On Thursday, February 1st, 2024, The Wine Tasting Club had a fun afternoon tasting and reviewing opinions on the four wines presented. There were 11 members attending the event at Elva Edgar’s home. The two wines preferred by the group are described below.
Northern Italy, Oggi Botter, Pinot Grigio DOC
This white wine is an Italian Pinot Grigio from the Botter winery with the OGGI brand name.
Comments from our Wine Tasters were that the wine was fruity, very light and fresh.
The LCBO describes it as having freshness and the zing of a pinot grigio from Northern Italy that give OGGI its light and charming, crowd-pleasing character. Delicate aromas of lees – mushrooms and bread, lead to minerally, banana and nuts flavours. It described the wine as medium bodied with low acidity and has 4 g/L of sugar and 12% alcohol content. The finish is light and fresh.
It was produced in 2022, and sells for $10.95 per bottle.
The LCBO suggests that it can be serve as an aperitif, or pair it with garlic and chili prawns or grilled mussels. Other recipe suggestions are to serve it with a variety of soups or salads such as an Autumn Pear And Pumpkin Bisque, Avocado and Papaya Salad, Balsamic Grilled Radicchio with Shaved Pecorino, Basic Basil Pesto, Chef Cosmo’s Zucchini, and Red Onion Frittata alla Pisa.
Chuck Byers, Canadian Wine Journalist & Television Producer, rated the wine as 90 points. 5 out of 6 (83%) reviewers at the LCBO recommended this product. The vote from the Probus Wine Tasters was that 5 would buy it, and one might buy it out of the 11 members attending.
South Australia, One Pound Per Acre, Shiraz
This Shiraz is a best seller at the LCBO and is from the One Pound Per Acre winery in Southern Australia. The LCBO states that this Shiraz celebrates the history of its land and the initial price paid per acre of its vineyards.
The LCBO describes the Shiraz (or Syrah) wine as youthful, purple with red highlights in colour. it has a fresh bouquet of red berries, dark plums and a light note of black olives. The juicy, soft palate features flavours of cherry and plum fruit. Enjoy it with grilled red meats (or alone). The wine was produced in 2022 and is very reasonably priced at $9.95 per bottle. The Alcohol/Volume is 14%, and the Sugar Content is 6 g/L.
Carolyn Evans Hammond states that “if you’ve strayed from Shiraz lately, it is time to revisit that variety with a bottle of …2022 One Pound Per Acre Shiraz from South Australia ($9.95). It’s a bit of a steal at that price. The wine shines opaque in the glass, exudes classic choco-berry aromas and then saturates the palate with lush, mouthfilling flavours of plum jam, blackberries dunked in bitter chocolate and a subtle earthiness. Each full-bodied sip tapers to a languid mocha-cherry finish. Pour this big, bold, dry-tasting red with grilled rib-eye steak or smash burgers. Score: 93 (out of 100)”.
The Overall Rating at the LCBO was 5.0 stars (out of 5 stars) from 8 Reviewers that submitted their option. It was very well received from the Probus Wine Tasters and the group voted 10 out of 11 to buy it.
Probus Club of Kingsway-Islington 