Happy new year to all our happy happy Winorama readers. I wanted to close the year with 1500 notes but ended up with a respectable 1400. Not bad. Not bad. Not too shabby. In other news the number of visits for December has topped 60,000 from over 20,000 individuals with a day still to go. That is the biggest month ever and I wish you all the biggest and best for the coming year. Happy new year to one and all!
Tasting Notes and Australia and Adelaide Hills and Variety and White and other whites
I do like a gewurtztraminer. I would have thought it would have captured the imagination of the local wine drinker much more readily than stuff like pinot gris. Excellent with asian food too. Sommeliers that pepper their winelists with pinot gris want locking up in my opinion - and maybe forced to drink nothing but PG for a couple of years!
Aromas of musk sticks, lychee, rose petals, grapefruit and spice. On the palate a lighter bodied GT that is crisp and fresh but still packs in a good deal of flavour. This is dry, almost flinty, with delicate flavours of musk stick, apricot and lychee and has a finish that invites another slurp. Perfect for spicy asian or Chinese food. Most refreshing.
Rated : 90 PointsTasting Notes and Australia and Adelaide Hills and Variety and White and sauv blanc et al
Another wine from Tomich Hill with a gewurtz and pinot gris to come. Interesting that they chose to bottle a sauvignon blanc in a riesling bottle and a pinot gris in a burgundy bottle!
Aromas of tropical fruit salad, pea, capsicum and spice but generally fruity rather than austere. On the palate plenty of juicy tropical fruit, snow pea and spice flavours. It is clean and fresh but lacks tightness on the palate. Easy to drink and pretty good value.
Rated : 87 PointsTasting Notes and Australia and Beechworth and Variety and White and chardonnay
Well I am hard at the pump now trying to knock out 1400 notes before the close of the new year…and seemingly the very prolific Lincoln has gone to ground! This, for the purposes of history, is note number 1398! I have three 2005 chardonnays to taste from the Brokenwood stable all hailing from different regions in Australia. Should be interesting.
Aromas of white peach, banana, nashi pear, a wisp of smoke and a good measure of malty vanillin oak. Touch of acetone. On the palate juicy nashi pear, banana, oatmeal and vanilla flavours. It is quite soft but still fresh and has a pleasant dry texture. Finishes with flavours of banana split!
Rated : 89 PointsTasting Notes and Australia and Orange and Variety and Red and merlot et al
I think I have the price and alcohol correct here but I can’t be sure. I had a quick glass of this on Christmas night and scrawled down a few notes. I do remember liking the wine quite a lot. On another note another box of Tower Estate whites arrived recently and I it must contain one of the few examples of cork closed riesling and sauvignon blanc. Strange but true.
Aromas of berry, herbs, earth and compost. On the palate medium bodied with excellent texture. Nice silky tannins and flavours of berry, spice, herb and earth. It is pretty gamey but also a wine of some sophistication and interest.
Rated : 90 PointsTasting Notes and Australia and Adelaide Hills and Variety and White and riesling
Adelaide Hills riesling is a funny creature. More often than not I do like it. Maybe it tastes a bit more Alsatian than other Australian styles but that just may be the way they are making it.
Aromas of spiced apple, citrus, lemon blossom and spice. On the palate there are flavours of apple, orange and spice. It has squeeky acidity and a touch of phenolic weight. The acidity is a little sharp and angular but it is an interesting style and makes for a change of diet if you are a riesling enthusiast.
Rated : 88 PointsTasting Notes and Chile and Variety and Red and other reds
This wine has just a little carmenere to ease us into a range of wines from Chile that will feature on Winorama next month. The carmenere before the storm if you like. It is a blend of 91.2 % cot (malbec) 6.5 % merlot and 2.3 % carménère.
Strong dark purple. Aromas of concentrated berry, violets, spice, old rhubarb and elastoplast. A curious and engaging smell. On the palate full bodied and packed with berry, milk coffee, stewed fruit and some medicinal overtones. Plenty of fine grained dry tannins and a finish of stewed plum and coffee. Not one for the technocrats perhaps but it is still a very good wine.
Rated : 89 PointsTasting Notes and New Zealand and Central Otago and Variety and White and pinot gris/grigio
I don’t particularily like pinot gris but I think that if you insist on making them then they should, at the very least, taste like pinot gris rather than pinot grigio. This one is certainly a weighty example packed with flavour and I think that Central Otago tends to do this style very well.
Aromas of ripe pear, pez candy and spice. On the palate full bodied and full throttle with intense pear, candy and spice flavours. Its slippery in texture with excellent mouthfeel although the alcohol does intrude slightly. Very long spicy finish. An excellent example of a style that will please many.
Rated : 92 PointsTasting Notes and France and Champagne and Variety and Sparkling
This is a blanc de noir and comes from a small patch of pre-phylloxera vines that resisted, as the French so kindly put it, ‘The American louse’. It is very rare and very bloody expensive. It was with some trepidation that I opened this bottle and to my relief it made a pleasant sigh when the cork came out but after that it was all down hill. It was an alarming orange in colour and tasted like rancid old sherry and dirt. What an incredible shame. A backup of 1998 Dom Perignon came in from the reserve bench. We always open a great champagne on NYE as it also happens to be the anniversary of when JP and I started courting. That’s a doubly good reason to open top fizz in my book.
Tasting Notes and Gippsland and Variety and Red and pinot noir
Dinner down the road with friends Mike and Sue. It appears that they have been given several different bottles of Gippsland Pinot to try so we hopped into them. This is one of a range produced by a young winemaker, Ben Tyler who is based in Rosedale. It had good colour and quite a perfumed nose. The dominant aroma and flavour was marochino cherry with a hint of pepper. The palate was pleasant with soft flavours and although longish lasting it didn’t jump up and say finish this bottle now. I would like to see it again in a few months because I suspect it will fill out.
Tasting Notes and USA and Variety and White and chardonnay
Look carefully at the label and on the lower LHS is the smallest declaration of alcohol content that I have EVER seen. This was very good. Big, rich, oaky with peach and a bit of nuttiness. The palate was very long. It has a little bit of solids influence giving a hint of reduction but is essentially just a big ripe fruit style with lovely oak. The vineyard is about 20 minutes from San Luis Obispo in Central Coast California. They also do interesting things with Shiraz and Grenache but alas, had none available when I dropped in. I will try and chase down some to share with Doc John I reckon. Those of you who prefer the tight, minerally styles of chardonnay will not like this.
Tasting Notes and Hunter Valley and Australia and Variety and Red and shiraz et al
The fruit for this wine comes from the Somerset vineyard, and while it is not estate fruit, I can tell you that particular piece of the Hunter grows outstanding shiraz. I have tramped round it and eaten the grapes. Actually it was just after spraying which may explain why I have been a little touched recently….
Aromas of red berry/cherry, smoke, sweaty saddle and cracked black pepper. Quite old school but still a good one (at least for me). On the palate light to medium bodied with red berry, cherry, earth, spice and peppery flavours. It is nice and fresh with loose knit tannins and plenty of charm. Long sweet fruited finish. A lovely savoury food friendly wine.
Rated : 91 PointsTasting Notes and Hunter Valley and Australia and Wines of the Month and Tip Top Tipple and Variety and Red and shiraz et al
Well it has been a slow train coming but I have finally got round to reviewing the other two shiraz in the De Iuliis triptych. I have opened the Charlies and the Reserve side by side and you could not get a more marked contrast between the old and new styles of Hunter shiraz.
Strong red purple colour. Aromas of blackcurrant and red berry, Dutch licorice, earth, black pepper/spice and toasty vanilla oak. On the palate medium bodied with lovely sweet raspberry and blackcurrant fruit, violet, spice, earth and toasty oak. Particularly good texture with a mesh of fine ripe mouthcoating tannin. Savoury violet infused finish of good length. Regional, affordable and absolutely delicious.
Rated : 94 PointsTasting Notes and France and Beaujolais and Variety and Red and other reds
Another wine from a Gamay tasting I ran in late November. As most know I reckon Gamay makes many Rose style wines look boring and since they are not to far away from Pinot, I like ‘em. We went to a lot of trouble to find this producer and at the time liked his wine but this bottle was a little disappointing. We normally bought 2 or 3 bottles of anything we liked and resampled a few days later before deciding on good examples to bring home. This had the classic gamay spice and plum but there seemed to be something else going on. It had nice length and as I recall, it went really well with dinner. If you visit beaujolais, search this domain out, it is based in Saint Amour.
Tasting Notes and Australia and Yarra Valley and Variety and Rose
Now this is an interesting wine. Quite unlike most Australian rosés (how does Lincoln get those e’ things to work?) in style. It is sure to polarise if only because many will not be getting quite what they expect when they snap the bottle open. I am not sure quite how to rate it and I am not even sure whether I love it or hate it.
Pale super petrol colour. Aromas of redcurrant, meat, toffee and dirt. Slightly varnishy. On the palate there is plenty of rich redcurrant fruit with other more interesting flavours like burnt toffee, meat and dirt. It is squeekily dry (although the fruit is sweet) and relies on tannin rather than acid for refreshment. Finishes dry with (attractive) dirt and quinine flavours and a twist of tannin. It’s very intense. I can appreciate the quality but don’t particularily dig the style.
Rated : 90 PointsTasting Notes and Sauterne and Variety and semillon et al and Sweet
I know that the word Sauternes is redundant but it seems right to emphasize it in case people thought it was Barsac. I have a weakness for things sweet and if with chocolate I am a gonner. At the moment the local strawberries are sensational and dipped in a nice chocolate with this wine was sending me to a better place. The wine is 60% semillon, 36% Sauvignon Blanc and 4% Muscadelle. The dominant feature of nose and palate was the apricot like flavours from the botrytis. If you are not sure how rotten the grapes look, visit the website. The richness is in balance with the sweetness and botrytis flavours. I defy anyone to say that it reeks of Sauvignon Blanc! The palate is long and very nice. In days of PV I used to buy some sauternes in halves every year, alas, I see it as a divinely decadent luxury now. I have mainly had the De Borts Noble One and various other aussie sweeties but this wine is a worthy reminder of where it all started.
Tasting Notes and Australia and Barossa Valley and Variety and Red and shiraz et al
Dean Hewitson makes very distinctive wines. They taste hmmmm Hewitsony for want of a better word. I am not entirely sure I could pick them blind but if you told me afterwards I would most likely say ‘Of course! It certainly tastes like a Hewitson wine…I was going to say that!’
Aromas of blackberry, chocolate, flowers, brazil nut and clove oak. On the palate full bodied with lush blackberry, chocolate, blood, nut and spicy flavours. It is full, soft and supple with light dry tannins and balanced acidity. Very good length of flavour. A hearty supping wine of considerable charm.
Rated : 92 PointsTasting Notes and Australia and Clare Valley and Variety and Red and merlot et al
Steaming through the notes now and it’s a long hard road but someone has to do it. Anyways, I did not even know there was a St Andrews merlot but as soon as I found out I asked for a taster. I love a good merlot I do and just for a change I am not disappointed with this one.
Aromas of stewed plum, blackcurrant, red bean paste, tobacco, old meat and violets with lots of coconut and cinnamon oak. A very good smelling wine. On the palate medium to full bodied with flavours of plum, redcurrant, tobacco, meat, spice and coffee oak. Firm dry tannins. Plenty of presence on the front and mid palate but tails off a little on the finish. This is gamey, dry and pretty firm but I find it very attractive nonetheless.
Rated : 91 PointsTasting Notes and Australia and Tasmania and Variety and Red and pinot noir
I do believe that this wine was included in Halliday’s Top 100 for 2006. I do believe it received a whopping 95 points. I also believe that it is now sold out. That is more than enough believing for one day. I’ll need to buy an electric monk at this rate….
Aromas of plum, dark cherry, forest, mint, pepper and animale. On the palate medium bodied with flavours of black cherry, plum, game and spice. The acid is a little obvious and the tannins firm and dry - black tea like. It looks a little hard really but that may resolve itself with time. Finishes dry and tannic. A good pinot but perhaps brewed a little too long.
Rated : 88 PointsTasting Notes and France and Champagne and Variety and Sparkling
I was wondering whether to review this or not until I saw that GW tried it recently but was probably not going to review it! I had it as part of an evening with friends. Kate kicked off proceedings with this wine. It has all the right aromas of biscuit, fresh bread, a little lees and some bright citrus notes. The palate is relatively austere. Yes it has lovely fine mousse and some puff pastry like nuances plus the nice fruit and it was great as a starter for the night. It’s a style thing and I am not sure how to rate that! Some may give it 95 and rave but to me it doesn’t have the fruit power. Friends have kept it many years and carry on about the way the mid palate fills out but I prefer to buy good fizz to consume now. Your thoughts GW?
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