Casa Silva Carmenere Gran Reserva Los Lingues 2007

Variety: 100%  Carmenere
Country of origin: Chile
Wine appellation: ColchaguaValley
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 14.0%
Residual sugar: g/l
Acidity: g/l
Color: black with violet hues
Bouquet: expressive, black chocolate, mulberries
Taste: medium to full body, powerful taste with dominance of forest fruits, mainly blackberries, blueberries, underpinned by ripe black cherries and mulberries, black chocolate, coffee, medium to long finish
Recommended food pairing: Wellington beef
Overall score: 87
Price CZK 329
Stopper: cork
Vinification
Hand selection prior and post-destemming. Pre-fermentative maceration for 8 days at 6ºC. Alcoholic fermentation for 16 days at 27ºC to 28ºC. Post ferment maceration for 10 days. Run off and then malolactic fermentation in French oak barrels.
Ageing
80% aged in French oak barrels for 10 months; 20% in stainless steel tanks.
Very nice example of Carmenere. Extreme fruit accompanied by black chocolate and coffee tones. Very juicy and full new world style of wine.

Casa Silva Carmenere Reserva 2007

Variety: 100% Carmenere
Country of origin: Chile
Wine appellation: Colchagua Valley
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 13.5%
Residual sugar: g/l
Acidity: g/l
Color: deep violet
Bouquet: expressive, black ripe cherries, blackberries, mulberries, black chocolate
Taste: medium body, overripe sour cherries, black cherries, blueberries, plums, green pepper, black chocolate, slight juicy acidity, medium finish
Recommended food pairing: steak
Overall score: 85
Price CZK 239
Stopper: cork
Vinification
Hand sorting of the grapes before destemming. Prefermentive maceration for 8 days at 6ºC. Alcoholic
fermentation in stainless steel tanks for 23 days at 26ºC to 28°C. Post ferment maceration for 15 days. Run off and malolactic fermentation.
Ageing
40% aged in French oak barrels for 6 months; 60% in stainless steel tanks.
Solid example of Carmenere.

Casa Silva Carmenere Coleccion 2007

Variety: 100%  Carmenere
Country of origin: Chile
Wine appellation: ColchaguaValley
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 13.5%
Residual sugar: g/l
Acidity: g/l
Color: deep ruby red
Bouquet: expressive sour cherries, chocolate, hint of coffee
Taste: medium body, sour cherries, cherries, black pepper, slightly harsher tannins, black chocolate, medium finish
Recommended food pairing: BBQ
Overall score: 81  
Price CZK 199
Stopper: cork

Nice style of Carmenere with predominant juicy cherries tasted followed by black chocolate. Ii feels still young in the taste so 2 years o aging would help it to settle down.

Casa Silva Cabernet Sauvignon/Carmenere Family 2007

Variety: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30%  Carmenere
Country of origin: Chile
Wine appellation: ColchaguaValley
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 14.0%
Residual sugar: g/l
Acidity: g/l
Color: ruby red with violet meniscus
Bouquet: very fruity, cherries, sour cherries, black currant, pepper
Taste: medium body, very fruit driven taste with dominance of cherries and black currant, it has slight bitterness and seems a bit harsh, short finish
Recommended food pairing: BBQ
Overall score: 77
Price CZK 169
Stopper: cork

This was fruit driven type of wine with slightly harsher tannins.

Casa Silva Quinta Generacion White 2007

Variety:   34% Sauvignon Gris, 34% Viognier, 32% Chardonnay
Country of origin: Chile
Wine appellation: ColchaguaValley
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 14.0%
Residual sugar: g/l
Acidity: g/l
Color: pale yellow
Bouquet: peach, pineapple, vanilla, acacia flower
Taste: medium to full body wine, slightly harder taste with dominant gooseberry and peach fruit flavor followed by nice citrus tones giving it backbone acidity, this all is underpinned quite interestingly by hint of nettles tones, at the end there is nice hazelnut, medium to long finish
Recommended food pairing: fish
Overall score: 86
Price CZK 462
Stopper: cork
Vinification:
Hand sorted before and after destemming. Fermentation in stainless steel for 15-20 days. Lees contact in tank. 1/2 the blend undergoes malolactic in French barrels. Viognier aged 6 months and Chard 7 months in same. Sauvignon Gris in steel tank. Annual production 3,000 cases.
Very interesting blend. I personally was quite perplexed and liked it. I has nice combination of Sauvignon tones with fruitiness of Viognier and body of Chardonnay.

Casa Silva Viognier Lolol 2007

Variety: 100 %Viognier
Country of origin: Chile
Wine appellation: ColchaguaValley
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 14.5%
Residual sugar: g/l
Acidity: g/l
Color: pale yellow
Bouquet: white flowers, orange, tangerine, apricot
Taste: medium to full body wine with oranges and apricot fruit flavor followed by nice vanilla and nice lively acidity, medium to long finish
Recommended food pairing: Asian dishes
Overall score: 85
Price CZK329
Stopper: cork
Vinification
Grapes were hand sorted before de-stemming. Reductive method transportation to the press. Maceration in the press at 6ºC to 8ºC for 4 hours. Must separation and alcoholic fermentation done in stainless steel tanks for 20 to 24 days at 15ºC to 18ºC. 55% of the wine underwent malolactic fermentation in French oak barrels.
Ageing
55% aged in French oak barrels for 6 months; 45% in stainless steel tanks.
Quite nice example of Viognier, It has the things it needs to and it is definitely food type of wine, quite complex, fleshy mid palate fruity taste nicely balanced with vanilla tones. Surprisingly the alcohol was not standing out in the taste given the volume.

Casa Silva Chardonnay Coleccion 2007

Variety: 100 % Chardonnay
Country of origin: Chile
Wine appellation: ColchaguaValley
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 12.5%
Residual sugar: g/l
Acidity: g/l
Color: pale yellow
Bouquet: pineapple, tropical fruits, vanilla, butter,
Taste: medium body, pineapple, orange, cream, hazelnut, very slight vanilla tones, medium finish
Recommended food pairing: chicken with cream pasta sauce
Overall score: 82
Price CZK 199
Stopper: cork

Vinification
Grapes were hand sorted before de-stemming. Crushed and run off after 8 hours at 10°C. Alcoholic fermentation was done in stainless steel tanks for 15 to 20 days at 15ºC to 18°C. 15% of the wine underwent malolactic fermentation in French oak barrels.
Ageing
15% aged in French oak barrels for 4 months; 85% in stainless steel tanks.
This was much nicer than the Chardonnay/Semillon blend. Quite round type of Chardonnay with creamy tones accompanied by very decent oakiness.

Casa Silva Chardonnay/Semillon Family 2009

Variety: 85 % Chardonnay, 15 % Semillon
Country of origin: Chile
Wine appellation: ColchaguaValley
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol content: 13.5%
Residual sugar: g/l
Acidity: g/l
Color: very pale yellow, slight sparkling
Bouquet: citrus tones, slight yeasty tones (most likely from unfinished fermentation or too early drinking after bottling)
Taste: medium body, lime, pineapple, slight sparkling feel on the tongue, alcohol slightly standing out, light oak flavor, short to medium finish
Recommended food pairing: summer party (I would chill it to 7 to 8°C so the alcohol and the sparkling is managed:))
Overall score: 77
Price CZK169
Stopper: cork

Regular Chardonnay from new world with light sparkling in it, which turned the wine down.

Vina Albali Reserva 2000

We have opened the same bottle as we tasted in December here. To be fair the same characteristics apply also 2 months later. I have just added to original post the price and stopper characteristics.

Bosco del Merlo Soandre IGT 2007

Variety: 100% Verduzzo friulano
Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Veneto
Vintage: 2007  
Alcohol content: 12.0%
Color: golden towards ocre
Bouquet: slight oxidative tones, oranges, almonds
Taste: medium body, round, sweetness combined with bitterness of almonds
Recommended food pairing: blue cheese
Overall score: 78
Price: CZK 400 (750 ml)
Stopper: cork
Vinification process
The harvest starts late, when the grapes are over ripe. A part of them is immediately vinified, the other part wilts till December; both the musts ferment in 225 litres barrels where the wine ages for 10 months.
Somehow this wine  feels like cross between late harvests wines and Vin Santo from Tuscany with neither of them showing dominance and rather contradicting each other.

Feudo Arancio Syrah Sicilia IGT 2007

Variety: 100% Syrah
Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Sicily
Vintage: 2007  
Alcohol content: 13.5%
Color: deep ruby red
Bouquet: sour cherries, quite fruity, spiciness, hint of chocolate
Taste: medium body, sour cherries, cherries, blackberries, slighter acidity, bitterness at the end of the taste, medium finish
Recommended food pairing: grilled red meat
Overall score: 81
Price: CZK 270
Stopper: cork
Vinification: Harvested when perfectly ripe. Alcoholic fermentation on the skins for 10 days at 77-79˚F, frequent pump-over, malolactic fermentation in tanks, refined for 10 months in French-oak-barriques (20% new barrique) to balance the fruit and wood notes.
Main characteistics of the wine is the fruitiness combined with some acidity, which  I would not expect in the wine from this hot island like Sicily is. To be fair I was quite disappointed with the performance of this Syrah. I expected something more for the price. 

Las Moras Shiraz 2008

Variety: 100% Shiraz
Country of origin: Argentina
Wine appellation: San Juan, Valle del Tulum
Vintage: 2008javascript:void(0)
Alcohol content: 13.5%
Residual sugar: g/l
Acidity: 5.44 g/l
Color:deep ruby red
Bouquet: subtle, black currant, blackberries
Taste: medium body, ripe red fruit, sour cherries, blackberries, nice pepperness, medium finish
Recommended food pairing: steak
Overall score:82
Price: CZK 207
Stopper: plastic cork
Quite fruity example of Shiraz with dominant sour cherries and blackberries with spicy tones. This I would guess is style of wine to be drunk young.

Icardi Pafoj Rosso DOC 2005

Variety: 100%

Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Piedmont
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 14.0%
Color: deep garnet
Bouquet: bottle aged tones, canned black currant, coffee, pleasant barrel tones
Taste: medium to full body, canned black currant, cherries, higher tannins, coffee, medium to long finish
Recommended food pairing: prosciutto
Overall score: 87
Price: CZK 850
Stopper: cork
This is quite full body style of wine in case of complexity and structure, medium fruity with well integrated barique tones as well as tannins it already shows that it CAN be opened today, perhaps better in 1 to 2 years.

De Stefani Soler IGT 2007

Variety: 25% Marzemino, 25% Refosco dal peduncolo rosso, 25% Merlot e 25% Cabernet Sauvignon

Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Veneto
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 13.5%
Color: medium red
Bouquet: overripe tones. marmelade with hint of type of Rioja acidity, kind of smell of big barrel
Taste: similar characteristics as in the nose are repeated in the taste, there are strong marmalade tones resembling black currant and cherries preserves, this however is accompanied by (to me quite surprising) slight acidity and by alcohol, which is not very well embedded in the body of the wine
Recommended food pairing:  game food with liver pate and canned cranberries
Overall score: 84
Price: CZK 450  
Stopper: cork
"Solèr" is a word of the Venetian dialect and means loft, barn. Historically it was used by the grapes grower to dry their best grapes. From this old tradition part of the grapes are naturally dried, resulting in a great smoothness with liquorice notes.
VINIFICATION: part of the grapes are dried and the other part follows a classical vinification exclusively with wild yeasts at controlled temperature. When the dried grapes are de-stemmed and crushed, the wine that was made in the classical way is added to the other wine in special vessels. Fermentation starts at 25-30°C with frequent pumping over. After one or two weeks the wine is racked into barriques, where fermentation exclusively with wild yeasts at controlled temperature ends slowly and malolactic fermentation takes place. Then the wine refines for 12-18 months in barriques, followed by an additional refining in bottle.

Tenuta San Pietro Nero San Pietro DOC 2007

Variety: 40% Albarossa, 40% Barbera, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon

Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Piedmont
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 14.0%
Color: deep ruby red with violet meniscus
Bouquet: very fruity, freshly squeezed sour cherries
Taste: medium to full body, very fruity, sour cherries, alcohol slightly stands out
Recommended food pairing: roasts
Overall score: 82
Price: CZK 490
Stopper: cork
This wine was quite dissapointing in the complexity it was rather straightforward with no sophistication added to it. Also from the value/price ratio it does not really shine through:).

Bosco del Merlo Campo Camino Merlot DOC 2007

Variety: 100% Merlot

Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Veneto
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 12.5%
Color: medium ruby red
Bouquet: round, ripe cherries, sour cherries, vanilla
Taste: medium body,  very round, harmonic tannins, overripe sour cherries (reminds me when I was kid eating it hiding at our neighbors, somehow they tasted better than the ones in our garden), vanilla, spices
Recommended food pairing: roasts
Overall score: 84
Price: CZK 350
Stopper: cork
Quite pleasant Merlot fruity, mellow and tasty with slightly higher price one can expect from this quality of Merlot.

Cantina di Montalcino Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2008

Variety: 100% Sangiovese Grosso

Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Tuscany
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol content: 13.0%
Color: medium red
Bouquet: ripe cherries, hint of vanilla
Taste: medium body, cherries, alcohol slightly standing out vanilla, light acidity, warm and medium finish
Recommended food pairing: salami matured cheese
Overall score: 81
Price: CZK 390
Stopper: cork
AGEING
The wine remains in Slovenian oak casks for at least 7-8
months before bottling.
VINIFICATION
Maceration on the skins takes place during fermentation and lasts approximately 10 days, together with frequent, gentle pumping over. Temperature control (30-32°C) during fermentation encourages good color, the structure characteristic of Sangiovese and supple tannins.

This wine has alcohol slightly more than the body can bear, Generalli it is OK, but lack the characteristics one would expect from Rosso like for example the one tasted here. Rather it is similar in style to their lower wine tasted here.

Icardi Rousori Dolcetto d'Alba 2008

Variety: 100% Dolcetto
Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Piemonte
Vintage: 2008  
Alcohol content: 13.5%
Color: medium red
Bouquet: very fruity, cherries, sour cherries, red currant
Taste: medium body, very expressive fruity character with cherries and sour cherries in dominance followed by raspberries, short finish
Recommended food pairing: pizza, pasta
Overall score: 77
Price CZK 270
Dolcetto is one of the most common grapes from Italy's Piedmont region. Its name refers to the sweetness of the grape, and while the wine can be fruity it is not sweet - in fact it often has a touch of bitterness on the finish. Dolcetto has moderate acidity and tannins and is generally made in an approachable style that highlights the grape's natural fruitiness which recalls blackberry and plum.
This was definitely rather common day wine than something complex. it was very fruit driven with medium body and shorter finish.

Castel Sallegg Moscato Giallo DOC 2008

Variety: 100% Moscato Giallo - Yellow Muscat or Goldenmuskateller as it often called in this German-speaking region of Italy
Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Alto Adige
Vintage: 2008 Alcohol content: 13.5%
Color: medium yellow
Bouquet: overripe tangerine, orange peel, extractive, sweet spices
Taste: medium body, oranges, fruity accompanied by some nice acidity and surprisingly pleasantly dry
Recommended food pairing: Asian food
Overall score: 86
Price CZK 320
This was very pleasant example of muscat wine. It had very nice orange peel and tangerine bouquet accompanied by very nice fruity full taste with lively acidity. And mainly it was not dull as many Moscatels can be.

Tenuta San Pietro Gavi San Pietro DOCG 2007

Variety: 100% Cortese
Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Piemonte
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 12,0%
Color: pale yellow
Bouquet: very mineral, white flowers
Taste: medium body, mineral, white fruits accompanied by nice acidity
Recommended food pairing: chicken
Overall score: 83
Price CZK 350
This is quite nice style of Gavi with mineral and fruity tones accompanied by lively acidity. The problem is again the price/value ratio.

Paladin Pinot Grigio IGT 2009

Variety: 100% Pinot Gris
Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Veneto
Vintage: non vintage 2009
Alcohol content: 12,0%
Color: very pale yellow, almost see through
Bouquet: zesty, citrus tones white currant
Taste: medium body, lime, white grapefruite
Recommended food pairing: fish, seefood
Overall score: 81
Price CZK 210
Generally pleasant Pinot Grigio, but nothing surprising and with worse value/price ratio (at least in the Czech Republic). It would be OK if it was for 4 to 5 EUR (CZK 100-125), but not CZK 210.

Paladin Prosecco dry Tondo DOC 2009

Variety: 100% Prosecco
Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Veneto
Vintage: non vintage 2009
Alcohol content: 11,0%
Color: pale yellow, almost no sparkling
Bouquet: sweet nutty cake, white flowers
Taste: medium body, white peach, ripe yellow apple, slight residual sugar
Recommended food pairing: cakes
Overall score: 76
Price CZK240
Stopper: cork
It is very slightly sweeter style of Prosecco, not definitely my favorite. I was quite surprised with almost no sparkling in the glass after pouring.It would go OK with some cake, but not recommended for lovers of biscuite tones as there are none.

De Stefani, 'Metodo Zero' Prosecco Extra Dry 2008

Variety: 95% Prosecco 5% Pinot Nero
Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Veneto
Vintage: non vintage 2008
Alcohol content: 11,0%
Color: pale yellow, very slight sparkling
Bouquet: zesty citrus tones, green apple
Taste: medium body, same characteristics as in the nose are reproduced in the taste with dominant green apple tones accompanied by zesty acidity
Recommended food pairing: green peas soup
Overall score: 78
Price CZK400
Stopper: cork
De Stefani's 'Metodo Zero' uses an innovative wine-making process to preserve the natural fruit flavours. Temperature is very carefully controlled and it is kept as near as possible to zero degrees throughout the process. Also, a small amount of Pinot Noir is added to add richness and body to the wine.
Overall impression is that the sparkle is quite expensive for the value it deliveres. I would rather go to some CAVAs in this price range.

Stormhoek Chardonnay Viognier 2008

This wine we tasted about 3 months ago. I compared the notes from this tasting and they are almost the same so I will not reproduce them here, rather will attach the link to previous tasting.

MiToMa Grand Collection Neronet 2003

Although we have tasted this wine about 2 months ago the characteristics have not changed from the tasting here.

Casa Lapostolle Tanao Carmenere Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2003

Variety: 40% Carmenère; 35% Merlot; 25% Cabernet Sauvignon
Country of origin: Chile
Wine appellation: Rapel Valley
Vintage: 2003
Alcohol content: 14,5%
Color: garnet red with bricky meniscus
Bouquet: coffee tones, spices, black currant, cherries, chocolate
Taste: medium to full body, coffee, chocolate, aged tones of canned black currant with cherries, medium
Recommended food pairing: game, sirloin with parmigiano reggiano topping on it
Overall score: 86
Price CZK??
Stopper: cork
Must was fermented for 12 days between 25-27C, followed by 10 to 15 days post-fermentation maceration. All wine was aged for 8 months in one-year old French oak barrels. Bottled in December 2004.
This is VERY nice example of quasi Bordeaux blend. It has nice aged tones of coffee, canned black currant and cherries marmalade. it is soft rounded, spicy and smooth. Surprisingly I gave this wine as as pressie about 2 years ago to my neighbor and she just brought it up to check this out:) What nice of her(actually she was not aware how nice the wine was:)).

Tesco Finest Gigondas 2005 AOC

Variety: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre
Country of origin: France
Wine appellation: Gigondas
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol content: 14,5%
Color:garnet medium red with garnet meniscus
Bouquet: plums, black currant marmelade, clove
Taste: medium to full body, quite dry, slightly higher acidity, cherries, sour cherries, red mirabelle jam, sweet spices mainly licorice, clove, at the end slight bitterness , medium finish
Recommended food pairing:  we had French dry goat cheese, which was quite nice
Overall score: 83
Price CZK199
Stopper: cork
This is the second bottle of Gigondas in one evening and it is rather different. This one is more on fruitier side than the first one we had here.  It lacks the big body and tannins, but has more fruit and surprisingly spices.

Laurent Charles Brotte Gigondas 2004

Variety: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre
Country of origin: France
Wine appellation: Gigondas
Vintage: 2004
Alcohol content: 14,5%
Color:garnet garnet red with bricky meniscus
Bouquet: coffee tones, marmalade from black currant with black cherries, aged tones
Taste: full powerful body, canned cherries, canned blackberries, very dry, leather, earthiness, wood, higher tannins, full mouth feel, but less fruity I would expect
Recommended food pairing: matured cheese
Overall score: 85
Price CZK 400
Stopper: cork
This is quite manly style of wine, rather dry with higher tannins, leather spices, canned fruit aged tones, big body. I recommend to chill it as the alcohol is quite high, but supported by the extract and tannins. Gigondas is a little brother of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, when done properly it reaches the same quality, but with lower price :) AOC Gigondas departed from Cote du Rhone in 1971 and became AOC on its own.

Vinho Tinto Egoista 2006

Variety: Grenache, Aragonêz, Syrah, Trincadeira Preta
Country of origin: Portugal
Wine appellation: Alentejo
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol content: 13,5%
Color: medium red
Bouquet:animal tones, leather you can smell tannins followed by blackberries and sour cherries
Taste: medium to full body, quite high tannins, dark berry flavor mainly blackberries and sour cherries, slight pepper notes, coffee, black chocolate, medium finish
Recommended food pairing: T-bone steak
Overall score: 83
Price CZK ?? gift
Stopper: cork
This wine is quite nice, the only problem it had it was probably opened too early as the tannins were quite high and masked the remaining fruit.  However I would expect them to soften within 2 to 3 years and then it would be nicely round with leather and spicy tones with cherries and blackberries fruit to underline it.

Damianitza No Man's Land Silver Label Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2002

Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon  x Merlot 

Country of origin: Bulgaria
Wine appellation:  Melnik
Vintage: 2002
Alcohol content: 13.0%
Color:  garnet with bricky meniscus
Bouquet: canned cherries and black currant, hint of coffee, spices
Taste:  medium body, sour cherries, black currant, slightly higher tannins as well as acidity at the end coffee tones
Recommended food pairing:  pork ribs
Overall score: 82
Price: CZK 250 in 2005
Stopper: cork
The wine was called No Man's Land. According to the label, No Man's Land is a 5 mile strip of land in Southwest Bulgaria that used to separate the worlds of Socialism and Capitalism. During the cold war, it was a horrific place for those who dared to escape the Socialist Countries, hoping for a better life in the West. Nowadays, it is an environmental paradise — pollution free and a preserved wildlife — where the vines have grown free, producing succulent and rich fruit resulting in wines of extraordinary character. Generally it was above standard quality of red wines with some nice aged tones, the only character I did not like a lot was the austerity of the wine combined with slightlyhigher acidity for red wine I would expect.
p.s. pics wil be added later

Marks&Spencer Knock on Wood Sauvignon Blanc Semillion 2008

Variety: 79% Sauvignon Blanc, 21% Semillon

Country of origin: South Africa
Wine appellation: Western Cape
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol content: 13.0%
Color:  very pale almost seethtrough
Bouquet: very expressive, grassy, nettle, green belly peppers, lime at the end almost invisible hint of smoke
Taste: vibrant lime acidity underlined by gooseberry and  white currant, it is crunchy and very dry fresh style of SB
Recommended food pairing:  fish
Overall score: 84
Price: ??(Valentine's gift)
Stopper: screw cap
When we poured the wine it was a bit of surprise as the wine has almost no color, it is very pale and  almost watery. The same happened in the nose where I would expect more typical warm climate tropical tones. On the contrary it was complete opposite. Immediately the nose buds were attacked by green grass, nettles, green belly peppers and lime. All this was followed by kind of smokiness, detectable at the end and slightly. The taste is very dry with white currant and gooseberry, accompanied by vibrant lime acidity. Surprisingly this wine is more similar to northern European regions typical with cool climate more than warm South Africa. It could be driven by the location in South Africa, which differs by the influence of ocean currants and breeze. This wine will be excellent in hot summer day nicely chilled with fish:)

Leopard's Leap Lookout Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Cinsault 2006

Variety: 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Shiraz , 21% Cinsaut

Country of origin: South Africa
Wine appellation: Western Cape
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol content: 12.5%
Residual sugar: 4.5g/l
Acidity: 5.5.g/l
Color:  medium red
Bouquet: dark ripe berries, mainly black currant with blackberries accompanied by black ripe sour cherry
Taste: similar style to bouquet dominant with sour cherries, blackberries followed by black currant, quite straightforward fruity style with some nice spiciness at 2nd half of the taste, medium finish
Recommended food pairing:  some nice pasta with tomato sauce
Overall score: 82
Price: CZK 140 
Stopper: screw cap
This is quite straightforward cab sauv/shiraz blend.  Reasonable wine for summer party or to accompany base pasta dishes.

in the vineyard
Selective grape selection from the Darling, Swartland and Franschhoek region.
in the cellar
Standard fermentation with selective yeast accompanied by pump-overs and punch downs at optimum temperatures. Extended skin maceration, pressed and post-fermentation malolactic. Oak staved for 6 months with added micro-oxygenation.

Robert Mondavi Woodbridge Shiraz 2006

Variety: Shiraz
Country of origin: USA
Wine appellative: California - Nappa
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol content: 13,5%
Color: dark ruby
Bouquet: forest fruits, blackberries, overripe cherries, hint of spices
Taste: medium body, very sweetish fruity, smooth, rounded, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, vanilla, black chocolate, medium finish
Recommended food pairing: tomato based dishes
Overall score: 83
Price: CZK 199
Stopper: screw cap
This is quite big fruity style of Shiraz, it does not have the spiciness of Aussie ones, but it has nice lingering forest fruit with vanilla and black chocolate. It is type of wine that would be likable by many non wine experts as it has nice nose and similar fruity style of taste without complicating it with some tertiary notes like leather, etc.

Vinselekt Michlovský Rulandské šedé 2006 pozdní sběr

Variety: Pinot Gris
Country of origin: Czech Republic
Wine appellation: Moravia, Mikulov sub-appellation, Perná village, Věstoňsko vineyard
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol content: 13.0%
Color: medium body
Bouquet: overripe fruit, peach, orange, honey, dry fruit
Taste: medium body, round, overripe tropical fruit, pineapple, dry fruit, nicely balanced with zesty acidity
Recommended food pairing: foie gras on figs
Overall score: 87
Price: CZK 250
Stopper: cork
Absolutely stunning wine!!

Brise de France Viognier Reserve 2007

Variety: Viognier
Country of origin: France
Wine appellation: Languedoc
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 13.0%
Color: medium yellow
Bouquet: subtle, apricot, flowers, hint of hazelnuts
Taste: medium body, round, apricot,  hazelnuts, at the end slight acidity and white grapefruit
Recommended food pairing:  matured cheese, cream sauce pasta
Overall score: 82
Price: CZK 159
Stopper: cork
Not that expressive Viognier you would expect from the variety, it is quite round with white flowers and apricot in the bouquet and as well as in the taste. It is accompanied by nice hazelnut tones, which are most likely from the oak aging. Reasonable wine for the price. Nothing BIG, but good company with nice food.

Arte Vini Green 2008

Variety: Green Veltliner
Country of origin: Czech Republic
Wine appellation: Moravia
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol content: 11.5%
Color: pale yellow with green hue
Bouquet: very fresh citrus tones, lime, green melon, lively acidity
Taste: medium body, crispy acidity, lime, white peppers, very fresh and zesty
Recommended food pairing: salads, fish, oyesters
Overall score: 83
Price: CZK 150
Stopper: screw cap
Nice example of zesty, fresh summer wine. It has lovely and lively(:)) acidity similar to GruVe wines from Jurtschitsch.

Terredora Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio Bianco 2007 DOC

Variety: Coda di Volpe
Country of origin: Italy
Wine appellation: Campania
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol content: 13%
Residual sugar: n/a
Acidity: n/a
Color: medium yellow
Bouquet: minerality, tropical fruits, mango
Taste: medium body, crispy, acidity, citrus tones, pineapple, mango, lime, zesty freshness, strong minerality
Recommended food pairing: scallops, octopus, shrimps, fish
Overall score: 85
Price: CZK 320
This is very very nice example of mineral, zesty type of wine, bouquet already shows minerality which is evidenced also in the taste and proved by the sediment in the bottle. Bouquet is very nice combination of tangent mango but balanced by nice crispy acidity of lime. It's a pleasure to drink it. I would just replace the cheese I had with it by shrimps. Hopefully, I have more than just one bottle in my cellar, but I'm not sure.

Vinařství Roman Zapletal Merlot 2008

Variety: Cabernet Moravia
Country of origin: Czech Republic
Wine appellation: Moravia, Velké Pavlovice sub-appellation, Čejkovice village, Odměry vineyard
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol content: 12.5%
Residual sugar: n/a
Acidity: n/a
Color: medium red with lighter meniscus
Bouquet: black cherries, sour cherries, sweet spices
Taste: medium body, sour cherries, cherries, ripe fruit, nice tannins
Recommended food pairing: steak
Overall score: 80
Price: CZK 140

Vinařství Roman Zapletal Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 pozdní sběr

Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Country of origin: Czech Republic
Wine appellation: Moravia, Mikulov sub-appellation, Sedlec village, Čtyřicítka vineyard
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol content: 12.3%
Residual sugar: n/a
Acidity: n/a
Color: medium red with lighter meniscus
Bouquet: cherries, sour cherries
Taste: light body, sour cherries,  high acidity flat, short finish
Recommended food pairing: ??
Overall score: 74
Price: CZK 120

Vinařství Roman Zapletal Cabernet Moravia 2008

Variety: Cabernet Moravia
Country of origin: Czech Republic
Wine appellation: Moravia, Velké Pavlovice sub-appellation, Vrbice village, Roviny vineyard
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol content: 11.5%
Residual sugar: n/a
Acidity: n/a
Color: ruby red with violet meniscus
Bouquet: green pepper, black cherries, sour cherries
Taste: light body, sour cherries, black currant, high acidity flat, short finish
Recommended food pairing: ??
Overall score: 72
Price: CZK 100