Guest Author - Jim Fortune
I know a lot of people who cannot wait to go to the Promised Land. Let me tell you; I have been there and back. To the Promised Land Vineyard that is. I recently reviewed the Promised Land Unwooded Chardonnay. You can take a look at the article here: Unwooded Chardonnay . After doing that review, I decided to try a couple of other Promised Land wines and was very impressed.
You can reread my review of the Unwooded Chardonnay also known as the Naked Chardonnay. The Naked Chardonnay was a definite winner in my book. But the wine that took my breath away and made me wish I had more, was the Promised Land 2007 Riesling. We were having some spicy Mexican food and beef barbeque. I was making some notes about the rose wines that would go well with barbeque for a previous article and had decided to try a little Riesling as an afternoon aperitif.
I used to associate Riesling with sweet wine and more of a desert wine. I do not remember why I had decided, out of the blue, to try the Riesling in the afternoon before trying the rest of the rose wines I had lined up. Let me say that this wine was a total surprise! It was chilled to about 50 degrees. I opened it and swirled it in the glass. The nose was citrus and reminded me of lemons or maybe grapefruit before it is peeled.
That was my first surprise. I could not believe that the smell was so crisp and not sweet like other Rieslings I have had in the past. The next surprise came when I tasted the wine. It was light, crisp and even tasting. Not sweet - not dry, but a balance between the two. The citrus remained in the taste as well as the nose and with the barbeque, was really an excellent wine pairing choice. I had only a small glass and went on to taste the rose wines I had planned to taste with the Mexican and barbeque that we had prepared.
You can take a look at the label of this wine right here: Promised Land Riesling 2007
Later that afternoon, we opened a bottle of Promised Land 2005 Shiraz. As stated in my Unwooded Chardonnay article, the Promised Land vineyard is located in South Australia. The wine was a deep red; almost a purple. The nose reminded me of spice and black cherries. Tasting the Shiraz, it hit me that there was a touch of spice and a hint of oak. The oak was not a heavy taste of oak, but light and easy going. The fruit was very light and it tasted and blended together well.
The price of both of these wines in $12.99 USD, but I have seen them on the web for under that price and your local retailer might have it in stock, for under $12.99, if you check around.
You can take a look at the label of this wine: Promised Land Shiraz 2005
Let me know what is on your mind, and how you are doing, O.K.?
Jim Fortune - Bella Online Wine Guy
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