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.

Irvine Springhill Merlot 2004

Yay, a delicious and quite sophisticated merlot.

On opening, a bit of a fruit bomb, but it quickly reveals its full spectrum of flavours. A lovely leafy note frames this wine's attractive (if rather simple) red fruit flavours. On the nose, there are intermingled aromas of fruit, leaf and cigar box. Green olives are added to the mix in the mouth, and there's lovely acidity to tingle the edges of the tongue, as well as ripe tannins to dry the finish. It's a medium bodied wine that shows good balance and structure. Its fruit flavours a bit simple and flat, though, and I would not describe this wine as one of great depth or complexity. However, for the $16 I paid, you'd be hard pressed to find a wine of this quality.

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.

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.