TN : Chateau Pedesclaux 2004, Grand Cru Classe, Pauillac, Bordeaux, France

This is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc.



Château Pedesclaux was created in the beginning of the 19 century, in 1810, by Mr Pierre Urbain Pedesclaux, a well-known wine broker of Bordeaux. In 1855, Château Pedesclaux was classified as a fifth great growth.

Colour : Purple/red

Aroma : Blackcurrant, plums, herbs, tobacco

Taste : Blackcurrant, plums, tobacco, cedar, herbs, grippy tannic finish

Alcohol : 13%

Price : 299 SEK

Mark : B-

Website : Chateau Pedesclaux

TN : Ruedesheimer Berg Rottland Riesling Trocken 2009, Weingut Josef Leitz, Rheingau, Germany

This wine was sealed with a screwcap.



Colour : Pale yellow

Aroma : Mandarin oranges, honey, green apples, stone fruits

Taste : Bone dry, minerals, honey, pineapple, green apples and acid on finish

Alcohol : 13%

Price : 149 SEK

Mark : C

Website : Weingut Josef Leitz

TN : Craggy Range Single Vineyard Syrah Block 14 2007, Gimblett Gravels Vineyard, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

This wine was bottles under screwcap. The wine received 94 points from Wine Advocate in issue 184 (September 2009).



This wine was imported by Divine AB.

Colour : Black/purple

Aroma : Blackberry, blueberry, pepper, meaty

Taste : Blackberry, blueberry, spice, drying tannins and white pepper on finish, overwhelming stony minerals spoil this wine, thin texture

Alcohol : 13.5%

Price : 269 SEK

Mark : C

Website : Craggy Range
Website : Divine AB

TN : Mendel Malbec 2007, Mendoza, Argentina

All of the grapes came from a vineyard situated in Lujan de Cuyo at an altitude of 1000 metres. The vineyard was planted in 1928. The wine spent twelve months in new French barriques. 5500 cases were bottles. Roberto de la Mota was the winemaker.



I purchased this wine 16 months ago and maybe it was tasting better then. Some of the primary fruit seems to have faded.

Colour : Dark red, blue hues

Aroma : Blueberry, blackberry, herbs, oak

Taste : Fading blackberry, plums, oak, very drying finish with no fruit

Alcohol : 14%

Price : 169 SEK

Mark : C+

Website : Mendel Wines

TN : Chateau Fourcas Dupre 2001, Listrac-Medoc, Bordeaux, France

This wine is a blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot. This wine spent one year in oak of which one third was new.

The vineyards of Fourcas are mentioned on Belleyme’s map, a geographical engineer of Louis XV. In 1843, the lawyer Jean Baptiste Antoine Dupré, member of the Bordeaux Appeal Court acquired the vineyard and in 1844 Château Fourcas Dupré was born. The cellars, buildings and château were then completely renovated. Today, a new fully functional fermenting room and refurbished cellars for storing and packing complement the original ones. The chateau now belongs to a family-owned company managed by Patrice Pagès.

The vineyard of Château Fourcas Dupré is located on a crest of Pyrenean gravely soil at an altitude of 42 meters. It is an uninterrupted plot with an average density of 8500 vines per hectare.

Colour : Dark red, browning on rim

Aroma : Spice upfront, oak, coffee, plums, blackcurrant, milk chocolate, herbs

Taste : This wine smells better than it tastes. Spice, plums, sour cherry, developed talcum powder texture, herbs, thin, lacking fruit

Alcohol : 12.5%

Price : 159 SEK

Mark : C

Website : Chateau Fourcas Dupre

TN : Chateau Rollan de By 2004, Cru Bourgeois, Medoc, Bordeaux, France

This is a blend of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, and 10% Petit Verdot. Before fermentation, the grapes underwent a maceration for three days at 10 degrees. The must was fermented in stainless steel vats broaderthan higher (3.50 metres by 1.50 metres). After the fermentation, the wine was kept in the vats for up to three weeks before it was heated up to 30 degrees and put into oak barrels for twelve months. Traditional egg white fining and no filtration was used.

Ricardo Cotarella was the oenologist and Alain Raynaud was a consultant. The chateau was founded in 1989 and is now owned by Jean Guyon.

Colour : Dark red

Aroma : Cedar, plums, oak, green herbs, blackcurrant

Taste : Blackcurrant, plums, woody, underlying grippy tannins, excessive intrusive green tasting herbs

Alcohol : 13%

Price : 139 (375ml bottle)

Mark : D-

Website : Chateau Rollan de By

TN : Wallace Shiraz Grenache 2008, Ben Glaetzer, Ebenzer, Barossa Valley, Australia

Wallace is an ancestral name of Colin Glaetzer's wife Judith, whose family hail from the old market town of Cupar in Fife, Scotland. Judith's Celtic ancestry is reflected in the three elements of the Wallace symbol - the Celtic cross, thistle and the Celtic knot pattern.



The wine is a blend of 80% Shiraz and 20% Grenache. The age of the vines was between 60 and 80 years old. The vineyard yield was 1.5 tons per acre (3.6 tonnes per hectare). The wine was aged in 2-3 year old oak barrels, (80% French, 20% American), for 12 months. The pH is 3.4, total acidity is 6.6 grammes per litre, and the residual sugar is 0.8 grammes per litre.

This wine was sealed with a screwcap.

Colour : Deep purple

Aroma : Spice, chocolate, coffee, dark berries, herbs

Taste : Mega fruit bomb, spice, blackberry, raspberry, plums, coffee, chocolate

Alcohol : 15.5%

Price : 179 SEK

Mark : B-

TN : Le Macchiole Bolgheri Rosso 2008, Azienda Agricola Le Macchiole, Bolgheri, Tuscany, Italy

This is a blend that doesn't work for me. My guess is it is the Syrah which doesn't mix well. This wine smelt much better than it tasted.



This wine is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet, Syrah, and Sangiovese.

Colour : Dark black red, blue hues

Aroma : Milk chocolate, cherries, plums, herbs

Taste : Concentrated plum, sour cherry, blueberry, strange herby taste, toasty oak and spice on finish then finishing off with a savoury note and a sour finish

Alcohol : 14%

Price : 199 SEK

Mark : C+

Website : Azienda Agricola Le Macchiole

TN : Torricella 2009, IGT, Barone Ricasoli, Tuscany, Italy

This is a blend of Chardonnay with a small addition of Sauvignon. The Chardonnay comes from two vineyards, one located at 500 metres above sea level on sandy and pebbly soil, the other at 350metres above sea level on limestone-rich soil. The Sauvignon blanc comes from a vineyard situated at 200 metres above sea level on alluvial soil.



The growing season experiences a mild winter with an average temperature which was always above zero and a rainfall of 200 mm. There was initially a cold spring with temperatures slowly on the rise at the end of May. The rainfall for this period was 200 mm. This was followed by a hot summer especially in July and the first half of August. The rainfall during this period was 100 mm. The grape harvest started on the 24th August for the Chardonnay and the 7th September for the Sauvignon Blanc.

The wine underwent a cold maceration at four degrees for six hours without oxygen. Alcoholic fermentation was at very low temperatures between 14 and 20 degrees. Two-thirds of the wine was aged in new 500 litre. tonneaux, the rest in stainless steel for sixmonths. Lees stirring was carried out for the two-thirds aged in barriques, initially every day, then less frequently. The wine was further aged for three months in bottles before being putting on sale. The wine was bottled in May 2009.


Colour : Bright yellow

Aroma : Oak, nutty, buttered toast, citrus fruits, pineapple, vanilla

Taste : Oak, fresh and crispy mouthfeel, nutty, oranges, pineapple, grapefruit, zingy finish

Alcohol : 13.5%

Price : 139 SEK

Mark : B-

Website : Barone Ricasoli