I can only speak to my palate – and I had some shockers. First, I find in the summer, I have a harder time getting into red. Maybe the varietals were too heavy – need to stick to pinot noir and gamay in the summer, maybe. Second, I preferred a $8 bottle of Little Penguin to a $77 super-tuscan scored big points by the critics. I preferred it to a Chinon, a Primitivo, and a Mollydooker from Barossa that raked in 94 points or so. It felt embarrassing, to be honest, but the super-oaked, super-heavy reds were not doing anything for me. I knew they were quality wines, intellectually, but just not a style I’d want to re-buy and drink frequently. I don’t know what’s going on with my palate. My only defence in this matter is that the lowly shiraz was not good with food – far too flabby with food, which loses loads of points in my books, and will mean that you won’t find it in my cellar, despite the obvious QPR.
Winning tasting note descriptors: wine gums, burned rubber shoes, begonias, armpit, beans, chinese food, and slough grass/mint.