Top wines in the Asian media

2011 Alvaro Palacios – Camins Del Priorat

This wine was picked out by Jeannie Cho Lee MW, as “wine of the week” on asianpalate.com. She wrote: “Full bodied, muscular red with ripe blackberries along with prune, fig and dates on the palate. A very big wine with nearly 15% alcohol. Impressive full bodied red from Palacios at good value.”

1991 E. Guigal – Côte-Rôtie La Tutque

This wine was also recommended on asianpalate.com, it was described as: “Amazing concentration in this youthful wine – full bodied red packed with spicy, dark berry fruit supported by firm tannins. Layers of flavours unfold on the palate including cacao, dark chocolate and cedar. This young La Turque will need at least 10 years or more to open up and settle down. This is a powerful Côte-Rôtie with meaty, savoury flavours.”

Vynfields Pinot Noir

The team at The Local Nose tasted this wine and Suzanne Brocklehurst wrote: “Medium density crimson. Black cherry and stone fruits on the nose. Licorice and cherry flavours with fresh acid and fine tannins. Lively palate that ticks all the right boxes.”

Fellow Local Nose taster Sarah Mayo described the wine as: “Ripe red fruit aromas with an attractive savoury character, fine tannins and a pleasant intensity through the finish. This one is a charmer.”

Misha’s Vineyard High Note

This is another wine tasted by The Local Nose, with Chee Wee Lee writing: “Lovely complexity on the nose. Iron and copper mineral notes with herbs and spice aromas too. Round sensation on the entry with good fruit intensity at the mid-core with a nice weight, texture and balance. Lovely. Slight warm fruit flavour on the finish. Great texture.”

Ed Soon wrote of this wine: “Really ripe red fruit, plums, currants and cut wood aromas on the nose. Palate adds some touches of cinnamon and Chinese preserved plums. Beautiful, soft tannins with a tasty and tangy finish. Excellent buy.”

2005 Breg Gravner Anfora

This wine was picked out by Singaporean wine blogger Wai Xin, writing on winexin.sg. He wrote of the wine tasting: “While everyone started giving disapproving glances on the orange colour 2005 Breg Gravner Anfora, the perfume nose of flowers and dried apricots dismissed their doubts.

“Giving a subtle weight at 13% alcohol, the tea-like tannins and lightly tart acidity from white wine was odd, but slowly grew on us. You can tell people are impressed when they volunteered to finish the wine. This was the result after seven months of natural yeast vinification without temperature control, filtration or clarification.”

La Rosa Reserve 2009

This wine was recommended by the Wine Times of Hong Kong and described as, “just hands down, mind-blowingly good.”

“I had the pleasure of drinking this with Sophia Bergqvist (the Quinta’s current owner) late last year and it blew me away. You can drink this alone, it tastes amazing. You can pair this with food, think fine dining. Or you can cellar it; give it infinite time until you can wait no more.”

Quinta de la Rosa Estate White 2011

Wine Times of Hong Kong, described this as a “refined” wine, adding, “still most certainly a summer’s day wine, this is elegant with loads of green apple and citrus.”

“It’s sipping and savouring – not quaffing; garden tea party – not barbecue; Elizabeth Taylor – not Pamela Anderson. Overall, a delightfully elegant wine.”

2009 Caruso & Minini Cutaja Nero D’avola

Joshua Hall on winekorea.asia picked out this wine, he wrote: “Aromas of rosemary, chocolate, cinnamon and black pepper. Ripe blackberries, plum and black olive flavours with well integrated tannins. Medium bodied with ripe dark fruit and lively acidity. Bramble and anise spice on the finish. Good value. Pair with sausages, beef kebabs or barbecued lamb.”

Peter Douglas 2006 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon

And finally in Winebuzz.hk, this wine is described as, “rich and soft with lashings of cassis and raspberry.”

The wine is “dense crimson almost black” with a nose of “blackcurrants, blueberries with nuances of peppermint and dark chocolate and mocha.”