Tasting

Question 1

Sight: deep ruby.
Nose: black fruits (berry, black cherry and cassis) with green olive, cedar, pencil lead, violet-floral, and green herbs. Wines from cooler vintages can display more red fruit character as well as more pronounced herbal notes, pyrazine and green pepper characters. Elements of clay, dried leaves, mushroom and turned earth can often be found. Leather and game are common in older wines. Oak aging adds smoke, toast, sweet baking spice notes.
Palate: medium-to-full bodied and bone dry to dry.
Structure: alcohol: medium-plus to high in warm vintages; acidity: medium-plus; tannin: medium- plus to high.
ID Keys: the combination of deep black fruits, green herbs, earth/forest floor, and bright acidity. Some wines can be bone dry with considerable herbal elements and pronounced earthiness.

Answer 1

Left Bank Bordeaux Blend

Question 2

Sight: deep ruby.
Nose: ripe even jammy black fruits (berry, cherry, cassis and currant) with green olive, cedar, chocolate and green herb notes. Cooler climate wines can display red fruit characteristics and more herbal notes. Oak aging adds smoke, toast, sweet baking spices and sawdust notes.
Palate: full bodied and dry.
Structure: alcohol: medium-plus to high; acidity: medium to medium-plus; tannin: medium-plus to high.
ID Keys: generally much riper and richer in style than Bordeaux without the prominent earth/mineral component.

Answer 2

New World: California Cabernet Sauvignon

Question 3

Sight: deep ruby.
Nose: blackberry, black cherry and black currant fruit with pronounced mint/eucalyptus and notes of green olive and herbs, also a ferrous, ironstone note. Oak adds vanilla, baking spices and toast. Palate: full bodied and dry.
Structure: alcohol: medium-plus to high; acidity: medium to medium-plus; tannin: medium-plus to high.
ID Keys: Coonawarra Cabernet is very distinctive with classic Cabernet black fruits but with a strong presence of mint and eucalyptus.

Answer 3

South Australia - Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon

Question 4

Sight: light to medium ruby.
Nose: red fruits—cherry, raspberry, strawberry–with tea, floral, herb, and earthy complexity. With age the wines take on gamy-vegetal-earthy complexities difficult to describe. Oak aging adds smoke, vanilla, sweet spice and wood notes to the wines.
Palate: medium to medium-plus bodied and dry to bone dry.
Structure: alcohol: medium to medium-plus; acidity: medium-plus; tannin: medium-minus to medium. Some winemakers use stems during fermentation giving the wines a green woody quality on the nose and palate as well as firmer tannins.
ID Keys: although deceptively light in colour the wines can be quite concentrated in flavor. Light- bodied, supple, and elegant with bright red fruits (not black fruits!), tea-spice, earthy complexities, and new oak.

Answer 4

Burgundy: Cote de Nuits