleasurable drinking experiences while eating chocolate mousse.

Three dessert wines to go with chocolate mousseThe Porphyry was sweet, almost too sugary due to its age and worked better as a dessert wine with the apple tart we had the night before.  Yet, it provided a viscous mouthfeel that felt good with chocolate mousse and set off well the strawberries adorning the chocolate mousse.  The Madeira was sweeter yet, but sharper in taste and complimented, almost competed with the chocolate mousse.  The Muscat (which was one of my original alternatives to consider as the dessert wine) probably worked the best as it less sweet, containing caramelized orange flavors to compliment the chocolate flavors of the mousse.

But the key lesson learned was that almost any dessert wine worked!  Looking back, I wish I would have also pulled out a few different Ports wines as I think they could have worked as well as the Muscat or even better.

What wines have you served with chocolate mousse?  Let me know if you have any good suggestions.

 

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
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Paymasters Cafe provides great food and great wine

I have been anxious to return and have a meal to order at Paymasters Cafe in Newcastle, NSW.  We had a specially prepared Christmas in July meal there about six months ago which was outstanding and the wines provided by McLeish Estate winery.  But I wanted to explore a broader set of options from the menu and wine list.  And I am glad we did; I am not sure I have had a better meal anywhere!  The entire experience was done to perfection.  First of all, we were in a refurbished historic building overlooking the waterfront, the front windows opened wide, and we had a table with a magnificent view and perfect weather.  This was all a real plus and set the scene, but we came for the food and wine and were not to be disappointed.

 Paymaster entrees and mains

We always look for things we would not be cooking at home and there were a few entrees and mains to choose from which satisfied that requirement.  We started with the best bruschetta I have ever had and DAZ in the Kitchen had Baked Camembert Cheese for an entree and a robust Spanish Style Paella for the main.  I had the Beef Carpaccio for an entree and Garlic Prawns in pastry for the main.  We shared a most magnificent Golden Rough Lindt Chocolate Pudding for dessert.  Everything was cooked to perfection and served at just the right time and temperature.

But this is a wine blog, so let’s talk about the wine!  Let me start by say this: “This is the best-valued wine list I have seen seen that fits on one page!”  Paymasters Cafe wine list has been extremely well thought out and reflects the effort Executive Chef Rodney Scales puts into ensuring the dining experience is without peer.  Most wines were priced between $30 – $45 per bottle, with a few exceptional wines being just under $100 per bottle.  Having bought some of those wines direct from the wineries, I also know that the markup on the wines is very reasonable.  There are many easier ways to build a wine list, but you can discern the effort Rodney has put in to create such an outstanding wine list.  You can easily have a larger list to cover your basis, but that comes with a high capital and operating cost and lower turnover of inventory.  You can buy more iconic brand name wines but are paying more and then have to pass the cost onto the customer.  Rodney has worked hard to find a great variety of Australian wines from NSW, VIC, and SA plus some outstanding wines from New Zealand.

Rodney has worked to perfection a wine list that matches the food he prepares and the taste of the Australian customer.  He knows and can describe every wine on the list and every food dish it pairs with well.  And his food menu has a recommended wine for each dish if you do not want to try to decide which wine goes best with any dish.  And most wines can be bought by the glass.  I had to drive an hour home so did not want to commit to an entire bottle.  Yet, I had ample choice of excellent wines by the glass to match the food we were eating.  I have been to restaurants with 100’s of bottles of wine on the list that only offer less than ten wines by the glass.  Paymasters Cafe offered 33 out of the 52 wines on the wine list by the glass!

I noticed in July and again last night that Rodney is a chef who works the front room as well as any chef I have met.  He ensures each customer’s satisfaction and is there to watch over their experience.  This compares to many good chefs I know who cannot seem to leave the kitchen, either because they have not built a good team behind them or they believe it is more important to pay attention to the food (and be their own judge of if the food is OK) than how their customers are reacting to it.  I have had some great chef friends who will never make it big because they cannot escape the kitchen.  Rodney spends far more time in the front room than in the back and it shows in the dining experience.

And the best part came at the end when I went to pay for dinner.  The price of the meal was only 50% – 60% of what I expected to pay and have paid at other comparable restaurants.  Great food and great wine at a great price point!  Paymasters Cafe – without peer!

 

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
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Potpourri of Port wines review

I often get asked the question, “Do like like Shiraz,” or “Do you like Chardonnay,” or something similar.  Recently, I was asked if I like Port.  I do!  But what is Port?  True Port wine or Vinho do Porto comes from the Douro Valley in Portugal.  There are over 100 grape varietals sanctioned for making Port wine.  Additionally, many other countries make Port-styled wines.  With so many differences in the grapes, the regions grown and styles of Port, it is almost impossible to define what Port wine is.  It comes sweet, semi-sweet and dry.  It comes as single vintages (Vintage Port) or Tawney Port which is often multiple vintages aged for several years in wood and blended to provide some interesting characteristics.

2004 Dow Vintage Port croppedThe other evening my brother-in-law and his family were staying with us and we decided to drink some Port wine after dinner.  I started with my regular drinking Port which is currently the 2004 Dow Vintage Port.  I have one bottle of the 1977 Dow Vintage Port (for a special occasion and to drink with great pleasure over a short period of time in the not too distant future).  I also have two bottles of the 2007 Dow Vintage Port which is one of the highest rated vintages ever, but those two bottles will be lying in the cellar for another 20 years or so before I touch them.  The 2004 Dow Vintage Port is a very nice wine.  This wine matured early and is easily drinkable now.  It is fruity and has softened, especially when the bottle has been open for a while.  This wine is very inexpensive ($12 – $15 per bottle in the US and about $25 – $30 per bottle in Australia) and provides for a great-valued drink.  A truly wonderful drink for the money, but should be drunk over the next few years.

Penfolds Grandfather Port croppedWe then tried a bottle of Penfolds Grandfather Tawny Port.  This is a non-vintaged Port blended across eight years with the vintages all being 20 years old or so.  This wine was very, very smooth and had a completely different mouthfeel to the 2004 Dow Vintage Port.  The Penfolds Granfather Tawny Port had a luscious, smooth feeling with caramelized, nutty sugars.  The wine reminded me of the recent Christmas fruit cakes with brandy I had eaten – thick, juicy and sweet.  A completely different style of Port from the 2004 Dow Vintage Port.

Lindemans 1967 Vintage Port croppedWe then opened a bottle of the 1967 Lindemans Vintage Port.  This ismy last bottle and while not quite as good as the 1954 and the 1957 Lindemans Vintage Ports I have had, it is a magnificent wine.  I had some problems getting the cork out being soggy after 35 years in the bottle!  Even the Ah So corkscrew was not able to help and ultimately, I ended up with the cork in the bottle.  Yet, I was able to pour us a glass and we had just experienced our third very different Port that evening!  The 1967 Lindemans Vintage Port was very big with plummy fruit flavors, luscious to the feel on the tongue beautiful, but slightly medicinal smells.

Therefore, when asked if I like Port, the answer is a resounding YES!  I like the wide variety of Ports available from Vintage to Tawny, young and old, but particularly very old (30 years or more).  Ports take on so many different identities with various flavors and styles made from so many different varietals of grapes that it is impossible to classify Port as a single type of wine.  There are many different Ports, but any good Port is a great companion when sitting down in the evening and reading a good book.

 

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
© 2013.  Steve Shipley
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Grange makes great mouthfeel

Is Penfolds Grange worth the money?  I certainly asked that question back in 1997 when I bought my first Grange, the newly released 1992 vintage at $200 per bottle.  I was drinking some fine Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon and Hunter Valley Shiraz for less than one-tenth that price.  Of a total of 4,000 bottles in my cellar at peak, I never had more than eight bottles of Penfolds Grange.  I only have one bottle of 1981 Grange left.

The question ‘is Grange worth it?,’ certainly depends on who you are and why you are drinking it.  As I have become more comfortable with drinking quality instead of drinking brand – a concept I explore in Wine Sense – I find a lot of alternatives to Grange which are far better value.  Another concept I discuss in Wine Sense is the first two things I really picked up on many years ago when starting to drink better wines: I could identify (1) good balance and (2) good mouthfeel.  Mouthfeel is what happens when wine is in your mouth and felt (not tasted via your taste buds) by your palate.  It is often most noticeable as tannins affix themselves to the inside of your cheeks.  It is also felt through the weight of the wine (due to alcohol level and how the wine has been processed) and if the wine sits comfortably in your mouth or not.

It has been two-and-a-half years since I drank my last Grange until last week.  It was the 1971 vintage which is the best Grange I have tasted.  It was a special treat as the birth-year wine for my wife’s 40th birthday.  This wine is featured in 1001 Wines You Must Try Before You Die by Neil Beckett. The 1971 Grange had great fruit and spice flavors, perfect balance, nuances of oak, fig and dates manifested with each swirl around your mouth, and it had great, great mouthfeel.  Given the quality of the wine and event, this Grange was well worth it!

1993 Penfolds GrangeA week ago, we had another Grange, this time the 1993.  While it was consumed as part of a standard weekend luncheon among friends, it is a bottle I gave to my friends when they were married several years ago and they insisted on waiting to drink it together with us.  We found that opportunity last week, celebrating the birth of their new son and also reuniting with some mutual friends we had not seen for a dozen years.

The 1993 Grange is not considered one of best Grange, yet it is still an outstanding wine as every Grange is regardless of vintage.  Penfolds always sources the very best grapes they can find, maintaining as much control over the quality of the grapes as they can in any given year, and year-in, year-out, Grange is made with a style that is identifiable.  I was a little worried that the 1993 Grange may be at the end or beyond its best drinking life, but the cork was in perfect condition and the wine excellent.  We decanted it for several hours to be served with a Persian beef fillet for the main course.  We had a nice Italian Chianti on arrival followed by a 2009 Hugel Alsace Riesling to go with eggplant and tomatoes and then a 2009 McLeish Reserve Chardonnay to go with chicken.  Then out came the beef and the Grange!

The wine opened beautifully and came to life during two hours in the decanter.  I had been sniffing the Grange to make sure it still had robust flavors and was ready to drink.  It had strong plum and blackcurrant flavors and that opulent Grange style.  On taking my first mouthful, it was the unique mouthfeel a Penfolds Grange provides that really struck me;  full and expansive, yet not over-the-top.  The wine and my mouth fused in perfect harmony.  The wine did not need to be paired with beef as it was paired with my tongue and cheeks perfectly!  My upcoming book Wine Sense discusses how our senses are used to appreciate and enjoy wine.  We use all of our senses from our sight to smell and taste, but also feeling and even hearing wine.  Our perception of taste is cross-modal and one of the wonderful things about tasting wine is how our senses of smell, taste and feeling come together to provide such a sensually fulfilling experience.  With Grange, you can really feel the wine.  By reputation and weight, Grange possesses strength and firmness when holding a glass of it.  But it is in your mouth that Grange shows it worth.  It may seem strange to talk about ‘feeling’ a wine, but you do feel Grange while drinking it.  It demands being held longer in your mouth than other wines to enjoy the feeling it provides.  It also demands being swallowed in several small swallows with each mouthful to make your mouth and throat muscles work, enhancing the feeling further.  If there is a wine that is enjoyed by being felt, it is Grange.

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
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