Cuvee Phantom 2005

Variety: White cuvée of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot noir
Country of origin: Czech Republic
Wine appellation: New winery, Mikulov
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol content: 12%
Residual sugar: 34.9g/l
Acidity: 8.4g/l
Color: deep golden
Bouquet: stewed fruits, especially pears and peaches, honey
Taste: very intense and concentrated, very round, medium to full body, ripe pear, pineapple, honey, dried fruit
Recommended food pairing: foie gras, Roquefort
Overall score: 89

Morande Carmenere 2002

Variety: Carmenere
Country of origin: Chile
Wine appellation: Central Valley
Vintage: 2002
Alcohol content: 13%
Residual sugar: unknown
Acidity: unknown
Color: garnet with bricks hues and meniscus
Bouquet: canned cherries, wood tones, coffee tones, plum jam, leather
Taste: medium body, very balanced, cherries, strawberry marmalade, coffee tones, medium to long finish
Recommended food pairing: game, mushrooms, chocolate cake (in our case), Mexican dish Mole
Overall score: 84
Price: CZK180
Stopper: plastic cork
Very nice example of development of wine when aged. Primary fruit aromas are completely changed to tertiary tones given its aging in the bottle.
8th November 2009 Update: I openned another bottle of this wine and i checked my notes to compare, the description really fits. This is lovely fruity wine nicely round with aging and spicy tones.

Landskroon Cinsaut Shiraz 2005

Variety: Cinsaut Shiraz
Country of origin: South Africa
Wine appellation: Paarl Mountain
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol content: 13.5%
Residual sugar: unknown
Acidity: unknown
Color: middle ruby, slightly violet meniscus
Bouquet: blackberry, pepper tones, black cherry
Taste: medium body, preserved forrest fruit, spicy tones, quite smooth, balanced, medium to long finish, more to shiraz style
Recommended food pairing: beef stew
Overall score: 83
Excellent value for the money. We got it in the sale in Psary (Neubauer & son).

Chateau Valtice Chardonnay PS 2003

Variety: Chardonnay
Country of origin: Moravia - Czech Republic
Wine appelation: Mikulov
Vintage: 2003
Alcohol content: 12.7%
Residual sugar: unknown
Acidity: unknown
Color: Straw yellow
Bouquet: overipe tones, slight bottleness, canned goosberries,
Taste: medium to full body, canned pineapple, grapefruit, medium finish
Recommended food pairing: turkey, porkloin, cream pasta sauses
Overall score: 82

As usual Chateau Valtice didn't disappoint us with the whites that age really well.

Chateau Valtice Veltlínské Zelené 2003 pozdní sběr

Variety: Veltlinské Zelené
Country of origin: Moravia - Czech Republic
Wine appellation: Moravia, Mikulov sub-appellation, Brod nad Dyjí village, Dunajovský kopec vineyard
Vintage: 2003
Alcohol content: 11.7%
Residual sugar: unknown
Acidity: unknown
Color: Medium yellow
Bouquet: slight spiciness, green pepper, yellow mirabelle, zesty, very small hint of bottleness,
Taste: surprisingly fresh, zesty, nice acidity, lighter body, very drinkable, mirabelle, citrus tones in the back grapefruit
Recommended food pairing: schnitzel, carp, trout with touch of lemon
Overall score: 85

This wine really surprise me as 2003 was really hot year in Moravia and majority of the wines lost acidity and after 2 to 3 years of storing were ¨gonne". This one quite surprisingly has the freshness, nice acidity and is very nicely balanced.

Terredora Falanghina 2002 IGT

Variety: Falanghina
Country of origin: Italy
Wine appelation: Campania
Vintage: 2002
Alcohol content: 12.0%
Residual sugar: unknown
Acidity: unknown
Color: Golden
Bouquet:Very mineral, canned pineapple
Taste: Medium body, very nice minerality combined with slight acidity, very nice balanced and still fresh given its age
Recommended food pairing: Chicken, pasta, vegetable dishes
Overall score: 84

Vinarstvi Halm - Zweigeltrebe 2007

Variety: Zweigeltrebe
Country of origin: Moravia - Czech Republic
Wine appellation: Velke Pavlovice
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 12.5%
Residual sugar: unknown
Acidity: unknown
Color: light ruby with violet meniscus
Bouquet: freshly squeezed sour cherries, very fruity
Taste: Light body, very fruity. Slightly higher acidity. Medium finish.
Recommended food pairing: Grilled meat, any kind of barbecue stuff.
Overall score:78

final note: straight forward wine, ideal for parties. I bought this one in the Chinesse store in Vrsovice. Lenka complained about the fact we loaded the whole box on our baby's pram. I couldn't resist it as it is heavily underpriced there.

Albali Arium Crianza 2002 DO

Variety: Tempranillo
Country of origin: Spain
Wine appellation: Valdepeňas
Vintage: 2002
Alcohol content: 13%
Residual sugar: n/a
Acidity: n/a
Color: medium red with garnet meniscus
Buquet: canned sour cherry with notable oaky tones, hint of cinnamon
Taste: Light to medium body, slightly taste of canned fruit and even cofee and vanilla. Slightly higher acidity. Short to medium finish.
Recommended food pairing: Chorizzo, stews (rabbit etc.)
Overall score: 81
Price: CZK 160
Stopper: cork
Pretty ordinary Spanish red, nothing surprising but decent wine. Not worth the price.

Denis d' Argent Syrah 2002

Variety: Syrah
Country of origin: Argentina
Wine appellation: Mendoza
Vintage: 2002
Alcohol content: 13.3%
Residual sugar: 3.1 g/l
Acidity: 4.1g/l
Color: medium red with bricky tones
Bouquet: Forest fruit preserve, canned cherry, plums, mild peppery tones
Taste: Finally I can taste it as it smells really nice and I did not want to taste it before I made the notes about its buquet:) So, medium body, canned blackberries going towards marmalade tones, given its age quite nice fruitiness, very smooth, rounded, medium finish
Recommended food pairing: Spaghetti Bolognese, veal, heavier elaboration of pork dishes
Overall score:84
As we are getting towards fall my natural appettite moved from whites and roses towards reds. (This does not mean that there will be only reds tasted) so i looked at my cellar if there is something, which would sooth my palate :) and I found this bottle. I rememeber getting it with my friend about 5 years ago in wine festival in Troja chateau in Prague. We could not find suitable local red from the barrel, so we decided to buy this one. Later one I ordered a case and store it in my cellar to see how it ages.