Our May Virtual Tasting is tonight! The wine is the 2006 Kiona Lemberger. This wine retails for $12 and is widely available. The tasting will take place from 7-8pm Pacific Time.
What you need to do to participate is:
1. Buy this month’s wine from a local retailer or from the winery. For those in the Seattle area, 6th Avenue Wine Seller is offering a 10% discount on a bottle of the Lemberger for the event. Stop in and ask for the discount.
2. Post your comments/tweets on the wine that night between 7 and 8pm. For those on Twitter, follow me @wawinereport. I will be using the hashtag #kiona during the event.
Look for updates to the blog and comments and tweets from virtual tasters starting at 7pm.
Final Update: Lots of good discussion on Twitter and the comments here regarding this wine tonight. Check out #kiona for the Twitter feed. On Twitter, thanks to @nancyfeasts @ankerhauspub @wino4ever @yakyakwine @lindyirving @KionaWine @Sturat @WriteforWine @nectarwine @rperro @6thAveWine @Binkertje @enobytes and @Wine_Traveler for traveling in!
Hi Sean,
I've had this wine a number of times over the years and no matter the vintage I've always noticed a VA-latex component on the palate. It doesn't cross the line into flawed, can't even drink stage but it's there and never seems to go away. I don't know if the wine sees more oxygen at some point in the wine making process, if it's due to native yeasts… I won't play winemaker but I notice it's there year after year, bottle after bottle.
Anyway, I mention this to see if anyone else notices this or if I'm just hypersensitive to something in this wine.
Happy tasting!
Tom
Tom, very interesting! Have never noticed this on this wine. I will keep a look out for it tonight and see if I can tell what you are referring to. Will be interesting to see if others notice the same. Thanks for the comment.
I like the nose! A bit muted, but elegant aromas of earth and coffee grinds. I'm hoping that it will open up over time. At times I can get the sort of VA hints, but only sometimes. The palate is a bit tart for me. My guess is that over time this may very well cool down. Not a bad wine for the money, although I think I liked last year's a bit more
LI, I found the nose a bit muted initially as well but opened up after a few minutes. '05 was a pretty special year in many respects, including the '05 Kiona Lemberger. Thanks for the comment!
My notes: black cherry, some kind of wild berry, and an earthy, rustic smell in the background. Spice on the palate. Very smooth, a little mellow in the middle, but pretty nice especially for the price.
Roger, thanks for the notes. Definitely has some interesting earthy, rustic qualities to it. Part of what I like about this wine is that it has a lot more complexity than you usually see at this price point.