Dear Wine Diary

Stellenbosch Hills wine display

2012-04-15T23:56:00.003+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

Stellenbosch Hills wine display

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted this wine before. I think you just click the comments word below

Biltong and wine pairing at Stellenbosch Hills

2012-04-15T23:50:00.003+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

This was a biltong and wine pairing done at Stellenbosch Hills that went surprisingly well. I enjoyed their vintage 2007 shiraz.

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted this wine before. I think you just click the comments word below

Tokara wine display

2012-04-15T23:35:00.001+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

This is one of the wine display cabinets in the wine tasting room of Tokara

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted this wine before. I think you just click the comments word below

Tokara clock

2012-04-15T13:33:00.001+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

The giant old school clock at Tokara.

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted this wine before. I think you just click the comments word below

Tokara fire place

2012-04-15T13:29:00.001+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

The fire place by the wine tasting at Tokara

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted this wine before. I think you just click the comments word below

Stainless steel wine tanks

2012-04-15T13:27:00.000+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

The stainless steel tanks at Tokara

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted this wine before. I think you just click the comments word below

Word tree

2012-04-15T13:24:00.001+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

The word tree at Tokara

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted this wine before. I think you just click the comments word below

Warwick wedding cup

2012-04-15T13:22:00.002+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

The Warwick wedding cup encapsulates the theme of the Warwick wine estate. The cup serves as the estates logo, decoration around the estate, and as part of an interactive feature in their tasting experience.

The story behind the cup is one of romance and smarts, but I will not tell you too much about the story, because that would be a "spoiler alert" for anyone who has not yet visited the estate. Lets just say, the lady on the cup represents a princess who falls in love with a man who is not a prince, and the prince must find a way to prove to the king why he would be worthy of the princesses heart.

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have participated in the wedding cup experience at Warwick before. I think you just click the comments word below

Warwick wine tasting

2012-04-15T13:13:00.001+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

Tasting wine on Warwick wine estate porch, what bliss.

Warwick wine estate is a wine estate where your time is best spent outside. The porch we sat on, and the lawns are situated around a beautiful dam, with views of the Stellenbosch mountains.

The wine tasting experience at Warwick is one that is fun to do with first-time wine tasters, because each wine that you taste comes with a story.

In one tasting experience at Warwick, you will learn a bit about the history of the farm, a bit about wine making, and the difference between bush vines and trellised vines, you get told a folklore as well as all you would like to know about each wine you are drinking.

It's a perfect combination of story telling and facts to spark anyone's interest in wine, so if you ever have a tourist in your midst, it's a good place to stop off.

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted wine at Warwick before. I think you just click the comments word below

Strictly goats sign

2012-04-15T13:07:00.001+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

The Fairview goats castle.

With goats being a big part in the cheese making process at Fairview they seem to have earned themselves the treatment of royalty. Fairview goats have their very own goats tower/castle where they can climb up to the top if feeling annoyed by the flashing cameras of tourists and look down upon us mere mortals.

Fairview goats are also given more freedom that other goats and are treated to strolls between the vineyards where they the goats will choose what grapes are used to produce wines like the goat father, or goats do roam.

What lucky goats they are.

Wine tasting counter

2012-04-15T13:02:00.001+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

This is the wine tasting counter at Fairview.

The wine tasting counters at Fairview are circular counters to be able to accommodate large groups of tasters.

With Fairviews popularity this is a very important factor, as Fairview has been known to become very busy, and it is important for them to be able to accommodate for this.

This however does also require for Fairview staff to be able to handle large groups, and be able to keep track of who has tasted what wine, and how many wines, not an easy task when the client is coming and going between wine counter and cheese station. This I suppose is something to be greatful for when thinking of the caliber of people working there, or something to be sad about if you were hoping to confuse them and sneak in another taste of something :)

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted wine here before. I think you just click the comments word below

Koi fish

2012-04-15T12:58:00.001+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

This is the koi fish in front of the Fairview wine tasting area.

I'm not sure if it's much of a tourist attraction, but it sure is something that keeps the kids entertained while you try to have as much wine and cheese as possible.

The koi pond is just one of the aspects adding to the beautiful surroundings of Fairview.

Please remember though, although they just look like over sized gold fish, koi are expensive and highly valued fish, so please don't really leave your kids (or rowdy friends) unattended by them, you could get into big trouble.

Cheese counter

2012-04-15T12:55:00.002+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

This is the cheese counter at Fairview.

If you have not yet been introduced properly to Fairview wine estate, part of the Paarl wine route in the Western Cape, let me introduce you!

Fairview is possibly one of the better know wine estates in the Western Cape, as it offers a wine AND cheese tasting and is often visited by tourists.

Fairview wines and cheeses are all very well marketed within South Africa and are exported internationally as well.

You cannot go into a South African grocery store without stumbling across one of Fairview's lovely cheeses! HOWEVER just because they are so easily available, DO NOT let that stop you from paying a visit to the farm.

Not all of the cheeses which you can taste at Fairview are available on the store shelves. If you were to only get Fairview cheese from the store, you could miss out on ever tasting their garlic and herb camembert and brie, or often their wonderful South African fusion of a chakalaka flavoured chevin is not easily found out in the vaster world, but is always readily available at the farm.

PLUS! what better way is there to enjoy cheese that with a glass of wine?

Fairview allows you to visit the cheese counter as frequently as you like on an affordable cheese and wine tasting experience up to a possible 6 visits to the counter, sampling all the cheeses with the 6 glasses of wine you choose to try.

This allows you plenty of opportunity to try and decide for yourself which cheeses match what wine in your opinion, but the Fairview staff are also willing to offer advice to cheese and wine pairings as well.

A word of advice - DO try to visit the cheese counter frequently, because often when a cheese plate becomes empty, it will be replaced with a completely new cheese, so frequent visits will give you the best opportunity to sample as many cheeses as possible.

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have gone to Fairview before and experienced the cheese and wine tasting. I think you just click the comments word below

Goats cheese with balsamic reduction

2012-04-15T12:51:00.001+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

Above is the goats cheese with balsamic reduction from Fairview.

The goats cheese more specifically is Fairview's chevin, which is both creamy and crumbly in texture. The taste is lovely and creamy, but with a slight hint of a sour cottage cheese flavour and a good balance of salt.

The sweet-sour balsamic reduction which is drizzled over the cheese offers a lovely contrast with the saltiness of the cheese creating a fantastic complex flavour allowing the cheese to be paired with a range of wines.

Wines that I could suggest are: A grassy sauvignon blanc, this wine is light drinking which would match the lightness of the cheese. The slight sourness in the cheese would also match with the acidity in the wine. A light and fruity pinotage, or even the light fruity sangiovese could also work if you are more a red wine drinker, to compliment with the sweetness of the balsamic reduction.

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted this before. I think you just click the comments word below

Birthday WineTasting / The Ultimate Test for Beetle Juice (Wine G)

2011-03-21T12:52:00.000+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

For my birthday I took advantage of inviting my friends and family round and tricking them into being judges for my blog. This time however I made it a blind tasting and snuck in the wine I made earlier this year (Beetle Juice , named by Jenny who was one of the many helpers I had) as one of the wines. I tried to put my wine closer to the end of the tasting so people would give it a higher score. In total there were 10 wines and I'm going to put them up as separate posts.

Beetle Juice (Grade C - I'll explain the grades in a following post)

Guest Judge K
Colour 2/3
Smell 4/7
Taste 6/10
Overall 12/20 Not Bad :)

Guest Judge Rochelle
Colour 3/3
Smell 5/7
Taste 7/10
Overall 15/20 Grape fresh (I am a little puzzled by the comment, perhaps she could smell fresh grapes in the wine)

Guest Judge Kade
Colour 3/3
Smell 4/7
Taste 6/10
Overall 13/20

Guest Judge Neil
Colour 3/3
Taste 3/7
Taste 5/10
Overall 11/20 Mmmm spider

Guest Judge J
Colour 0.5/3
Smell 2/7
Taste 3/10
Overall 5.5/20

Guest Judge M
Colour 1/3
Smell 3/7
Taste 5/10
Overall 9/20

Guest Judge I
Colour 1/3
Smell 3/7
Taste 1/10
Overall 4/20 Milky raisen - clean engines

Guest Judge J2
Colour 3/3
Smell 6/7
Taste 6/10
Overall 15/20

Guest Judge O
Colour 2/3
Smell 3/7
Taste 5/10
Overall 10/10

My opinion
Colour 10/10 No other red wine has ever achieved this colour
Smell 10/10 Beautiful berries, feels like your smelling raw nature
Taste 10/10 It tastes as if an angel has peed on my tongue
Overall 11/10 I can't wait to try grade A and B

My ratings for this wine may be a little high, but honestly this wine tastes unique which scared me a bit in the beginning because when its your first wine you just want it to taste like other red wines. One thing I noticed was that all the wine tasters that prefer white wine gave the wine higher scores than those who prefer red wine, perhaps the wine is a little light. In conclusion I am proud of what this wine has achieved in just over a month and I am sure it can only get better

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted this wine before. I think you just click the comments word below

Haute Cabriere Chardonnay-Pinot Noir 2010

2011-03-21T09:51:00.000+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

Guest Judge Ohna
Colour 3/3
Smell 4/7
Taste 7/10
Overall 15/20 I can drink it

Guest Judge Gaylin
Colour 7/10
Smell 7/10
Taste 7/10
Overall 7/10

Guest Judge Ian
Colour 3/3
Smell 5/7 Fruity
Taste 7/10
Overall 15/20

My Opinion
Colour 7/10 Medium yellow
Smell 5/10 Pinot Noir takes some of the chardonnay smell away
Taste 7/10
Overall 6/10

Second time rating this bottle

Guest Judge Gaylin
Colour 7/10 Its nice, its dark
Smell 7/10 fruity nose
Taste 7/10
Overall 7/10 its good

My Opinion
Colour 7/10 Nice Golden Colour
Smell 6/10 Fruity, sweet
Taste 7/10 Crisp
Overall 7/10 I guess I am not as consistent as Gaylin with her ratings

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted this wine before. I think you just click the comments word below

Vergelegen 2009 Chardonnay

2011-03-21T09:41:00.000+02:00

/Dear Wine Diary

Guest Judge Ohna
Colour 3/3
Smell 4/7
Taste 7/10
Overall 14/20

Guest Judge Gaylin
Colour 8/10
Smell 6/10 hint of Chardonnay
Taste 7/10 Mmmmm butter
Overall 7/10

Guest Judge Tinie (He also has a blog and its about rugby http://punditprof-sport.blogspot.com/)
Colour 5/10 To yellow for me
Smell 7/10 Smells like Listerine, but that could be because he just washed out his mouth with it.
Taste 6/10 Better than red wine (He hates red wine, I feel sorry for him)
Overall 6/10

Guest Judge Ian
Colour 3/3
Smell 4/7 No Nose, faint smell
Taste 8/10 Buttery, slight oak
Overall 15/20 He claims that this is what a chardonnay should taste like

My Opinion
Colour 6/10 very light colour
Smell 3/10 No Nose
Taste 7/10 Interesting change in flavours from initial to second taste, slightly bitter
Overall 6/10

Second Time Rating this bottle

Guest Judge Gaylin
Colour 6/10
Smell 3/10 Wet dog rolling in apricots
Taste 7/10 Taste however is very nice
Overall 6/10

Guest Judge Ian
Colour 3/3
Smell 4/7 Not what he expected, fruity with raisin smell
Taste 7/10 Taste like an unwooded chardonnay, a bit of an aftertaste so there is some tannins
Overall 14/20

My Opinion
Colour 5/10 Diluted gold colour
Smell 5/10 burnt fruit smell
Taste 7/10 very interseting aftertaste
Overall 6/10

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted this wine before. I think you just click the comments word below

Ntida Chardonny 2010

2011-03-21T09:24:00.000+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

It seems more of my judges like to do the professional ratings that are out of 3 for colour, out of 7 for smell, out of 10 for taste and out of 20 for overall, so I am going put in the judges scores each according to there own rating scale.

Guest Judge Ohna
Colour 3/3
Smell 4/7
Taste 6/10
Overall 13/20

Guest Judge Gaylin
Colour 7/10
Smell 7/10 fruity, makes her want to sneeze so she concludes its floral
Taste 6/10 first taste hits her on the jaw, its pungent and she thought it would have been lighter.
Overall 6.5/10 Not her favourite

Guest Judge Ian
Colour 3/3
Smell 5/7 fruity nose, almost chenin blanc, fresh, light
Taste 7/10 Ideal summer lunch time wine
Overall 15/20

My Opinion
Colour 6/10 very light colour, needs more colour extraction
Smell 8/10 Smells sweet, fruity, very light chardonnay smell
Taste 6/10 Sweet, slightly bitter, citrus
Overall 7/10

Please feel free to leave any comments you have on the post and especially if you have tasted this wine before. I think you just click the comments word below

Meerendal Pinotage 2006

2011-03-15T13:33:00.000+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

Just a warning, we were busy dishing up one of Gaylin's famous soups (Seasons Eat-ins ) which filled the house with yummy flavours and probably preventing us from smelling the wine properly. The wine was also poured through a Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator before tasting.

Guest Judge Ohna
Colour 3/3
Smell 3/7
Taste 6/10
Overall 12/20

Guest Judge Ian

Colour 3/3

Smell 3/7 No nose, nothing alive

Taste 7/10 Soft, smooth, some tannins at the back of your mouth

Overall 13/20

Guest Judge Gaylin (Seasons Eat-ins )

Colour 3/3

Smell 2/7 Cant Smell anything

Taste 8/10 Slight sweetness

Overall 13/20

Guest Judge Betina

Colour 3/3 Colour of my nails, therefore full marks

Smell 4/7 Smells like a diluted red wine

Taste 7/10 A lot of sweetness to it, its yummy

Overall 17/20

My opinion

Colour 9/10

Smell 7/10 Flavourfull, berries but cant put my finger on the dominating smell

Taste 8/10 Very smooth, nice lingering flavour

Overall 8/10 Awesome wine. Next time I must remember to let Gaylins cookings smells dissipate before drinking a good wine.

The wine kit test

2011-03-14T11:40:00.000+02:00

The previous blog to this topic http://dearwinediary.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-begining.html

Dear Wine Diary

After finishing the wine course, they told Gaylin and myself that we could by a wine kit so long while we waited to the following years grape harvest. We were ecstatic...for a while, then realized we should have payed more attention to the wine making part than the wine tasting part, oops. Anyway we still believed we could make wine, so we then needed space to make the wine as well as the mess, so we wanted to go around asking people we know if they'll make space for our wine. The first person we went to was my dad and luckily he was very excited.

The wine kit was ordered (picture to the left). It was a lot less.....technical than I was expecting. It contained the following:
Bailing meter - Looks like a thermometer with a fat bottom, you drop it in a solution and based on how deep it goes you read the sugar concentration in degrees B (25 = 250 g/l sugar)
25ml pipette - we used it to sample the wine
Pipe - to "rack" the wine. Siphon the wine from one container to the next without aerating it too much. Gaylin enjoys doing this cause she gets to taste the wine first then. Warning, it can get messy
Yeast - These are my slave workers which make alcohol for me
Malolactic bacteria - they reduce acidity and change the flavour of the wine
Funnel - helps transfer wine
20kg of 6 months old frozen Merlot must (grapes that have been taken off the stem and crushed) - picture to the left
Food grade plastic bottles - looks like orange juice bottles to me
Bungs - Sounds like it should be an aboriginal musical instrument but its actually used to seal the orange juice bottle, preventing air from getting in. Wine makers use them to seal oak barrels
Fermentation trap - fits into the bung and prevents the bottles from exploding by letting gas out through the bung but still preventing air from getting in
Sulfur dioxide - Once your wine is finished you use this to prevent anything from still growing in your bottle, cause if something did, your bottle would explode (gas released). Many people believe this is what gives you a headache and not alcohol.
Oak chips - Since oak barrels are expensive, oak chips are a good alternative to achieving the same flavour
Corks and bottles - They don't give you enough to bottle all the wine so I think they're there to give you motivation, to remind you why your doing all this.

So, we have a place to make a wine/mess, we've done a course on how to make wine, we have all the ingredients and tools to make wine and its friday so we have the whole weekend to do this. WOOOHOOOO lets get started!!! We took everything out of the car and I started thinking about how to start getting the yeast ready. Gaylin and my dad looked at me like I was crazy and showed me the 20kg of frozen liquid. I though we'll just let it stand in the sun for a bit and it will melt. I was wrong, it took the whole weekend to defrost and reach room temperature. What an anticlimactic start. So Sunday evening we collected +- 20 ml of grape juice from the must, added 80ml of lukewarm water to dilute the sugar concentration and added the yeast to this solution. Grape juice has a very high sugar concentration which can kill the yeast if you don't adapt the yeast slowly to increasing amounts. The solution should also not be extremely hot or cold as this will slow the growth of the yeast. I added the grape juice slowly to the yeast once a saw foam forming (I assume this means the yeast is growing) till the solution was about 500ml and then I added this to the must. We then left the must and yeast solution in the container as you can see in the picture above with a black bag covering it in a dark cool spot (the kitchen). Then Gaylin and myself left my poor dad with the instructions to press the skins down twice a day and take a bailing reading once a day. I would just like to say sorry dad I really appreciate all that help. Once a day my dad phoned me to tell me about the grape must turning into wine. On the Sunday when we started the bailing reading was 25, monday it was 24, Tuesday it was 21, Wednesday it was 16, Thursday it was 9, Friday it was 7 and then it decreased in approximate decrements of 1 per day till 0 the on the following Friday.

Ok my glass is empty, this is the end for tonight. Next time we taste alcohol!!

Raka Barrel Select Merlot 2007

2011-03-14T10:28:00.000+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

Guest Judge Gaylin ( Seasons Eat-ins)
Colour 6/10
Smell 6/10
Taste 7/10
Overall 7/10

Guest Judge Ian
Colour 3/3 Deep red (pretending to be like Guest Judge Kade http://dearwinediary.blogspot.com/2011/03/springfield-estate-whale-berry-cabernet.html)
Smell 5.5/7 pizza olive, tannins are subtle, no overwhelming fruit, berries
taste 8/10 lingering tannins at the back of your mouth
Overall 8/10

My Opinion
Colour 9/10 Good Colour Extraction
Smell 7/10
Taste 7/10
Overall 7/10

Springfield Estate Whale Berry Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

2011-03-14T10:21:00.000+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

This wine was aerated before tasting using a Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator. Wine was served at room temperature.

Gust Judge Ohna
Colour 8/10 Good Colour
Smell 7/10 Berries
Taste 7/10 Mmmmm, no tannins, smooth and full bodied
Overall 7/10 Good wine, could maybe be served a littler colder

Guest Judge Ian (Acted very professional about being a judge)
Colour 7/10 Golden tinge or brownish/yellowish tinge (Ohna said thats the sunlight your seeing, lol)
Smell 6/10 Berries, raisens
Taste 6/10 Smooth, little over its time, nice taste but except it doesn't leave any taste in your mouth after that. Also said it should be chilled a little

Guest Judge Kade (Studied at the Cape Wine Academy)
Colour 3/3 apparently it shouldn't be out of 10, professionals rate out of 3
Smell 4/7 Once again it shouldn't out of 10, its suppose to be out of 7, additional comments were: little young, good taste, can taste its a Merlot (No its a Cab Sav, I'm starting to think he's making this all up and making a mokkery of my blog)
Overall 6.5/10 I'll drink it. In 2-3 months the score will could go up by 1.

Guest Judge Gaylin ( Seasons Eat-ins)
Colour 5/10
Smell 6/10
Taste 6/10
Overall 6/10

My opinion
Colour 9/10 Good colour extraction
Smell 6/10 Berries, coffee but not very strong
Taste 7/10 Coffee, chocolate or no cocoa, its got the bitterness of cocoa, lots of flavour
Overall 7/10 very nice, I feel privileged to drink it.

Raka Sangiovese 2008

2011-03-10T12:38:00.000+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

This wine was provided by Gaylin and she was was very excited to share it. The cultivar is Italian and its the first time I've seen it. The wine was poured through a Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator before tasting.

Guest Judge keyna.b

Colour 6/10 Deep Red
Smell 7/10 Plum, biltong (easy was to say meaty and spicy)
Taste 3/10 she's not sure if this wine is ok, it made her cheek glands shut down on her
Overall 5/10 because she's desparate for wine as she had a long day

Guest Judge Gaylin (Seasons Eat-ins)

Colour 3/10 Browny red (going vinegary)
Smell 4/10 Metallic, smoky, coins (5 cent pieces)
Taste 3/10 Slight sweetness on the pallet, dissappointed
Overall 5/10 She'll drink it anyway but it doesn't taste as she remembers and suspects its corked

Guest Judge Dave
Colour 6/10 Old beet root
Smell 6/10 Cigarette buds
Taste 4/10 On first taste he responded with holy XXXX. Then described that it tasted like cork and that it leaves the taste of lime water on the front of the tongue. He also said it left a neutral taste on the tip of his tongue just before swallowing
Overall 5/10 yug

Guest Judge Kim
Colour 8/10 red, pretty colour
Smell 5/10 wooded, doesn't make her want to drink it and also reminds her of the smell of medication (tablets)
Taste 5/10 acidic, doesn't tasted as wooded as it smelled.
Overall 5/10

My opinion
Colour 8/10 very dark red
Smell 6/10 ?
Taste 3/10 metallic. acidic, bitter
Overall 4/10 taste is everything and this just don't taste right

Van Loveren Family Cellar Cramond Sauvignon Blanc - Chardonnay 2010

2011-03-09T20:02:00.000+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

I didn't aerate this one as I've tried the Vinturi Essential White Wine Aerator and I find that it makes little or no difference, so I wouldn't recommend getting one.

Guest Judge keyna.b (Celebrity)
Colour 7/10 Golden fields of wheat
Smell 8.5/10 Crisp and clean
Taste 5/10 grass
Overall 6/10 not as easy drinking as she usually prefers

Guest Judge Gaylin (Seasons Eat-ins )
Colour 3/10 very light, straw, pale
Smell 4/10 floral, gooseberry possibly, hint of guava
Taste 4/10?
Overall 4/10 more sauvignon than chardonnay, drinkable, she wouldn't order it (Keep in mind she prefers chenin blanc for a white wine)

Guest Judge Tessa
Colour 6/10 quite pale, pale yellow
Smell 5/10 perfume
Taste 7/10 quite pleasant, feeling of warmth afterwards
Overall 7.5/10 She would have it again

Guest Judge Lucas
Colour 6/10 looks like the third run on 9th beer night, well washed (based rating on the clearer the better)
Smell 5/10 Guava
Taste 4/10 Unripe/green banana
Overall 5/10 I'll rather go back to the 9 beers

My opinion
Colour 3/10 looks watered down
Smell 8/10 Sauvignon dominates the chardonnay, fruity
Taste 6/10 little acidic initially but goes away but lots of flavour
Overall 6/10 I like the wine and would buy it again and clearly I wont have to share much judging by my guests ratings. Also I love Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay so my ratings are a liitle higher than they should be.

Groenland Shiraz 2005

2011-03-09T16:03:00.000+02:00

Dear Wine Diary

When I opened the bottle I poured everybody (all the judges) a glass through a Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator so this could have changed the flavours of the wine in case our description doesn't match what you taste

Guest Judge Michele
Colour 7/10
Smell 8/10
Taste 8/10
Overall 8/10 This is the only red wine she likes since she doesn't like red wine. She also said it would go well with chocolate although I think she was hinting to just have chocolate because her glass was finished.

Guest Judge Gaylin (Follow her blog at Seasons Eat-ins )
Colour 7/10 dark red

Smell 7/10 Spice, cigar box, fruit

Taste 8/10 Stewed fruit

Overall 7/10 Very good wine, well aged

Guest Judge Lucas (He doesn't like the fact I asked him to give ratings out of 10 without giving him something to judge against)
Colour 7.5/10 (very specific for a rating?)
Smell 8/10 It smells more of vegetables than fruit (making a comment at Gaylins smell description)
Taste 8/10 Said he likes the taste, its "Lekker"
Overall 8/10 not as good as a brandy and coke

Guest Judge Dave
Colour 8/10 Awesome
Smell 5/10 Like a freshly washed bathroom after Liverpool beat Manchester and he smells green pepper.
Taste 6/10 After rinsing his mouth in the wine like someone using mouth wash but swallowing instead of spitting out the wine he said he tasted green pepper
Overall 7/10 "Mehhh" and "Its a hair raiser". He enjoyed the second glass a lot more.

My Opinion
Colour 9/10 Very dark, good colour extraction
Smell 6/10 ?
Taste 7/10 easy drinking
Overall 7/10 Good quality wine