Framingham Marlborough Montepuliciano 2004

Deep ruby red colour with a lovely leather nose.  To taste I was expecting it to be velvety smooth, but my initial taste was a little sharp with medium acidity but it lost a bit of the sharpness as my palette got accustomed to it.

This is a big bold warm wine with smoky dark cherry flavours that is yelling out for food with the acidity (it worked really well with Schnitzel and an awesome Potato Salad; my wife is so clever).  It is a pleasure to drink with an air of complexity surrounding it that beckons for yet another taste.

Drinking well now and it would probably keep for a few more years, but I don’t feel it will get any better.

Park Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2004

A few years back we went to Park Estate vineyard in the Hawkes Bay and picked up a couple of wines and this was one of them.

This wine has a lovely dark red colour and light leather and copper aroma that is not particularly pleasant.  A potent wine to taste that has blackcurrant on the palatte, is a little bitter and I am not finding enjoyable.

I do note on the bottle that it does say "Enjoy Now" and with it now being 2010, maybe it was much better as an early drinking wine.  I suspect I maybe had had a few too many to drink when I originally ended up buying this one.

Peregrine Charcoal Creek Riesling 2008: Beware it's a late harvest style!

This wine has a light golden hue, and I picked up raisin and honey to the nose.

This is quite a thick and sweet style Riesling oozing with Stone fruit flavours, so much so I would go as far to say it is more akin to a Dessert Wine than a standard Riesling.  Having just written that I checked the bottle and on the back it actually says "Late Harvest"; why couldn't they put it on the front of the bottle!

The wine is nicely balanced, elegant, has a very long finish and is lovely to drink. Being a late harvest it was however a poor match for our meal this evening, or as Jane said, it was more of a miss than a match.