Tuesday 30 October 2007

De Bortoli Windy Peak Chardonnay 2006

Onwards with cheap wine. Despite the low price (a smidge over $10), I had high expectations of this wine, mostly because my experience of De Bortoli Yarra Valley wines has been so positive of late. They seem to consistently deliver more than one might expect at their respective price points, and even the lower range wines are made with a clear idea of desired style.

This wine's a little dumb on the nose, giving subdued aromas of cool climate chardonnay fruit (grapefruit-like) and cashew. The wine's entry livens things considerably and it's only in the mouth that this wine's good generosity of flavour becomes apparent. The entry is clean and linear, and leads to a middle palate that's all about fruit supported by creamy, slightly caramel oak. The fruit flavour is relatively simple but very correct and tasty. There are supporting nutty flavours and a mouthfeel that balances creaminess with slightly coarse acidity well. Some bitter phenolics kick in towards the finish and serve to cleanse the palate. Unremarkable length.

Ok, so it's simple, not especially expressive on the nose, and finishes a bit short. It's also clearly regional, very well made, and bloody tasty. The thinking person's quaffing wine.

Houghton Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2006

Pulled the cork (!) out of this without too much thought last night, and ended up enjoying what is a very well judged wine.

There are no harsh grassy aromas or excess acidity with this wine. Instead, the nose offers up juicy lemon curd alongside hints of aromatic herb and tropical fruit. The wine enters cleanly and spreads more lively lemon curd and tropical flavours through the mid-palate with good intensity and medium body. The wine's mouthfeel is both lively and slippery, with crisp acidity that cleanses the mouth whilst retaining a "drink now" balance. The finish isn't especially remarkable in length but continues the wine's line to a gentle close.

Simple, generous flavours, very refreshing. Not bad for under $10. Perfect summer wine.

Sunday 28 October 2007

Two cheap shiraz wines that speak of their region

Still staying at a mate's house while the boat is repaired. He's not really into wine but is curious and asked me to help him choose a dozen. Budget was $150 -- I wanted to select wines that are representative of their regions. We had two of them tonight.

I won't dissect these wines in great detail -- know that they are both well-made, quality wines of considerable flavour and character. What I am pleased with, in particular, is that they are identifiably regional and show clear differences in origin. I think it's great that we can purchase wines in the $10-15 range that are very much of their region.

The Seppelt Victoria Shiraz 2004 is all blackberry jam, white pepper and spice. The palate encourages immediate drinking, although the finish, which is lightly drying with powdery tannins, indicates the wine would not die with a year or so in the cellar. But why bother -- it's such nice drinking now. Sensational value.

The Peter Lehmann Barossa Shiraz 2005 is a pretty reliable number year in year out, and this one shows clear differences from the cooler climate Seppelt -- it's a relative fruit bomb, with flavoursome stewed plum-like fruit and sweet American oak the highlights. Soft, generous, medium bodied -- this is easy Barossa shiraz in "by the gulp" mode. This wine doesn't have the structural finesse of the Seppelt, but really, what's not to like here?

Wednesday 24 October 2007

Yarra Burn Pinot Noir 2006

Really craving some pinot tonight, so off popped the cap on this little number.

Very promising nose of sweet and sour red fruit, and a hint of forest floor. Very Yarra Valley in character. The palate continues the flavour profile promised by the nose, with attractive, moderately complex pinot fruit mixed with very low level oak. Good intensity of flavour and nice length. Sourness is a feature of this wine's flavour.

The main issue with this wine is that its structure is quite "small scale". It's like a wine in miniature. As the wine enters the mouth, it is linear and consistent but somehow ungenerous. Just when you want the wine to open out, it maintains its linearity and never quite fills the periphery of the palate.

Still, delicious flavours, great value. Recommended.

Thursday 18 October 2007

Red Hill Estate Pinot Noir 2004

Staying a friend's house at the moment, so the drinking has been a little irregular! Did manage to work in this little number, though.

A transparent orange-red colour that was a little dull.Quite a meaty nose, beetroot-like, again a little dull perhaps, and subdued, also a bit hot. Livelier on the palate, with a slippery entry that leads to a spectrum of flavours showing good intensity and balance, if not great sophistication. More beetroot and bright red fruits that are a bit confected. Acid is very present and gives the palate a zippy feel. There's no great length of flavour, and the palate dies a bit towards the lightly drying finish, which is a shame.

I'm probably damning this one with faint praise. On the plus side, it's varietal, tasty, and cheap (I think I paid about $15). One could do a lot worse.

Saturday 13 October 2007

Marimar Torres Estate Don Miguel Torres Vineyard Pinot Noir 1999

Haven't had too many US pinots, so thought this might be an interesting diversion when I spotted it at the bottlo last week. Cheap too, at $19.

A dark, piercing nose whose sweet red fruit is somewhat swamped by other, more savoury characters. Leafiness and oak, mostly. A subtle entry into the mouth widens considerably on the middle palate. Again, the flavour profile is juicy red fruits (strawberry-like) mixed in with aged, leathery notes and considerable oak. There's reasonable intensity of flavour and enough bottle aged complexity to make this wine interesting. The wine is still quite tannic and could use some more softening, although I wonder whether the fruit will disappear before the oak has lost its aggressiveness. The finish is a bit hot.

This wine's fruit is varietal but I can't help thinking that it's been moulded in a style that drags it away from a pure expression of pinot noir and towards something chunkier and altogether less lightfooted. I also think perhaps this would have gone better with food.

Mount Pleasant Elizabeth 1999

I bought a case of this on release and have dipped in a few times to see how it's going. I remember tasting this soon after the initial purchase (three or so years ago) and it struck me as an especially tight Elizabeth.

This was a good bottle. An attractive green/gold colour of clarity and considerable richness. The nose shows definite signs of bottle age, but is not at a point of full maturity. Instead, the subtle, almost dumb aromas of a young semillon are mixed with a moderately intense bouquet of vanilla, beeswax and that (not unattractive) dusty note that some older semillons show. Good complexity. The entry is slippery and lively, still showing some prickly CO2. It opens to a generous and quite intense mid-palate that is in between young and old. The sophisticated, slippery mouthfeel of aged semillon is present, quite full bodied, and there are certainly hints of honey and wax, but also of (simple) primary fruit. The after palate loses thrust a bit, and the wine sort of jumps straight to the finish, where the secondary flavours linger nicely on the tongue.

This wine is very much in between in its development, with youthful characters fading a little and bottle age starting to exert its influence. As I sat with this in the glass, it gained richness and the honey really started to come to the fore. I'll track this over the next few years with interest.

Thursday 11 October 2007

Faiveley Bourgogne Rouge 2005

We've been having a fair few mid-priced local pinot noirs lately, so I thought it would be interesting to throw a Burgundy of roughly equivalent price into the mix. This one's from the celebrated 2005 vintage, from a widely available producer, and I picked this up for $26 at a local bottlo.

Reasonably dense ruby/garnet colour, not enormously bright, but still attractive. Initially, this wine was very tight on both nose and palate, with an assertively astringent finish that actually kicked in from about mid-palate onwards. A few hints of fruit and oak but that's it. So, a swirling we will go.

A few minutes of aeration saw the wine opening up and the finish, though not totally transformed, at least relaxed enough to allow the mid-palate to express itself in fruit terms. This wine's aroma shows a good amount of savoury red fruit that is subservient to a strong mineral/iron (like blood) aroma and a slightly doughy note too. It's tight, not hugely complex, and quite linear. The wine's entry is focused and opens out to a concentrated mid-palate of savoury fruit and iron, echoing the nose. Tannins kick in and carry the wine away firmly, with reasonable length, but with an intensity that diminishes a little too soon.

I like this wine's flavour profile and strong sense of personality, but it really does need some time to soften before it could ever become truly delicious.

Tasting notes - what do you find useful?

Everyone seems to write tasting notes a little differently, and I admit that mine so far have been structured (or not?) purely to please myself and to help with my tasting memory. I am interested to know, though, what other people find interesting and useful when they read notes.

What information do you think is essential? what is often provided but mostly superfluous? Do you find a highly structured note more useful or clearer to read? Or do you prefer notes with some context, perhaps with notes on food or tasting circumstances?

I'd love to know your perspectives. Feel free to comment here, even if you normally just "lurk"!

Thanks,

Julian.

Tuesday 9 October 2007

South Pinot Noir 2006

Made by Andrew Pirie, part of his "South" budget label.

A bright, transparent ruby colour, tinges of purple, not very dense. Quite an expressive nose that is dominated by bright fruit and leafy, tobacco-like notes. The wine enters in quite a linear fashion but opens out nicely on the mid palate, spreading simple, sweet, light fruit flavours that remind me a bit of Central Otago pinot in character (if not weight). Moderate intensity of flavour. Noticeable acidity tingles the sides of the tongue. The wine's finish is lightly astringent and a bit short.

This wine is pretty, refreshing and nicely varietal. There's no great complexity of flavour, but it's very nice to drink and would go well with moderately spiced food.

Update: the wine opened up a fair bit over the course of the evening. It gained in density of fruit flavour, weight and complexity. It also lost a little of its attractive delicate touch.

Sunday 7 October 2007

Stonier Pinot Noir 2006

Fresh Mornington Peninsula pinot, here we go!

I like it when pinot gives off slightly stinky notes, and this one does, just a bit -- let's call it polite stink. The stink actually seems inseparable from the fruit in this wine's flavour profile, almost as if the light red fruit flavours have gone slightly putrid and started to develop savoury edges. So far, so good. The wine's aromas are quite delicate, with the aforementioned savoury fruit, beetroot and herbs/forest floor. There's a hint of sweetness in there but I'd say this wine is tipped firmly to the savoury end of the spectrum.

The palate is surprisingly light in body; it slips across the tongue and away, leaving some quite gorgeous flavours in its wake. Fairly forthright oak (caramel/milk coffee flavours) adds itself to the mix. The wine's mouthfeel is nicely astringent, seemingly driven by acid, but aided by fine yet drying tannins. All this is well and good but with each sip I keep wishing for a bit more presence, and for the flavours to assert themselves beyond the alluring whisper they repeatedly offer to me. Perhaps I'm in the mood for more generosity. Certainly, this wine has a lot of attractions if you enjoy a light, savoury red wine.

Hay Shed Hill Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2007

I feel a bit out of it, not generally understanding the appeal of our Margaret River sauvignon blanc semillon blends. I've often found these wines too astringent, aggressively herbal and just plain harsh.

What a pleasure, then, to encounter this wine, which seems to me a balanced and enjoyable style. I don't know the relative proportions of sauvignon blanc versus semillon, but there's an obvious sauvignon blanc influence on the flavour profile. It's all high toned tropical fruit, passionfruity, with some of the herbal notes that add complexity and interest but don't dominate. The palate has a nice fullness and presence that seems quite semillon-like to me, and allows the freshness of the nose to continue on unabated. Acidity is well integrated and delivers a fresh mouthfeel without coarseness. Length is also quite impressive and the wine lingers most satisfyingly on the back of the tongue.

We had this wine with some rather nice Asian food and it stood up well to intense aromatic flavours such as garlic, ginger and chilli. In fact, the bottle disappeared "just like that." I'd give this wine a really high drinkability rating, and it seems to me a brilliantly judged quaffing wine, without in any way becoming overly simple or resorting to cheap tricks like excessive residual sweetness. Great value too.

Saturday 6 October 2007

Redman Shiraz 2004

I had a 1976 Redman Claret last year and it was a beautiful, ephemeral experience. It was totally over the hill but none the less interesting for that. So how does the current release compare?

This is a leaner shiraz that's relatively low in alcohol (13%) and of medium body. The flavour profile is quite complex and has notes of blackberry, foliage and odd, slightly raisin-like fruit. There's a fair whack of volatile acidity that highlights the more vegetal aspects of the flavour profile. Intensity of flavour is good, and the palate has quite prominent acidity that isn't terribly integrated into the rest of the wine's structure.

I wonder how this will age? At the moment, the flavour profile isn't terribly to my taste.

Friday 5 October 2007

O'Leary Walker Polish Hill Riesling 2007

On a bit of a riesling roll at the moment. As always, the transparency of the grape is fascinating.

For the past few vintages, I have preferred the Polish Hill version of the O'Leary Walker to its Watervale sibling, finding it a bit finer and more elegant. I've not tried the 07 Watervale yet, but I do like this Polish Hill number. And now I'm sick of typing Polish Hill and Watervale.

A tight wine with delicate, floral aromas that hint at citrus and powder, with perhaps an underlying note of more juicy lemon substance. The palate continues the line of the wine and displays nice intensity of flavour. Citrus intermixed with talc, a sort of fun bubblegum type flavour, again quite powdery and pretty. The wine's acidity is quite firm and linear, and emphasises the sourness of the citrus in the flavour profile. Relatively coarse phenolics kick in towards the finish, but I think they work well and serve to reinforce the crispness of the wine.

I like it!

Thursday 4 October 2007

Meerea Park Alexander Munro Shiraz 1999

Last old note for now.

Complexity and sophistication are the bywords with this wine. A lovely, savoury, slightly sappy nose gives way to the most luscious palate of clean fruit, earth, leather and silkiness. The tannins are so fine as to be simply a continuation of the flavours on the middle of the palate. Mouthfeel is a highlight here, it's just so soft, it glides over the tongue and slips away so smoothly. The nose is complex and evolving as I swirl, with further notes of mushroom and dusty earth, as well as a bit of oak. A seamless and complex wine. Very nice indeed.

Charles Melton Nine Popes 1996

Beguiling aromas that mix savoury, fruit and oak characters in a slightly lifted bundle of joy. There's also a meatiness in there that straddles a savoury/sweet line. In terms of palate, it has a thick, seamless mouthfeel that delivers a similar mix of flavours as was smelled, but more fruit forward and richer than one would anticipate from the nose. There are some faint aged characters, but it's still predominantly primary character driven. As I drink, there's a lovely brambly note that is emerging too, a sweet delicious stalkiness. The wine is actually still quite acidic, so it's probably got a ways to go, but I can't think how it could get better than this.

This is a seriously good wine that is still quite young tasting but with the clean, developed mouthfeel and flavour integration that comes with bottle age.

Note that I've subsequently had a couple more bottles of this wine that have not quite attained the same level as this one.

Tyrrell's Vat 5 NVC Shiraz 2004

Bought two of these at cellar door a few months ago. I remember it smelling incredibly barnyardy, which is why I bought a couple.


This bottle has nowhere near the same level of pong. Colour-wise, it's dark and red/purple but not terribly dense. Quite beautiful. The nose, surprisingly, is muted, with soft fruit and earth characters wafting gently upwards along with subtle oak influence. The palate is where the action lies. It's light to medium bodied, with a clean yet slightly rustic mouthfeel. The fruit flavour is of the utmost purity and lightness, and most deliciously there's this sweet dirt/earth character that for me is the core of the wine. The label mentions that this character is specific to the vineyard (this is a single vineyard release). I would be curious to know if there's an element of residual sugar there. If not, it's quite remarkable. A fresh, delicious, almost bistro-style wine that I could drink litres of. I love it.

I have tasted the 2003 several times and enjoyed it very much, although it's a denser wine. It has the same sweet earth flavour as the 2004, along with richer fruit and more weight.

Coldstream Hills Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1994

I dug up some old notes from late last year and will post a few of the more interesting ones. I had this wine with the delicious food at Oscillate Wildly in Newtown.

Really beautiful cool climate cabernet aromas of the leafy/cedary type, along with aged mushroomy characters, complex and changing in the glass over the course of the meal. On the palate, more of the same, but with a surprising amount of primary fruit flavour and vanillan oak. Tannins still a little prickly, and noticeable acidity still present, so it wasn't too late to drink the wine by any means. Not an overly structured wine, but nonetheless very much in proportion, with flavours moving through in a well ordered procession. The impression was mostly one of complexity, balance and coherence from smell to finish. Lovely wine.

Monday 1 October 2007

Pewsey Vale Riesling 2007

I went to the local Dan Murphy with the intention of buying as many 2007 rieslings as they had. I left with... two. Lame.

One of the reasons I love riesling is that it's so transparent and allows such a direct view to terroir and growing conditions. Take this wine, and compare it to the Petaluma we had the other day. The Pewsey Vale, typically for an Eden Valley riesling, is skewed firmly towards a delicate, mineral/floral flavour profile, with just a hint of the lime juice that Clare examples often place front and centre. Having said that, the 2007 Pewsey Vale seems a little indistinct, flavour-wise, and is of more interest in terms of its structure and mouthfeel. Lovely acidity, this wine. And remarkable length too; the flavour seems to linger on the back of the tongue for an awfully long time.

This is a tight, young riesling that I would be interested in seeing with some bottle age. I wish the flavour had more clearly defined components. Despite the crisp mouthfeel and structure, the flavour profile feels a little broad.

Coopers Creek Pinot Noir 2006

This wine, at about $16, was about the cheapest New Zealand pinot at Dan's last night. I don't know anything about Coopers Creek. Their website makes them look pretty industrial.


As I've mentioned before, I like Marlborough pinot and the examples I've tried have a prettiness that can be delicious. The colour looks promising, being a relatively dense ruby that shines nicely in the glass. This wine seems to have all the elements - attractive plummy fruit, some stalkiness, perhaps a bit of caramel oak, relatively firm tannins. But it's like tasting a wine from the other side of world, so lacking in intensity and presence are the flavours. I kept hoping the wine would open up a little, but I don't think there's enough there to transmit the sort of generosity I would have liked. Like having a nice meal waved under your nose and then taken away before you can get stuck in.


Having said that, it was a pleasant enough quaffer, refreshing, and not offensive in any way.