Wine roundup: Terra Mater tasting, Pinot Le Cellar anniversary

By Jim Boyce

The Friday night tasting (RMB100) at Sequoia Café in Sanlitun two weeks ago featured Chilean wines from Terra Mater. We worked our way through a Chardonnay, Merlot, Sangiovese and Zinfandel-Shiraz and two Sauvignon Blanc. My favorites were the Terra Mater Sauvignon Blanc 2006 (dry grass and crisp fruits on the nose, and a juicy body, though some found it too acidic) and Zinfandel–Shiraz 2005 (an 85-15 percent blend with a rich fruity – plum – nose, though the body came off as weaker than expected). Both wines cost RMB143 per bottle.

Other tasters liked the Reserve Sangiovese 2006 (ample fruit and a nice mouth feel, but it smelled a bit rubbery to me). Terra Mater wines are distributed by DT Asia.

Later that night I checked into the second anniversary of Cellar Le Pinot, a tightly designed and decently stocked wine shop near the Hyatt Hotel.

Some two dozens were available for tasting (RMB50) and the shop offered a 20 percent discount on all wines.

I bought two Chinese wines I have not seen before: a bottle of “Night” by Suntime (Xinjiang) and a bottle of “Vintage” wine, which I believe is an export-only brand using grapes from Xinjiang (the back label was in French and Dutch). I’ll put these bottles into a future blind tasting.

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