McWilliam’s Wine Tasting

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Hands up, who loves wines over whiskeys. This post is for you!

I am not sure if I still prefer red wines after being wowed by Jameson’s Whiskeys, but I can say for certain that dessert wines and ice wines are still my favorites 🙂 When it comes to alcoholic drinks, I definitely favor sweetness over spiciness.

Last week, I attended a wine tasting event in Calgary hosted by McWilliam’s, an Australian family-owned winery. (If you’ve been following my blog, you might have noticed that I went to 2 wine tasting events the past week. Please don’t mistake me for an alcoholic! I am just attending these events for the sake of learning and to be more “wine savvy” 😛 )

At the event, besides enjoying the fun to taste the different wines, I was delighted to meet people who know a lot more about wines than I do!

Prior to the actual wine-tasting session, we were each served a glass of McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate Moscato Spritzer. This white wine is sweet and fruity with intense flavours of honey and marmalade. You could barely taste alcohol in it.

McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate Moscato Spritzer

After being brought to the presentation room, we briefly learned about the the brand, then quickly proceeded towards tasting the wines. (Don’t ask me anything specific about the brand, it went by so fast that I could barely remember any details. One main takeaway for me though was… Australia has vineyards!?!? Yes, it does and you can find them in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia. Next time, besides going to the beach and scuba diving, I will consider booking a wine tour!)

We tried 5 wines that day – 3 white and 2 red including:

• Hanwood Estate Chardonnay 2013: smoky, oaky with hints of citrus. Some people tasted flavours of peach and melon, but I didn’t have that experience at all.
• Appellation Tumbarumba Chardonnay 2013: intense flavours of green apple and honeydew melon, with ample natural acidity.
• Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon 2005: vibrant aromas with complex flavours of vanilla, citrus, sherbet and passion fruit. Smooth, creamy texture on the palate.
• Hanwood Estate Shiraz 2013: spicy aromas with peppery notes and flavours of plum, blackberry, cherry and toasty oak.
• Hanwood Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2013: dense flavours of cassis, liquorice, chocolate and red plum.

Can you guess which one I liked the most?

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My pick was Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon 2005! It was smooth and sweet, perfect to pair with a seafood feast 🙂

Kev said he would also have guessed that because it is the most expensive of all 😛 Oh well, to be fair, Lovedale was the sweetest among all the wines. In my opinion (pardon my untrained wine palate), the chardonnays were too sour, and the shiraz and cabernet sauvignon were too bitter…

If you’ve ever tried McWilliam’s wines before and have something you absolutely love, please share with me! I am open to try more of their wines 🙂

Cheers mate!