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Tasting Notes from Lisa O'Doherty at the K Club
O Dwyer’s Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 Technical Notes
Appearance: Deep Dark core with a beautiful structure
Nose: A truly inviting nose, elegant but lots of fruit, dark blackcurrant and black cherry with a slight hint of oak and eucalyptus.
Palate: Deep Rich and sublime texture, everything an aussie cab should be…a big hit on the palate of big ripe black fruit. But then the silkiness of the structure comes in with well integrated tannins and balalnced acidity.Big and bold and beautiful with a long lingering finish.
Food Pairing: Great food match, all meat but try with a fillet of beef or even better a rack of lamb as that hint of mint on the finish compliments perfectly.
Quote: “ I love Aussie Cabernet and this one is so special, I love the story, the family influence, and the wine”
O Dwyer’s Shiraz 2014 Technical Notes
Appearance: Deep dense colour, almost dark teak with a slight purple shine. Great extraction of colour as the plum slides down the glass
Nose: Incredibly powerful nose of black berry, plum and spice with a hint of mint on the finish. Christmas in a glass...beautiful hit of mocha too in there
Palate: Dry with well integrated grainy tannins, it’s still a little tight, but it’s a baby. It’ll open up in years to come to be a sensual and supple wine. Blackberries and plum abound on the palate with a richness that is astounding. Clare valley shiraz is always a joy, a slightly cool climate gives a complexity to the wine and the dry land ethos of this wine just adds to that.
Food Pairing: A fabulous food wine, it needs meat or cheese to truly shine.
Quote: “Winter is almost my favourite time of the year, and this is a great winter wine. It’s raining sideways outside but inside the fires are lit, the curtains are closed and I’m curled up on the couch sipping this wine. Total indulgence… ”
Newstalk Review - Wine of the Week - November 2013
As reviewed by wine expert Jean Smullen on Sean Moncrieff on Friday the 22nd of November. Click the link below and the review begins at 08:25.
Sunday Business Post Review - October 2013
Reillys Old Bushvine Grenache Shiraz 2009
(Rated 91 Very Good)
This is a stunning wine, a glorious blend of 90-year old bush vine grenache, which gives it intensity and startling depth, along with a fiery spice from dry-farmed, powerful Clare Valley shiraz. The wine has a gorgeous purity of fruit, and a fine tannic frame that points to great evolving potential.
Tomas Clancy,
Sunday Business Post
October 20 2013
Hotel Reviews Ireland - Wine of the Month - October 2013
From the Golden Vale of Tipperary to the Clare Valley of Australia - it has been a long and winding road for Donal O'Dwyer, who with his wife Judith produces the prized O'Dwyer's Cabernet Sauvignon wines.
Having lived in many wine regions throughout Europe and the US, Donal and Judith and their children settled in Judith's native Australia and it was from their holding in the Clare Valley that they began producing their exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon. Click to read full review
September 2013 Tasting (2008 Vintage)
Lisa Doherty, consultant sommelier with the K Club Ireland:
Technical:
Appearance: Rich dark dense structure, almost teak coloured core, great extraction as it stains the glass on swirling
Nose: A Beguiling almost elegant nose, rich in layers of dark brambly fruit, blackcurrant, black cherries, chocolate, & Liquorice with some violets there too.
Palate: Rich and unctuous texture, dry but ripe black fruit attack the palate. Silky, big and bold but beautifully balanced with grippy but integrated tannins that bear up complex layers of dark fruit, spice, earth, coffee, and a little Xmas pudding… A very long lingering finish leaving behind an elegant essence of itself.
Food Pairing: All meat dishes but in particular, Fillet Mignon with bordelaise sauce, breast of Duck with a red wine jus or Lamb, cheese
Quote: "Rich unctuous indulgent wine yet it possesses an elegance and finesse that pairs beautifully with food. This is one to curl up, close the curtains and savour, my new guilty pleasure and a great addition to the K Club's list"
December 2012 Tasting (2008 Vintage)
Frank Melis, Golden Gate Cellars says:
"This wine has an amazing hue of opaque/purple colors with an equally gorgeous bouquet of chocolate, black currant, licorice jumping out of the glass. This full bodied wine is lush, opulent and layered with more back tone fruit rushing over its intense well-balanced palate. Although full in body, this wine is well-crafted, it is drinking amazingly well and shows great aging potential. The tannins are there, but not aggressive. This wine boils over with personality and should age nicely for 10+ years. The new release is even better than the outstanding 2006 vintage."
Our Motto: Always Drink Good Wine!™
This year's Frank's Big Tasting line up included:
(California) Hayfork, Buccella, Gallica, Morlet "Coeur de Valle" (France) Angelus, Clinet (Italy) Gaja "Darmagi", Castellare Coniale (Wahington) Fidelitas "Champoux" (Australia) Penfolds Cellar Reserve, Cape Mentelle, Moss Wood, O'Dwyer Estate
O’Dwyer came in second, only after Morlet, which is not a shame as it beat out all the other wineries! And this says a lot considering O’Dwyer is 1/3 the price of Morlet!
Sunday Business Post, May 2012
Tomas Clancy says:
"This is a top- flight cabernet sauvignon with more than a nod towards high-end Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon from Irishman Donal O'Dwyer and his Australian wife Judith's old vines, cabernet. In France and Napa the phrase 'old vines' is applied to anything over 20 years old, but in Australia (where they were not afflicted by phylloxera.) there are vines up to a century old; the vines here are over 70 years of age.
Meticulous care, tiny yields and fine oak handling have produced this uber-ripe offering. Rasinated notes peak through, but there are also lovely earthy notes, leather and a hint of burnt coffee, and the finish is lengthy and firm. This is a wine for plenty of ageing or long decanting."
June 09 Blind Tasting – Frank Melis (2006 Vintage)
Every year when the Napa Valley Wine Auction "craze" hits, I organize a tasting of "hot, need-to-have, expensive, modestly-priced, can't buy, can't afford, need to have, high-score, no-score, and-anything-in-between" wine tasting. I also like to make a point that it doesn’t need to cost a million dollars to be spectacular.
This year the tasting was conducted blind, 30 people tasted and all the wines were decanted and served the same way.
This year's Frank's Big Tasting line up included:
Chateau Margaux, Cheval Blanc, Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, Colgin, Phelps Insignia, Opus One, Pahlmeyer, Kamen, Ramian, Demuth Kemos (DK), Fantesca, Igneous, Caldwell, Staglin, Leonetti, Hartwell, Grace Family, Silver Oak, Diamond Creek, Chateau Montelena, O’Dwyer, David Arthur & Bucella (Cabernet and Merlot from this last producer were tasted).
The results of the tasting were amazing as our final top 10 were (with the exception of the O’Dwyer) all small, local producers. The O’Dwyer 2006 Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon scored a top quartile ranking – ahead of all the well known big names, an appropriate result for this outstanding wine.
Frank Melis
aka St. Frank - The Patron Saint of Tannins
Golden Gate Wine Cellars
2337 Ocean Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94127
Tel: 415 337.4083
E: frank@goldengatewinecellars.com
W: www.goldengatewinecellars.com