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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Seppelt St Peters Shiraz 2004

We had this last night with big steaks at the Breakfast Creek Hotel. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday evening, I must say.

This is a sophisticated, pinot-like expression of cool climate shiraz that disappeared very quickly from the bottle. The flavour profile of this tends towards the red fruit, dried spice end of the spectrum. This wine is so clean. Sparkling red fruits leap from the glass and intermingle with a variety of spicy notes, and oak also contributes a vanillan, perhaps slightly sappy note. Everything's in balance, politely taking its place alongside the other elements.

Quite a light wine in the mouth, medium bodied at most, but with an appropriate level of flavour intensity and great persistence. Acid plays the primary role in this wine's structure, contributing not only length but also a deliciously fresh, astringent mouthfeel. Tannins are very fine and do not dominate in any way.

This wine is drinking so well now but I would like to see some secondary characters develop and add extra interest. At the moment, the wine is super "correct" and very tasty, but if I were to criticise it at all, it would be for a slight lack of personality. Perhaps some bottle age with help this wine to shine in its own, individual manner.

Bannockburn "The Estate" Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2004

In an attempt to compensate for the explosively faulty Cotes du Rhone, we opened another bottle last night. This Bannockburn wine is apparently a "Dan Murphy exclusive." Mercifully, no brett was apparent, though this wine isn't in a style that I'd describe as especially "clean."

It does, however, possess a clear, bright line of juicy, grape-like fruit that is evident both on the nose and the palate. It's like a cross between black currant and raspberry and, although it's a little one-dimensional, it's certainly tasty. There are darker, dusty savoury notes that frame the fruit, and these take over towards the end of the palate, with a nice tobacco leaf note edging in just as the mild tannins wind up the wine. Balanced acidity adds a little sourness to the flavour profile, in addition to some brightness to the mouthfeel. It's medium bodied, not especially structured, and a nice drop.

As an aside, before this wine, we finished the bottle of Gulf Station Shiraz Viognier, which had been sitting out (cap on) overnight. It had lost a bit of its freshness, and the viognier was showing itself more, with a slight apricot note and a more floral flavour profile. The wine remained good, though, its "sour fruit" profile intact. Interestingly, it overpowered the rump steak with which we had it. It was too bright, too acidic and light.

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.

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.

Caledonia Australis Mount Macleod Pinot Noir 2004

I felt like a light red wine tonight, so we opened this little number.

This wine was cheap, about $16, and I wasn't expecting a lot. This wine has turned out to be a serious, though flawed, pinot noir of some interest.

A reticent nose of beetroot and subtle stalk seems to match the wine's transparently orange/red hue. It's in the mouth that this wine takes off. Its flavour is unexpectedly intense, with flagrantly aromatic beetroot and caramel oak leading into confected, slightly overripe berry fruit flavours. A lightly stalky note takes over towards the end of the palate, and the wine finishes in a puckery but not obviously tannic finish.

I like this wine and it's clearly a pinot that aims for sophistication and style. But the wine's flavour profile, specifically its fruit flavour, is slightly odd, and there's lack of integration across each individual component. Acidity in particular seems a bit "out there" with respect to the rest of the wine's structure.

It failed miserably to generate any synergy with the rather beefy meal we had along with it. Oh well.

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.

Brown Brothers Merlot 2004

The quest for cheap, good red quaffers continues.

I've never drunk huge amounts of merlot before embarking on my value red quest, and the thing that's interesting about merlot, especially at this end of the market, is the enormous variability in style. You get everything from overly-sweet fruit bombs with no structure to characterless "dry red" wines to more structured attempts at elegance and mid-weight.

This Brown Brothers wine is of medium weight, with attractive red fruit framed by very slightly savoury edges. It's not overly structured, although acidity and tannins do a good enough job of framing and supporting the wine's line, and there are no undue peaks or troughs in the wine's flow from front to back palate. The overall impression of this wine, though, is one of dilution, lacking as it does in any real intensity of flavour. This means that, whilst it was an inoffensive partner to the pork chops we had last night, it didn't really add or detract in any way. It is, however, a sound wine and is well balanced. Its flavours are pretty and moreish, and the wine presents as totally dry, without any hint of confected fruit flavour. I just wish there had been more to it.

Kooyong Estate Pinot Noir 2004

Mornington Peninsula pinot.

The nose of this wine is strikingly expressive. It's not a wine that sneaks up on you. On initial sniffing, the dominant notes were of caramel oak and spices, with sour red fruits emerging after a few minutes of swirling. Distinctive, savoury and quite beguiling.

My first sip of this was disappointing, the palate not echoing the intensity of the nose. There is a slight hole in the middle palate, and the entry is not as explosive as you might expect, but the finish is what's extraordinary here, with great intensity and complexity flavour. The oak is very much present, but the fruit's sour deliciousness stands up well, creating a distinctive and more-ish flavour profile. The wine's mouthfeel is also notable in its velvet luxury.

Bailey's of Glenrowan Shiraz 2000

If given the choice, I'll usually gravitate towards a more elegant, medium bodied red wine over the more monstrous examples. But sometimes, the food you're eating (in this case a hearty beef stew) calls for something more. So, out came a Baileys of Glenrowan Shiraz.

I opened this wine expecting not to like it, as I've reacted negatively to the flavour profile of North-Eastern Victorian reds in the past. So it was with a good deal of surprise that I found myself latching onto this wine in a most positive fashion.

Perhaps the bottle age helps things along, but I found the wine to be big, but in balance, and surprisingly complex for its price point. It has that distinctive "stewed red fruit" flavour that I often get with warm climate shiraz, and the wine's flavour shows a good deal of spicy oak influence. This translates, especially on the palate, to a lovely mix of hot fruit and spice that, whilst not overly structured, is very generous and quite delicious. I wouldn't call the mouthfeel refined, but nothing poked out unduly, with acid and tannin, as well as alcohol, sitting alongside each other nicely.

This wine has me reassessing my aversion to red wines from this region. I like that about wine. It's constantly surprising and forcing me to question my prejudices.

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.