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?

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.

Peregrine Saddleback Pinot Noir 2005

This is Peregrine's second label pinot, with fruit from Central Otago and Marlborough regions. I haven't had a Central Otago pinot since returning from New Zealand in May, so was quite looking forward to this one. We had this by itself.

Very promising opening, with a fruity nose composed of that quite distinctive Central Otago "sweet/sour plum" note, as well as strawberries and more floral fragrances. Some savoury, perhaps lightly stalky notes also, although this wine is not overtly vegetal in flavour profile. The palate, though, seemed to be quite subdued relative to the initial nose, lighter in body than expected, lighter in intensity also, with a finish that trailed away too soon (from mid-palate onwards).

I thought perhaps it just needed some time in glass to open up, so we stretched the bottle out over a couple of hours. During that time, the attractive fruity flavours that showed initially seemd to blow off, leaving a wine that lacked substance and weight. To my palate, the wine ended up a bit thin and astringent, with attractive yet tantalisingly elusive flavours that never quite delivered on their initial promise.

I have another couple of bottles of this, I think, so we'll see how the next one goes.

Peregrine Rastaburn Riesling 2005

Another wine from the recent order from Peregrine, this time a riesling.

This is a pretty slutty sort of wine -- upfront, generous; a very public display. It's an off-dry style and the overall impression is, well, exotic. Heady aromas of white peach, lychee and (as the wine warms in the glass) spicy incense intermingle within a thick nose that lacks a little in elegance. On the palate, amirable generosity of flavour is carried along by noticeable acidity and bitter phenolics. The residual sugar is really well judged and works in favour of both fruit and structure, enhancing the former whilst moderating the latter.

This isn't the most sophisticated wine, but it's refreshing, delicious and full of flavour.

Tyrrell's Vat 9 Shiraz 2005

I could smell this wine as soon as I started pouring it, which always makes me smile.

Hunter Shiraz often smells to me like dried brown dusty earth, and this is really typical. It's got that lovely dusty, dirty, meaty smell that leads into some toasty vanillan oak, all of which frames a core of sweet/savoury red fruit of exceptional quality. This wine has great "line" and one's experience of it flows smoothly from nose to palate and finish. Intensity of flavour is high, although the wine is only just medium bodied. This wine's structure seems acid-driven. I just can't get over the quality and complex flavour delivered by the fruit in this wine. It's clean and ripe and, although it has a sweet dimension, the wine as a whole remains savoury in its flavour profile.

Drinking well now but I'm certainly going to leave some bottles in the cellar and see how they develop.

I was a bit worried when I first opened the wine as there was some sulphur hanging about, but this blew off quickly, leaving a very clean wine behind.

Update: this wine has opened up further over the course of our meal, with some additional aniseed/medicinal notes emerging. The wine has also developed some weight and intensity in the glass. A really beautiful wine.

De Bortoli Gulf Station Shiraz Viognier 2005

It's been a relaxing Sunday and I wanted to open something relatively unchallenging to pass the time this evening. I thought this might fit the bill, but I was wrong. It's a much better wine than that. I can't believe this quality for the price (about $16 at Dan's).

On the nose, this wine has a complex, primarily dark flavour profile with a clear but subservient line of bright, sour red fruits and lighter fragrance peeking through, perhaps also some vegetal/stalk notes, which I liked. Mostly, though, it's rich dark berries and cooked meats, showing real density of flavour. Structurally, this wine is strikingly pinot-like, with a most delicious fruit sourness at its medium-bodied core. Sort of like stewed cherries. It's intense and integrated, oak playing but a minor role in the wine's flavour. The finish dries firmly at the very end, due to the fine tannins. It's elegant, intense and delicious.

This wine is fantastic.

Brand's Laira Coonawarra Chardonnay 2005

This wine makes a refreshing change from the lean, mean chardonnays I have been drinking of late. It feels in some ways like a blast from the past, being a much softer style of wine. I used a bit of this in cooking the chicken with cream sauce we had last night, the rest being reserved for drinking with the meal. It disappeared pretty quickly.

The nice thing about this wine is that it is an unashamedly rich, round style of chardonnay that is also in balance. It's just that the balance is completely different from the acid-driven wines that seem to be the new wave in Australian chardonnay. Instead of being aggressively structured and brightly flavoured, this wine is pure peaches and cream smoothness. The nose is moderately expressive and is basically lightly spicy peaches and vanilla cream. Soft and round and slightly sweet. The palate is consistent with this, but much amplified, and adds a caressing mouthfeel to the mix. There are hints of malo butter/butterscotch in there, but these notes are not over the top. At first I thought this wine had traded in all its acid, but in fact it's still there, just in the background, providing a bit of support for the wine's structure. Oak seems to provide body and flavour rather than being the main event.

This is such a nice quaffing wine, and I mean that in the best way. It's well made, with attractive flavours, good balance, and a very high drinkability rating. Our bottle disappeared pretty quickly. But I can imagine someone who preferred a more Chablis style hating this wine. Oh, it's also pretty good value. I think I paid about $15 for this at Dan's.

Yalumba Wild Ferment Chardonnay 2005

This was at 1st Choice for around the $16 mark and, having read some some good notices on the 'net, I picked it up to try. I've been getting into chardonnay lately and remember loving the Yalumba FDW[7c] at cellar door.

What an awesome wine. The aromas on this wine are super funky, and incredibly complex for this price point. Aside from the funky yeasty characters, there's also vanilla and clean fruit smells. The palate continues this theme consistently, the clarity of the fruit and smooth mouthfeel a highlight. Lovely creaminess too. Great balance.

You'd be hard pressed to find a more interesting chardonnay at this price. A repeat buy for sure.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

I bought a bottle of this the other day, with a view to determining whether it would be worth putting a few in the cellar. I already have a few 2003s and 2004s tucked away.

This wine just screams Coonawarra cabernet. It opens with that dust-on-leaf note that will be very familiar to anyone who has had a few cabernets from this region. It's funny how familiar, identifiably regional wine smells can be comforting. I find the same thing with Hunter semillon. Anyway, the nose continues with a clear, structured line of flavours, from the dust/leaf through to mulberries, aniseed, menthol and vanilla. The wine's line and flavour profile continues through to the palate in a consistent manner. What's evident in the mouth is the fruit's sweet ripeness, although you could hardly call it a fruit bomb. Instead, the mulberry-like fruit glows brightly within a tight structure of leafiness, savoury spices and oak. Tannins and acid are present, showing the enthusiasm of youth, but well balanced.

It's actually drinking quite well now but the wine seems designed to improve with age. I would hope the rawness of each flavour will mellow and the components further integrate with some extra time in bottle. I think I'll get some to cellar.

Jimbour Station Verdelho 2005

My first Queensland wine, from the Darling Downs region. I figured since I now live in Brisbane, I should acquaint myself with the local product.

Unfortunately, this wine was almost undrinkable. It displays coarse, chalky phenolics that fatten the front palate but create an unpleasantly bitter finish. This, combined with obvious alcohol heat, prevents much fruit flavour from emerging. The only flavours I could detect were a hint of melon (honeydew/rockmelon) on the palate. The phenolics did soften a bit with food and a warmer temperature, but I still wasn't getting much out of the wine from a primary fruit perspective. Amazingly for our household, we drank less than half the bottle.

Very disappointing, especially as it's not cheap (about $16 from the local bottle shop) compared to other, reliable verdelhos (eg Tulloch).

I might try some wines from the Granite Belt region next time.

Clonakilla Viognier 2005

And I don't even like straight viogniers.

When I tasted this wine at cellar door, I knew it was pretty special, although it's hard to evaluate a wine this good during a brief tasting. I bought a few bottles and the first, shared with my vinous mates from (at that time) Seattle, confirmed the initial impressions. I'm having my second bottle tonight.

The thing with this wine is that it manages to avoid any hint of broadness or vulgarity, despite the inclinations of viognier as a grape. Instead, it's a full, intense, complex white wine. There's a sort of powdery, high toned vanilla sheen that provides a glossy, glamorous entry into this wine's substantial apricot/lightly tropical fruit flavours, as well as a line of the finest acidity that runs through the wine from start to finish. Lovely viscous, slippery mouthfeel that lends extra substance to the wine. It really is gorgeous.

I never know what to pair with viognier, so we had this wine all by itself.

Georges DuBoeuf Fleurie Cru du Beaujolais 2005

Something different to have with baked salmon tonight. This wine has quite a deep colour, slightly dull perhaps, not overly dense, but pretty. The nose is expressive and what I'd describe as "overly pretty." I mean that in a good way. It's floral and sweet and slightly confected and has the sorts of flavours one associates with a packet full of juicy lollies. Really fun. There is a layer of deeper, less confected flavour reminiscent of pinot noir that adds sophistication to the wine. I could continue to smell, and enjoy, this wine for a while.

The palate is a bit of a letdown after the bright nose, and shows harsh, astringent mouthfeel alongside its slightly thin and hot fruit flavours. It is quite acidic and, again, the quality of the acidity is a bit rough and ready. I think this wine would be fantastic with food (we'll soon find out), as it has some rough edges that need to be dulled a little, and the wine filled in a bit.

I'd buy it again. It's fun.

Dog Point Pinot Noir 2005

Marlborough pinot. I know Martinborough and Central Otago seem to hog the limelight when it comes to NZ pinot, but I reckon Marlborough pinot has its own, very attractive character. It has a very bright, fruit driven flavour profile that manages to be luscious without any hint of "fake raspberry" confection that you find in some Australian pinots.

I reckon this Dog Point Pinot is a good example. It is quite forward and most definitely fruit driven, but what it lacks in (introduced) complexity it makes up for in deliciousness. It's all about the fruit. Bright, red, cherry-like, balancing sweet and sour with finesse. There are wisps of savoury character that frame and support the fruit: a bit of sappiness, a hint of stalk, some light caramel oak influence. Acidity is beautifully judged and fine, noticeable only insofar as it's impossible to ignore how much this wine makes one's mouth water. Most of all, though, you wouldn't want to mask the gorgeous voluptuousness of that fruit, and the winemaking is careful to help it shine. So easy to drink.

Clonakilla rieslings

Two Clonakilla rieslings: 2005 and 2002. I retrieved these from the cellar a little while ago and decided to have a vertical tonight. These two vintages were my preferred Clonakilla
Rieslings between the 2002 and 2006 period. We had the 2006 a little while ago and found it a bit blah. Its flavour profile struck me as too broad and its structure somewhat flat.

By contrast, I remember tasting the 2005 at cellar door and remarking on its tightness and relative austerity. The 2002, in the year of its release, was my equal favourite riesling (along with the Mesh of the same vintage). Time to reivisit both and re-evaluate my initial impressions.

We had the 2005 first. I don't think this has developed significantly since release; it still tastes very primary and pretty much as I remember it. It's one of those chalky/floral/mineral rieslings (which I love), bone dry, with a lovely caressing acidity. Much more elegant and interesting than the 2006.

The 2002, by contrast, has started to show aged characters, and they are most attractive. The nose is still quite primary, and fairly subdued, with perhaps just an edge of honeyed sweetness alongside its powdery/floral aromas. The palate is where the age of the wine shows most, characterised as it is by an intense honey flavour. It's a delicious honey flavour ("high quality honey", we agreed) that is prevented from being at all cloying by all the primary flavours that surround it, and the still-zingy acidity that underlies the wine's structure. As the wine sat in glass, the honey flavour morphed into a sort of honey on buttered crumpet flavour that we both agreed was totally delcious. I think we'll be leaving the rest of the dozen a year or so before sampling again.

Paringa Estate Peninsula Pinot Noir 2005

Another cheap pinot, this time from the Mornington Peninsula.

The style of this wine is pretty oak-driven, which is no doubt a conscious decision, but that does challenge my notion of the sort of young pinot I'd like to drink. A relatively expressive nose of overripe strawberries and spices is followed by more of the same on the palate. But, for my taste, the fruit recedes too far, structurally, with the oak dominating rather than framing the pinot fruit's (attractive) character. Intensity of flavour was only moderate, an impression perhaps created due to the wine's structure (I kept wanting the fruit to creep forward just a bit more than it did). Over the evening, the wine did balance out a little, and developed some extra complexity, but was still pretty oakey.

I liked this a lot more than the Tamar Ridge from the other night, because its flavour profile struck me as more delicious, but I shall continue to search for an inexpensive pinot that suits my tastes.

Two young reds

Had two very different wines last night with a chicken and haloumi salad.

Ravensworth Sangiovese 2005

A fun wine with a good whack of moderately varietal fruit flavour. I do enjoy the distinctive savouriness of sangiovese and it seems that Australian versions never quite have enough of it. They are usually so "shirazified" they end up being quite different from Italian wines. Maybe that's the point. Anyway, this one had enough of a savoury edge to bring a smile to my face. Medium bodied overall, relatively fragrant, not terribly structured but who cares?

Voyager Estate Shiraz 2003

Completely different wine. This one was very tightly wound; it's one of those wines that tastes like you're sensing everything from behind a thick veil. It's all there, but not expressing itself much. Quite nice coffeed oak frames dark fruits and a solid line from nose to back palate. Tannins and acid seem in balance, and the wine's mouthfeel is smooth, considering how tight the wine is. I still have about 1/3 of a bottle left and will try it again tonight to see how it's evolved.