Two light red wines with dinner

Stefano Lubiana Primavera Pinot Noir 2006

The first of two wines consumed last night with dinner. This one served as a nice aperitif and accompaniment to our entry of a cheese and garlic calzone.

It was a bit hard to smell much from the dodgy restaurant goblets we were using, but floral aromas of dried and fresh fruits emerged from the glass with a bit of swirling. Not the most expressive nose but certainly true to the rest of the wine's flavour profile and of corresponding intensity. The entry is bright and immediately launches the wine's fruit flavours, which comprise the sort of heavy floral note I associate with dried apricots, as well as bright red fruit. Light bodied, with well balanced acidity. The wine's aftertaste is rather truncated, though, and fruit flavours drop away to almost nothing by the time the somewhat chunky tannins have started drying the mouth. Food helped with this dip in the palate and seemed to extend the wine's fruit flavours.

A fresh, lively wine that could probably take a light chill before serving. I've had more complete pinots for the price (mid $20s I think) but I did enjoy this.

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Poliziano Chianti 2006

This wine carried dinner foward last night, being served alongside our mains.

What a nice Chianti. This is a straightforward, very fresh expression of sangiovese. Again, not enormously expressive on the nose, but what is there indicates a savoury flavour profile of herbs and dried fruits. The palate confirms this, and from entry to finish flavours are carried along a nice line that livens the palate with a slightly rustic, acid-driven mouthfeel. Fruit flavours are akin to a packet of dried peel and red fruit, with herbs. Nothing too challenging or complex, but certainly tasty.

I think this wine would be a great one to have with an afternoon picnic of fresh bread, cheese and charcuterie. As it was last night, the wine supported our meal well but was a bit overpowered by the rich sauces that accompanied our food.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2006

Ok, so I'm already a little pissed from a lame sauvignon blanc we finished before dinner. But this wine is nice.

This wine's nose of violets, fake raspberry and licorice allsorts seems to me reminiscent of gamay. This wine is always a fragrant one, in my experience, and the 2006 continues the trend with an expressive nose that I understand best in terms of colour: it reminds me of vivid purple. There are also notes of citrus peel - again, fragrant and expressive.

On the palate, there's a gush of gently fruity flavour, perhaps a little unfocussed. Medium bodied, the wine's structure is relatively soft but well defined, the acidity in particular is quite mouthwatering.

This vintage seems more approchable than my recollection of prior years' wines, not that the Hilltops has ever struck me as especially forbidding when young. If the fruit flavour were more clearly delineated, this would have been even better. I have several bottles in the cellar and will track it with interest.

Peregrine Pinot Gris 2006

We had a good experience earlier this year visiting the Peregrine cellar door in the Gibbston sub-region of Central Otago. I found the wines to be consistently interesting, and the winemaking displayed a clear idea of style. The aromatic whites, as was the case for me at many cellar doors in Central Otago, seemed especially delicious, so I've been wanting to get stuck into some of the wines that arrived in a recent shipment from the winery. Tonight we have the 2006 Pinot Gris. I'm not a pinot gris fan, in general.

But oh, here we have a pinot gris with actual flavour. Granted, it's not an especially complex flavour, but still. The primary aromas are of crunchy pears and apples, with a slightly herbal (perhaps aniseedy) astringency adding some a non-fruity dimension to the flavour. The palate is graced with bubbly acidity that is fun and suggests the wine would benefit from some food (chicken salad is on its way). The aniseed/herbal flavour is more apparent in the mouth. Some phenolics make themselves felt, adding both mouthfeel and bitterness to the finish, and I think these are well judged. The wine feels a bit hot, but again, I couldn't say it's unbalanced at all.

I'm still not a huge pinot gris fan, but this is certainly a nice wine.

By the way, if you like Peregrine wines, they sell to Australian buyers out of a warehouse in Sydney, at their NZ prices. Just email them for an order form.

Lillydale Estate Chardonnay 2006

A couple of bottles of the 2005 were consumed with friends earlier this year, and fun times ensued. I chose this wine to have last night because I thought it would a) be a nice contrast to the Brand's we had earlier, and b) go well with the salmon that my other half was preparing for dinner.

It did go well with the food. We started drinking it, however, on its own, and I found the nose somewhat reticent. Light, fine aromas of white peach and grapefruit emerged, framed by wispy vanilla/oak notes. The palate expands on these flavours, and I found both palate and nose notable for their good flavour integration. Nothing stands out unduly, everything is in balance, though the wine is quite restrained, overall. There's a line of acidity that runs under the palate and is quite firm, without being coarse. With food, the wine's fruit flavours emerged more strongly on the palate, and a rather nice roundness developed, especially of the grapefruity flavours. The oak, if anything, is a bit straightforward but, mercifully, is not hugely assertive either. With some time in glass, a struck match/rotten egg note became more prominent and, for me, distracting. I left some in a glass and, this morning, found the note had receded to an acceptably low level, though it did not disappear entirely.

So, an elegant, cool climate chardonnay that seems well made and has good fruit. Perhaps it was my mood last night, but the wine, though enjoyable, didn't really get me very excited. I kept wanting it to be that bit more expressive.

Two sangioveses

Gabbiano Chianti Classico 2004

I haven't had that many Italian wines but, of those I've tried, I've been struck by their austere structure that practically demands food.

At first, we tasted this wine without food. Colour-wise, it is pretty, not overly dense, quite ruby-like. The nose displays attractive, moderately complex aromas of lightly floral (rose-like) scents, combined with hints of lemon rind. First sips showed a wine of mid-weight, with savoury fruit towards the middle palate that is slightly raisin-like in character. The mouthfeel is dominated by acidity and rustic, rather chunky tannins that dry the finish most puckeringly.

At this point, we started to eat our osso bucco and the wine transformed into a much smoother, more sensual experience. The tannins and acidity melted and the wine's flavours expressed themselves more luxuriously. I must say, it's not the most complex wine I've ever had, but its savouriness is delicious and its character refreshingly un-Australian. I liked it.

Coriole Sangiovese 2006

By contrast, this wine trades savouriness and structure for upfront fruit and opulence. Considerable density of colour. Like the Italian number, this wine displays pretty florals on the nose, but the effect is more like bubble gum than valentine's day, and I was reminded a little of petit verdot. The palate has more in common with the Chianti Classico than the nose, especially with regard to the firm acidity that runs through the wine's line. Tannins kick in right towards the end of the palate and are lightly drying, though not a major presence by any means. It is beautifully made and an excellent value (picked it up for around the $17 mark).

This wine's fruit has a roundness and generosity that is very Australian. It's interesting to contemplate this McLaren Vale expression of sangiovese in contrast to the Italian style. I guess I'm tempted to hold up the Chianti Classico as a benchmark of sorts, but then I look at this Coriole and, with each sip, enjoy its flavour profile very much. I wonder if it's productive to expect Australian sangiovese to emulate the original style, and instead if it's wiser to have regard to the quality of the fruit and winemaking on its own terms.

Seppelt Jaluka Chardonnay 2006

I enjoyed the 2005 vintage of this wine and have, consequently, been looking forward to the release of the 2006. I picked up a bottle on the weekend and eagerly cracked the Stelvin cap last night.

Like the 2005, this wine is at the tight, minerally end of the chardonnay style spectrum. Initially, the nose was quite dumb and I had to work hard to get much out of it. An hour or so in glass helped the wine to open up and deliver tight, shimmery aromas of honeydew melon and creamy vanilla. The palate is where the action lies with this wine, at the moment anyway. This is because the acidity is exceptionally tight and focused, and quite "sizzly" in character. In fact, the quality of the acidity reminded me of the 2005 Seppelt Drumborg Riesling, though perhaps not showing such dominance in the Jaluka, perhaps due to the chardonnay's greater body and weight. In terms of flavour profile, this wine displays fine, tight citrus and melon fruit alongside vanilla cream and roasted nuts, with a spicy oak backdrop. But it's all so tight at the moment, the wine really needs a bit of time to relax and let its flavours express themselves more fully.

I have a few 2005s in the cellar and, on the basis of last night's tasting of the 2006, I'm tempted to get a few of those too. I think, overall, I prefer the 2006. Although very similar wines, the 2006 seems to display an extra edge of intensity, flavour balance and elegance of structure. We had this wine with a creamy pasta dish, and the combination worked well.

Tyrrell's Lost Block Merlot 2006

I'm a bit of a Tyrrell's fan, and my cellar is well stocked with Vat 1s and 9s (amongst others). I also have a few bottles of both vintages (so far) of the 4 Acres Shiraz. As an aside, I shared a bottle of the 2005 earlier this year with some erudite American wine friends and it floored us all, even when tasted alongside many exotic wines from around the world. Such perfume, acidity, elegance and structure. Hunter Shiraz indeed.

The Lost Block Merlot, however, is a rather different proposition. I was at the local bottlo last night, looking for something cheap and cheerful, and out jumped this wine, complete with a "special" tag underneath the row of bottles. So I grabbed it, figuring it would probably be well made at least.

And it is that. I will somewhat sheepishly admit that I guzzled this wine without so much as a second thought, and the wine participated willingly in my endeavour. Only towards the end of the (ostensibly shared) bottle did I tire of the wine's rather confected, overly intense mid and back palate sweetness. Otherwise, it's not a bad quaffer. It has some nice black olive and tobacco notes, and enough acidity to prop the wine up and prevent it from feeling completely flabby. But there's not a hell of a lot of structure here, nor is there much balance, the wine tipped as it is so far into the sweet fruit spectrum at the expense of almost everything else. I don't know if there's a whack of residual sugar here or whether it's just the fruit -- either way, it does become cloying after a couple of glasses, and you'd want to be eating something that balanced this out (pizza perhaps). I had it with a chicken dish that contained tomato and silverbeet but perhaps not enough strength of flavour, acidity and weight to keep the wine under control.

When next selecting a cheap quaffing red, I will probably not revisit this wine. A couple of wines tasted recently, the Mount Pleasant Phillip 2003 and the Wirra Wirra Scrubby Rise Red 2006, were both much more satisfying cheapies.

Mesh Riesling 2006

Back in 2002, the Mesh Riesling was probably the nicest riesling I tasted all year. I remember having it with Chris and Dan in an Indonesian restaurant in Glebe, along with the Clonakilla Riesling from the same vintage. Both wines were different and beautiful. The Mesh, I recall, had a very distinctive fruit flavour, sort of sherbet-like, that I enjoyed a lot. It was also structured with total clarity and balance. I have six bottles of it in my cellar. I wonder how it's developing?

In lieu of revisiting that vintage of the Mesh, I picked up a bottle of the current release, 2006, at Dan's the other day. Overall, I found it disappointing. Maybe my memories of the 2002 are a little overblown. Anyway, as a wine, it shows that Eden Valley delicacy, the spectrum of flavours tipped squarely to the floral/mineral side, rather than full on citrus juice as per some Clare rieslings. Well balanced, though without the clarity of structure that I find interesting in top rieslings. The acidity, too, was linear and well balanced, but it didn't have much distinctiveness. It would be interesting to contrast this wine with the 2005 Drumborg. Two different styles, but what's instructive is that the Drumborg has some key things that the Mesh lacks -- most of all, it has a clear personality. There's nothing wrong with the Mesh, it just didn't call out to me in a memorable way.

Wirra Wirra Scrubby Rise Red 2006

This wine is seriously cheap. I think we paid about $11 for it at Dan's. The reason I'm writing a note is that it's the sort of wine that the Australian industry has historically done so well at: multi-region, multi-varietal blends in a mainstream style.

The blend is shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and pertit verdot, with the latter contributing its distinctive aroma and flavour of what I experience as darkish bubblegum fruitiness (Hubba Bubba grape flavour, to be exact). The region is listed as "South Australia", but a little digging on the Wirra Wirra website reveals a blend of Fleurieu Peninsula and Adelaide Hills fruit.

Basically, this is an easy wine; full of flavour, totally unchallenging; but what makes it interesting (and a repeat buy) is that it's not corporate-tasting at all. In fact, it has some personality in its flavour profile, as well as enough structure to reward a bit of contemplative tasting if in the mood. It has a reasonable intensity of flavour (none of that horrible, lolly water taste one sometimes gets from low end wines) and goes well with food (rump steak last night). Basically, a perfect quaffing wine.

I'd much rather drink this if on a budget than a Rosemount Diamond Label, Yellow Tail or equivalent mass produced thing.

Tyrrell's Moon Mountain Chardonnay 2006

Cheap chardonnay -- those two words strike fear into the hearts of many. But I'm open minded, especially where a bargain is to be had. Plus, I've really enjoyed the Vat 47 so obviously Tyrrell's knows how to make a good chardonnay.

This one, however, suffers from oak that, whilst not overbearing, is for my taste completely lacking in interest. The rest of the wine is actually quite nice. It's on the fresher side, with lemon and cashew flavours, and refreshing acidity. It is also quite creamy in the mouth, presumably from lees stirring. No malo flavours that I could detect. So in terms of weight, it strikes a nice balance between a new-fashioned lean chardonnay and a butterscotch monster.

But that oak. It's just so boring. It tastes like, well, wood. And, despite the rest of the wine being quite nice, I sort of honed in on the boring wood flavour while drinking, which ruined the wine a bit for me. Still, pretty good value.