Slurp Bistro Red 2012 and Lafite’s Aussieres Rouge 2013
Slurp Bistro 2012 is basically a cuvee of Chateau La Tulipe de La Garde Red 2012(90% Cabernet and 10% Syrah, no oak). It is a beverage for bistro. Basically you don’t need much food for the wine though, as the Slurp Bistro 2012 is made a la modern style with very soft tannins, and the aftertaste is very clean and refreshing.
Most novice drinkers in Hong Kong(as in China) hate acidities. The good news is: the sweet fruit in this cute little Slurp Bistro Red 2012 covers the acidities up. Acidity is still there. The cabernet gives red fruited varietal characters, utterly easy to drink, and the simple plum and cassis fruit seems to parallel with the mild spice in the end. It is a Michel Rolland wine, understandably with the new micro-oxygenation technics fixing the fruit and the palate rounded up by tiny bit of oak. It is a year senior than the follow wine.
Lafite’s Aussieres Rouge 2013(70% Cabernet and
30% Syrah and mild oak) is a food wine. The taste group thinks that the structure of Lafite’s Aussieres 2013 is slightly superior. It’s a bit austere to start with. Yet this wine surprises the tasting group with it changing nose from light to medium, from red to black fruit, and from fruit to licorice. The body gains a little more strength and comes with more structure and tannins. A slight tone of burnt rubber is lurking after one hour tasting is one drawback; strong spice of over 8 seconds after fading fruit is another drawback for some. The bottle of wine was consumed over one hour, when the fruit was gone.
For modern fruity palate or for name and structure? It is a matter of choice. At least they are fruity, far better than some mummified wines with zero fruit and whole nose and palate of licorice.
Well, we are not talking about cru level of wines; we are talk about the most basic wines.
