Planet of the Grapes post no 2

My remaining notes from the (not so) recent Planet of the Grapes tasting, in order from good to bad:

2004 Kientzler Reserve Riesling (Alsace) (£14.50)
Relatively closed nose of minerals and lime. Palate very minerally, wet coal, nice, tight acidity.

2005 Max Ferd Richter Mosel Riesling (£11.50)
Very restrained, closed nose. Palate bursts forth with lime/lemonade flavours but really with insufficient acidity. Nic thought it was ‘like flat lemonade’ and I’m inclined to agee.

2005 Domaine Boisset Bourgogne Blanc (£11)
Ripe Chardonnay nose. Peaches and cream. Creamy palate, very well made in a ‘New World’ style but ultimately not a wine of character.

2006 Isabel Estate Marlborough Riesling (£11.50)
I’m not enamoured with New Zealand Riesling. Isabel Estate is one of the best producers in Marlborough and not even they can get it together, at well above the price at which you can get some very worthwhile German wines. Lively lime/orange sherbet nose leading to a lime lolly palate, a bit of a train wreck actually, burnt orange on the finish. Starts German, ends Australian.

2003 Botalcura ‘La Porfia’ Camenere Reserva (Chile) (£10)
Roast capsicum on nose, but alcoholic. Soft fruit, easy drinking, with an ink/charcoal dimension.

2004 Luigi Bosca Reserve Malbec (Argentina) (£10)
Very dark. Purple fruit, southern Rhonish. Palate is dense, liquoricy, alcoholic.

2005 Chermette Fleurie ‘Poncie’ (£13)
Confected yet concentrated nose showing dark jammy fruit. Palate shows fresh bubble-gummy character. A rather serious attempt, but then again so was Dohnanyi’s ‘Variations on a Nursery Theme’.

2005 Marques de Murrieta Capellania Rioja Blanco (£11.50)
Spicy nose, not as aggressive as it could be. Oxidised sherry smell. Chippy palate, salty, sherryish.

2006 Falesco Valpolicella (£8)
This is where Valpolicella gets its terrible reputation. No wonder they invented Amarone. Cheap cherry liqueur bubblegum nose, straight forward lolly-ish palate with a bit of vanilla. Uninteresting.

2003 Keerweder Pinotage (£9.50)
Stinky nose of tar and rusty nails. Aggressive palate, some coffee hints. Horrible.