It’s a little difficult to tell if those numbers are going to stand up nationally or not however. The press release goes onto say that:

“What you’d typically see in national wine consumption statistics that rely largely on supermarket scanner data, place Syrah/Shiraz at 3% and Chardonnay at 23%,” said Michael Osborn, Wine.com Founder and VP of Merchandising. “Wine.com consumers buy wines you’ll find at fine restaurants, and in that world Syrah purchasing ranks at 11% and is growing in popularity.”

Either way, go try a new Shiraz. It’s good!

Post from: EveryJoe

Shiraz outselling Chardonnay

Going into our wine tasting last Friday, we were well aware that Chile is far more well known for their reds then whites. But who wants to colour inside the lines? We take risks – which sometimes end surprisingly well and other times take us in directions we might have been better off without.

Of course, it might have helped if we triple checked to make sure all our Chilean Chardonnays and Sauv Blancs were actually from Chile. Once we realized that a couple of North American intruders had snuck into our LCBO bags, we decided this could be excused and justified by labeling them “controls” in our delicious experiment.

Here’s how we ended up:

J. Bouchon’s Sauvignon Blanc 2007 (Chile): very citrus-y, but also a little harsh and well on the acidic side. No one particularly loved this one and overall felt it was “not very interesting” and tasted like an average house white at a bar.

Concha Y Toro Trio Sauvignon Blanc 2006 (Chile): I was surprised that this one didn’t fair well, since I’ve had it before and found it to be lovely. While I would like to blame our decidedly common stem-less stemware, there were others that did just fine even with such a handicap. “Displeasing”, “Boring” and “Not delicious” outweighed one lone “Nice” from the group.

Painted Turtle Sauvignon Blanc 2007 (Canada): This one was a winner for everyone in the group, even if it wasn’t terribly distinctive (and was one of the first non-Chilean bottles to find their way onto the table). While the expected citrus tones were there, the peach-y taste was unexpected and…surprisingly good.

Wild Horse Canyon Chardonnay 2007 (Canada): I’ve never been a huge Lycee fan, but this bottle does it right. A few of our guests passed on a glass so they could continue to savor Painted Turtle, but the three of us who charged on agreed they were missing out. Crisp and summery, this one would pair nicely with a poolside afternoon.

Casillero Del Diablo Chardonnay 2007 (Chile): Wow, lovely. A surprise finish after we were so disappointed by the first two Chilean blends, but this one was well above average and would have easily been finished off had we not taken care of business with the last two bottles.

Final Thoughts…

There appear to be reasons Chile is not known for their white wines. Beaten out by a couple of Canadians, with only one out of three of them making the cut for a future repeat showing. I recommend investing elsewhere for flavorful summer whites.

Post from: EveryJoe

Friday Wine Tasting: Chilean Whites