Unfussy Wine Enthusiasts | Wine Reviews & Articles

We picked this up during our last wine purchases of 2013 at Bishop's Cellar here in Halifax.  We have had another wine from this producer which we reviewed in 2012 .  This wine is slightly less expensive at $16 but the quality is very high.  As a Rhone blend it is 50/50 Grenache and Syrah. The wine is ruby red but slightly thin looking though you can't see through it.  Very nice looking wine but I would say if you had to look at a wine and call it French, this would be it.  That's not a plus nor a minus just a comment on the look of the wine. The nose, however, is wicked-awesome (as our Boston friends might say).  It has a very peppery nose that is all at once oaky and fragrant.  It smells of sumac which is why we immediately thought Lebanese food would pair very well with this wine.  Things like Hummus and Tabouli combined with grilled Lamb would be awesome with this wine.  It is leathery and gives off notes of blueberries or...

As we go through our purchases from the NSLC Port of Wines Festival in September we continue to hit high point after high point.  This wine is another award winner and is a really nice wine. A blend of Negroamaro and Primitivo grapes this wine is made in the appassimento style which is to say that grapes are dried and pressed into the wine.  This is particularly popular with the Italian Amarone della Valpolicella.  It adds a lot of round bold flavours to a wine that can be categorized as a little thin at times.  This wine benefits from that style of winemaking. The wine is a very dark purple with mahogany edge in the glass and has very quick legs on the swirl.  Really nice and it looks older than it is.  You can thank the wine skins for that.  Well done. There is a fiery nose with notes of sugar plums and black pepper.  The beauty of the appassimento style is that body and nose.  Excellent. The body is much larger than if th...

This was another pick-up at the NSLC Port of Wines Festival in September.  In fact this was one of the very first wines we tried in the VIP section upon arrival.  Needless to say the flavours in the wine were top of mind as we decided which wines to try. This wine from Italian producer Pieropan   is made from 85% Garganega and 15% Trebbiano di Soave.  Some Soave is fermented in oak but this one is fermented in glass-lined cement tanks.  That said, it has both a freshness and some body as well. The wine has a golden hue in the glass and it almost is an apple juice colour.  There are slick legs running down on the swirl but you would swear there is some level of oak involved.  Interesting. There is a very mild nose on this wine that did not increase as the wine warmed up in the glass.  Very subtle and soft smells of carmelized peaches and again vanilla (which would denote oak of some level).  Interesting. When we tasted ...