Wine Tasting Event : Booze Austrian Wine at Capital Tower (29 Sept 2006)

I saw this advert in the Booze Wineshop website, for Austrian sweet wines. I have ever tasted it at the Wine for Asia and found them as heavenly as sweet nectar, wanted to compare with the TBA that we had tried previously at K.T’s housewarming. And the verdict is (drum roll….), the TBA still won. Somehow there was a vigour and intensity still unmatched in the TBA, coincidentally also Austrian. The location for the wine tasting was at the Booze Wine outlet at Capital Towers near Tanjong Pagar MRT. It was a nice cosy place, not very spacious though and had lots of honeycombed racks of wine. The staff were friendly and helpful, introducing their method of tasting which was 3 coupons for each of the wines and a final coupon for a refill of your favourite wine.

The wine we tasted was Alois Kracher’s No.8 Welschriesling Zwischen Den Seen vertical tastings from 2000 to 2002. Rated on a sweetness and concentration level from 1-15, only limited quantities of the nectar are produced each year. The same numbers, accentuated by the high demand, make each vintage highly sought after, especially for the sweeter wines.

2002 Tasting Notes (S$92.40) : Golden yellow colour, with a nose of canned longans/lychees, honey-lemon. No bitter orange peel scent. On the palate it was an extremely sweet smooth syrup with high viscosity. Light, delicate finish of low alcohol and sweet residue.

Winemaker’s comments - Features candied pineapple and quince jelly aromas. In the mouth, it is a rather Chenn-like essence of quince, with notes of orange liqueur, tangerine zest and fresh lemon. Sublime with chocolates. 91 points by Wine Advocate. 96 points by Wine Spectator.

2001 Tasting Notes (S$89.90) :Dark golden-brown colour, with a nose of light flora bouquet of rose, and delicate nectar scents. On the palate it was reminiscence of Chrysanthemums, honey and light citrus. Was of a lesser viscosity and smooth like maple syrup. The short finish was slightly acidity and bitter lemon.

Winemaker’s comments – The nose consists of attractive flora fruit blended with aromas of vanilla and peach. Compact and perfectly structured with great acidity, finesse and elegance. Good with desserts such a fruit tarts. 96 points by Wine Spectator.

2000 Tasting Notes (S$96.00) : Golden yellow in colour, with a nose of Flora-honey, lime and lychees. On the palate it was maple-like with honey-lemon dominance complexed with some cinnamon spice. The fascinating part was that the intensity starts off light and slowly increases towards the end. The finish was strong and lingering similar to toffee candy and nougat.

Winemaker’s comments – The nose exudes scents of smoky apricot, mango, botrytis-laden papaya and passion fruit. White pepper, associated exotic fruit and spice are found in its vicous, syrup like core immensely complex, dense and extremely concentrated, expect flavours seemingly endless in its finish. Wonderful with plain vanilla ice cream. 98 points by Wine Advocate. 95 points by wine Spectator.