Total Pageviews

Friday, May 20, 2011

Wine Whiskey and W.S.E.T.

Well Wine Festival is over and the spring releases are on the shelves and in the cellar. I went to 3 events the Best of Varietal wine Awards, The consumer tasting at the Rotary Center for the Arts and Vintages in the Park at Father Pandosy Mission. All featured some great wines food and fun, the Rotary Center used all of the spaces and the art work and small rooms made for an interesting intimate experience. 


It was the Final Whiskey tasting before the summer break and as always we opened the purse strings a little and sampled some amazing higher end whiskeys including a stunning 30year old Glenfacalas. Aged in sherry cask it was like a fruitcake in a glass, with a finish that went on forever. It's little brother the 25year was a more conventional whiskey with more grain and malt to cut the sweetness. We also tried a Bruichladdie Guigal Hermitage Blanc cask finished  18yr old single cask that shows a seamless marriage of finish and standard  oak. There were also 2 offerings from the English Whiskey co. Chapter 3 and 4 both not quite yet whiskeys being only 18 months  old they show some promise of developing into nice whiskeys. we rounded out the tasting with a Highland Park 18, a Glencadam 15, Cardhu 12, and Weisers Select.


The last thing is I did day 1 of my WSET wine course wow what a lot to learn. It amazes me how much you can learn. The standard tasting method is a big improvement on a one off individual system it allows you to calibrate your palate to a standard so a group of people can talk about the same wine. (What A Concept).Anyway more about the course next Post. Cheers