Venturing to the Unknown : PB Khao yai reserve shiraz 2004

Its always nice to have my family in the same roof (or to be exact, in the SAME COUTRY!) My brother has been going on business trips to interesting countries and as always, he's always nice enough to buy some local wines if its available there, such as Israel & Germany. So it really surprising to receive some wines from Thailand on his return from Bangkok!

Of the 2 bottles he brought, one of them is from the Khao Yai region where vines first grew in 1989 after years of research & planning (since Thailand is technically not in the traditional wine growing regions of the world), PB Khao Yai Reserve Shiraz 2004.

Aged in French Burgundy oak barrels, this wine was patiently aged for 24 months in oak and a further 3 months bottle aging before its 1st release..I must say that the wine makers are a very patient lot and definitely are not in a rush to give the world a very good impression of the wines.

Ok, now for a taste of my first glass of Thai wine.

APPEARANCE
A very deep inky ruby core with a slightly vibrant rim. Decent clarity & prominent purple tears.

NOSE

A very explosive nose, yet somewhat chaotic. I have lovely hints of fresh raspberry & old strawberries(strange for a shiraz), and vanilla scented dried potpourri.

PALATE

Slightly flabby in the first sip, but it does follow through with a nice mouth filling sweet prune juice. You do feel some decent (semi alive) tannins in the finish which run rather short.

CONCLUSION/EVOLUTION

You really can taste the cool climate of Northern Thailand in this wine, it has very good fruit characters but still lacks a lot in fruit maturity & tannin structure. After about 20mins of breathing, the fruit aromas of raspberries are getting more prominent while there's an underlying development of fresh prommegrades. Overall, a very interesting wine to appreciate either on its own or with cold meat appetizers.

A l'Ombre des Fontaine Rouge 2006

Sitting down on this warm Friday afternoon in my shop really gets to you..the laziness, boredom and basking in the heat of the afternoon...luckily for me, I'm completely surrounded by wines and i've given in to my temptation and decided to open a half bottle of a wine that I have not tasted for nearly 1 year since it's landing in my warehouse. Coming from my favorite region of the Rhone valley, this Cote du Rhone wine is a typical blend of Grenache (60%), Syrah (35%) and Mourvedre (5%), and emphasizes more on the freshness of the fruit characters more than expressing the terroir. From the looks of it, it'll be a easy wine to drink and appreciate.

APPEARANCE

A dark ruby core with cherry red transparent rims. Good clarity with surprisingly flowing tears. This should be a very expressive wine but might not have the alcohol backing for aging.

NOSE

Aged Strawberries and fresh figs are the primary impression i get from the nose. If i didn't know better, I could have sworn that I was smelling a Grenache Rose. After some airing, there's still not much other flavors coming out except for a fine backbone of blackberry jam. Overall its a lovely pleasing aroma

PALATE

Medium bodied wine with nice rounded tannins. Lovely balance with some spicy overtones. The finish is superb with fresh redberry skins.

CONCLUSION

A very pleasing uncomplicated and balanced wine. Perfect for a warm afternoon companion or a addition for pizza dinner.