International Cellars kind of day at The Travel Group

The first Friday winedown of the year and we are tasting gifts of wine from International Cellars. I’m looking forward to tasting the Peter Lehmann Layers 2010 from Adelaide, Australia. A blend of Semillon, Muscat, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay this is clearly a winemakers wine. I’ve never tasted that blend before, should be interesting. For a red we have a Spanish Tempranillo Valdepenas Anciano Gran Reserva 2003. Now that’s got to be good. 3pm here we come.

Three dead soldiers.  The Peter Lehmann Layers was a great hit and at $17.99 a great buy.  Complex flavours, lot's of stone fruit flavours.  I especially like the minerality.

The biggest hit though was the Tempranillo, very smooth and easy to drink.  A very good use of oak, not overpowering but well used to round out this sometimes too sharp varietal and at about $13.00 this is an incredible buy.

Finally I had a bottle of Meyers Family McLean Creek 2009 Pinot Noir that I was keen to open.  I was happy from the moment I pulled the cork and smelled that smoky leather smell.  I let the aromas work their magic for awhile and then tasted.  I could have finished the whole bottle myself but had to share.  Delicious.  Distinctive.  Lovely.  But boy at $40 it's a big price spread from the Tempranillo.  It's hard to stick to my "buy BC" rule.