Hits and a miss:
Čotar Teran Črna Penina klasična metoda ekstra brut 2006 - Slovenia, Primorska, Kras
Undisgorged. A lovely sparkling red wine from the Teran (Refosco) grape: amazing and lovable earthy, savory and lactic aromas; very crisp and deliciously sour. Wonderful. Maybe so good that it belongs to that rare category of FMTIG-wines!
Man O' War Vineyards Ironclad 2008 - Waiheke Island, NZ
14,5% abv; 52% Merlot, 27% Cab Franc, 10,5% Malbec, 9,1% Petit Verdot & 1,4% Cab Sauvignon (how did they manage to measure these percentages so accurately?); 20% new French oak, 5% new American oak; 75% old oak.
A really nice aroma of a very young, classically styled Bordeaux blend. It has some lovely baked bean aromas, dark ripe fruit lifted by some cranberry sharpness and tempered by some savoriness of the damp earth/vegetation -type; the oak is noticeable but not overpowering so I have hopes that it will fade to such a degree that I like. Very rich but also high in acidity; ripe but not sweet; refreshing finish; the tannins seem unnaturally soft for a wine otherwise so primary, but otherwise it seems unspoofy. Amazingly the very high alcohol stays hidden. I can imagine enjoying this once the oak and the primary fruit fade: I find the proportions of the pieces (for it is still in pieces) attractive.
Undurraga Syrah T.H. 2009 - Leyda Valley, Chile
The T.H. stands for Terroir Hunter, a project in which Undurraga searches for small plots of land, under 5ha, "in areas with strongly defined character". The rule seems to be that the more the marketing talks about terroir, the less anything like it can be sensed because it will be covered by aromas from wine-making. And, indeed, this smells of generic dark fruit that smells of blueberry concentrate and therefore lacks anything identifiable as any particular grape: it smells of cranberry juice and blueberry jam just like many Chilean Cabernets, Syrahs, Carmenères and even Pinot Noirs. It tastes thick and clunky and sweet though here I do notice a slight difference to the norm: slightly higher acidity and slightly less oak. But can such uniformity across geographical areas and grapes come from anything else than over-ripe grapes and a common yeast or some other wine-making choice? I have no idea, but the dull uniformity of so much Chilean wine continues in this wine, too. My rule still stands.