USA & South America WSET Lvl 3 Part 2 Week 5

Since in WSET class we usually pour Blind and I like to mark down on the side note to guess variety, good for practice ya know, so there is always one wine that throws ya for a loop, last week during the NZ/AUS/RSA it was the darn Yellow Tail Merlot, which I thought was a Syrah first of all.  This week it was a Russian River Zinfandel, and those subtle hints of Mint, which you know you could associate with Cab Sauv, and the ripe fruit with Cali.  So 5 for 6 ain't all bad.

Must say the Torrontes from Michel Torino was pretty darn tasting good body and "muscat" characters and for what 13.99? its fantastic QPR.

The Caramenere Blend, which is more Cab Sauv then Caramenere, but I can pick up that Caramenere like bam unless its just Chilean Terrior for Bordeaux reds, but its good Brambly and Leafy can't go wrong

Now Pinot Noir from Oregon, visited some Oregon wine peeps [@benkearney @hogan777 @pfortier2  ] and they were talking about 2007 being a good vintage that would be hard to make a bad wine.  This wine is pretty darn tasty. I dont think you could go wrong, I do have a 07 Riesling from Willamette I'm going to open monday so we shall see~


WSET LEVEL 3 PART 2 WEEK 5 USA & SOUTH AMERICA - Downtown Vancouver [AI School] (8/3/2010)

• 2009 Viña Santa Rita Sauvignon Blanc Reserva - Chile, Aconcagua, Casablanca Valley
  Clear, Pale Lemon Green Going to a Water Rim
  A: Clean, Pronounced Nose, Youthful
  Herbaceous/Green Pepper/Aspargus/Peas, Citrus
  T: Dry, Med+ Acid, Med- Body, no tannin, Med Alc, Pronounced Intensity, Med+ Finish
  
  Conc: Inexpensive, Good Quality, Drink Now! NZ Styled lots of green (86 pts.)
• 2009 Michel Torino Torrontés Cuma - Argentina, Salta, Cafayate
  Clear, Med Yellow, Showing Significant Legs
  A: Clean, Pronounced Intensity, Youthful
  Floral, A Honey/Syrup floralness, Popuri, Very Muscat Like, Tropical hints of Banana, Mango
  T: Dry, Med+ Acid, Med Body, No Tannin, Med+ Alc, Med+ Intensity, Med+ Finish
  Muscat like FloralGrapey, Peach, Tropical Fruit
  
  Conc: Very Good, Inexpensive, Showing well balance between acid/fruit/body excellent (88 pts.)

• 2007 Bodega Catena Zapata Malbec - Argentina, Mendoza
  Clear, Opaque Core moving to a med ruby Rim, showing legs legs legs~
  A: Clean, Med Intensity, I say Showing Signs of Developing Teacher says Youthful nose
  Lil Meat, Lil Clean, Lil Savoury, Toast[Like it], Red Fruit, mineral, Stewed fruit
  T: Dry, Med Acid, Med Tannin, Med+ Body to Full, Med+ Alc, Med+ Intensity, Long Finish
  Dark fruit Juicy, Cherry Skin, Raisony
  
  Conc: Mid Price, Good, Very fruit forward but A better showing of Malbec for me [not usually a fan] (87 pts.)
• 2008 Baron Philippe de Rothschild Escudo Rojo - Chile, Central Valley, Maipo Valley
  Clear, Deep Ruby, Showing Sig Legs
  A: Clean, Med+ Intensity,
  Herbaceous[Tomato Stalk] Earth Soil, some fruit
  T: Dry, Med+ Acid, Med+ Tannin, Med Body, Med Intensity, Long Finish, Med+ Alc
  Ripe Juicy Cherry/Black, Herbaceous/more tom stalk, spice[Black Pepper]
  
  Conc: Very good, balance of body and acid, could use I think some more bottle age (89 pts.)
• 2007 Andrew Rich Pinot Noir Cuvée B - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
  Clear, Med- Ruby just starting to show signs of Garnet
  A: Clean, Med+ Intensity, developing
  Cherry, Sassparella, Some stems, dried strawberries, cigar smoke, 'haunting'
  T: Dry, Med+ Acid, Low Tannin, Med+ Body, Med+ Alc, Med Intensity, Med to med+ finish
  Chalky Mineral, Beautiful Cherry/Dried Strawberry, Sassparella Spice, Something else...Elegant
  
  Conc: Outstanding, Premium, Ready to drink but can develop a little more
  So Delicious I had to pretend to spit in WSET Class (92 pts.)
• 2006 Ravenswood Zinfandel Belloni - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
  Clear, Deep Ruby going to a med ruby wide rim
  A: Clean, Med+ Intensity, Developing
  Savoury, Cassis, REd Fruit ,Black Raspberry
  
  T: Dry, Med+ Acid, Med+ Tannin, Med+ Body, high alc, med+ Intensity, Long Finish
  Ripe Herbs/ Minty, Cassis, Woodsy, Black Raspberry
  
  Conc: Very Good, I tihnk it could use some time to develop but very 'delicious' opens nicely with a little air (89 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker


THE 100-POINT RATING SCALE (Robert Parker of the Wine Advocate describes this in more detail.)
• Extraordinary (96-100 points)
• Outstanding (90-95)
• Very Good to Excellent (85-89)
• Good (80-84)
• Average (75-79)
• Below average (70-74)
• Avoid (50-70)