The Home of Renowned Tasting

Every year a bunch of non wine industry mates, Wendy and myself have a Zin Din. A bit of special planning went into this years. Heather arranged for a colleague to bring back a Zin from Croatia, I brought some back from the USA, Heather found something special in Rutherglen, Monsieur l’Eveque brought one from Langhorne Creek and I obtained one via mail order, Wood Park. Good Zin needs ripeness and a warm climate and it seems to produce the best fruit when dry grown and at lower cropping levels. This wine is, to quote Gary, from the Top End Big Pants range made by Rutherglen Estates. It had the right mix of fruit aromas and a lovely fruit concentration. It also has young estery/confection bits associated with a relatively young red wine. Very clean with nice floral aromas. The palate has a bit of licorice and a bit of bacon with great raspberry flavours. It seems to have relatively high acid but it should last a few years as it fills out. We had it with slow cooked lamb and it was a great match.

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The sommelier at Souk restaurant runs an excellent list and I am not just saying it because my wine is on it or because the owner chef is an old alumni. This wine is an example, it’s on by the glass and I tried it at his recommendation. I was impressed and found it at Europa Cellars in Melbourne and was told its also at Amato’s liquor in Sydney. The wine has fruit and spice aromatics reminiscent of Viognier plus a hint of Pinot Gris type straw and honey. The acid/fruit balance is excellent. The palate has a tropical fruit set of fresh flavours that have good length with a clean finish. A very easy to drink style that is also food friendly. I am not a big fan of Pinot Gris and even less so for Sauvignon Blanc but I know many are tired of Chardonnay so may I boldly suggest Vermentino as a happy compromise.

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I was in need of a house red and after reading a promising review I thought this might be it. I almost bought a case blindly (because I dislike making two trips to the store when one would suffice) but prudently decided on a couple of tasters instead. Sealed under cork too, which I thought was odd. A pleasant nose of small red berries and spice, chocolate and a bit of char. The palate is simple, plums and red liquorice, well fruited and quite sweet really. It is but a pup, so hopefully some time will see it lose some of that sweetness and gain some interest.

Other vintages: 2006

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I had not realised until now that Malleea has an extra ‘e’ in it. It works really well though as those two words have a lovely symmetry when put side by side (or juxtaposed if I wanted to be clever). Just like Cabernet and Shiraz do when put in the same bottle.

Aromas of black and red berries, licorice allsorts, bayleaf, spice, menthol and plenty of cedar oak. It’s a bit earthy and inky too - certainly a lot going on here. On the palate medium to full bodied and packed with fresh berries, cassis, aniseed, spice and cedar oak. Super fine ripe tannins. It’s very smooth and has a real sense of freshness and vibrancy. Beautifully weighted and balanced with a very long aftertaste of juicy berry fruit, aniseed and cedar flavours. Super wine.

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I like DIAM closures very much but they are very tricky to get back into the bottle. They bulge most uncomfortably in the middle when you try and stuff them back in - a bit like me trying to get into an old pair of pants…

Aromas of cherry, strawberry, soil, mushroom, rose and subtle spicy oak. On the palate medium bodied with cherry, strawberry, a light mineral earthiness and a touch of brown spice. Light fine grained tannin and tangy crisp acidity. Fresh and fine boned rather than fruity. It really flows along the palate in a most lovely gentle manner and finishes long and clean. It’s a really beautiful wine.

Other vintages reviewed : 2004

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A 135 Ha vineyard eight km from the ocean in Stellenbosch on the Cape in South Africa.
Dark colour and a real brooding nose that has a tar/char style nose with the fruit lurking in the back. The palate is quite tannic with a firm finish. It shows the same tar characters suggested by the nose that I suspect are oak related. It is a big, brooding style wine. The berry flavour is there in the back behind the tar and char. A reasonable wine but not my style. Once again, the price is a guestimate since my friend believes it is not imported to Australia.

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A wine from a large 1000Ha estate on the Simonsberg mountain, on the Cape in South Africa. A friend who knew that I had been busy investigating shiraz from all over, opened a few from South Africa, to see how they stack up against the Aussie stuff. Aromas of red berry, rich plum, bit of sulfide/reducing character in back.

The palate is quite clean and shows ripe red berry flavour, with good acid and a powdery tannin edge. There is also a line of white pepper running along the back not unlike a cool climate shiraz. It is an interesting mix and reminds me of a wine, The Guilty, that I reviewed a month or so back. The price is an estimate because as I understand it, the wine is not imported to Australia, yet!

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Bugger. I just atomised a Spiegelau Bordeaux glass. It’s the third this week including a Riedel Chianti and a humble ISO. I think I must have been spiked with the infamous “Clumsy Drug”.

Aromas of blackcurrant and red fruits, aniseed, gravel, black olive and cedar oak. Fine and fragrant. On the palate medium to full bodied with blackcurrant, redcurrant, tobacco and cedar oak flavour. Very tight with super clarity and definition. It has strong gravelly but very fine tannins and brisk fresh acidity. Super long red fruit and black olive finish. The quality and pedigree (along with the screwcap closure) almost guaranteeing that this will become one of the Coonawarra greats.

Other vintages reviewed : 1993, 2003, 1999, 1994

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I have had very good experiences with the last few vintages of Massale by Kooyong. This is a good wine but it is a little different from previous releases. It shows the hot early vintage and reminds me a bit of some of the better 2003 red Burgundies.

A vivid clear red colour with aromas of cherry/raspberry, mineral, soil and subtle vanilla oak with a suggestion of licorice richness. No mistaking this for anything other than pinot. On the palate light to medium bodied with clear fresh cherry and raspberry, spice and mineral flavours. Very bright pippy acidity and light slightly sappy grainy tannins. Dry minerally finish. At this stage this is all about structure rather than fruit. It’s one for later rather than now.

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What a good blend this is. The richness and softness of chardonnay cut with the clean fresh taste of semillon. It also has the advantage of being fairly low in alcohol. Not sure how much this cost because it rolled up unexpected and unannounced in a mixed dozen one day much like the dwarves in “The Hobbit”. One of the happy advantages of being a forgetful Private Bin member.

Aromas of peach, lime, struck flint and a whisper of spicy vanilla oak. On the palate light to medium bodied with fresh hard pineapple, lime and peach with a little mineral and faint spiced oak. Very clean refreshing flavours combined with considerable finesse, balance and length make for a wine that is an absolute pleasure to drink.

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This not what you would normally expect of Coonawarra shiraz and I reckon some will go nuts over it. I prefer a lighter style myself (or the brilliant Cabernet sibling) but there is no denying the quality here. Release date is 1st August.

Aromas of Muscatel raisin, blackberry, vanilla, licorice, chocolate and black pepper. Big sweet and spicy. On the palate full bodied with flavours of blackberry, raisin, spice, vanilla and chocolate. Very fine dry tannins, clean acidity and some warm alcohol. Finishes with excellent length of flavour with a spicy chocolate aftertaste. It’s big and luscious but retains a fine sense of balance. Pretty impressive wine.

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Sometimes you come across wines that have you a bit stumped and this is one of them. I think that people will either love or just be a bit non-plussed with this one. One thing that’s for certain is that it looks much better after being open for a day.

Aromas of raspberry tartlet, cherry, capsicum, star anise, pepper and cedar vanilla oak. On the palate medium bodied with raspberry, cherry, blackcurrant, spice and savoury oak flavours. The weight leaning slightly towards the front palate. Pronounced pippy acidity and light fine grained but grippy tannins. Finishes with sour raspberry and spice flavours. A bit one dimensional at the moment but it may well have the potential to turn into something pretty good.

Other vintages reviewed : 2003

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Renaissance is the new top end big pants range (they call it Iconic in the press release but I prefer my own definition) from Rutherglen Estates. It includes a Petit Sirah (Durif), Zinfandel and this white Rhone blend of Viognier (45%), Roussane (35%) and Marsanne (20%). It’s pretty tricky to get this sort of blend right as they tend to be too heavy or too edgy or whatnot. Hard to get the balance right anyway.

Aromas of apple, lemon, apricot kernel, candle wax, creamed honey and spicy oak. It’s a bit smoky and floral too. Layered and complex. On the palate full bodied with apple, lemon, white peach, spice, some light honey flavours and savoury smoky barrel ferment characters. Good weight and texture, crunchy acidity and fine balance through the length of the palate. Finishes with spicy lemon flavours. It’s different and interesting and as Borat would say “Is very nice!”

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The last of my reviews from my evening of 2005 Shiraz. I tried this wine at cellar door and quite liked it so bought a bottle for the tasting. However, despite being under screwcap this looked different. It opened with a little Aussie style mint on the nose (1,8 Cineole I believe?) and then gave a great gush of ripe jam fruit and cola. On the palate the big fruit and mint continued with a bit of straw and plum. It seemed to me that the alcohol intruded but at 14.9% it was below the 15.5% of the Poonawatta which was the next wine in the list and did not show warmth. The wine went better with food than in the line up, especially a rich pasta!

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A well known Pinotphile having an evening of shiraz was quite an ask for my friends but I did try to put together an eclectic mix of what other palates before me had rated highly. I must confess to not seeing enough Shiraz from Margaret River but this winery is well thought of and at 13 years of vine age the wine shows good fruit power. Its bracket also had Craiglee, Paringa, Poonawatta (reviewed last week) and Heathcotes Royal Mail. On the nose it has ripe, cassis like red berry fruits. On the palate there is quite a complex mix of flavours that begin with the lush red berry fruit, move into some dried herbs and a little cola. The tannins are quite amazing with a little feral character in the back. In the bracket the Poonawatta was the preferred choice but this was the middle bracket which at $25 makes it good value.

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Grrrr. I wrote this up last night whilst tasting the wine and somehow the review just vanished. My previous introduction talked about needing to get cracking in order to get through a huge backlog of wines and here I am being thwarted by technology. It does make me cross doing things twice. Anyway, this is top follow up to the excellent 2006 Tomich GT but I might add that I also tasted the 2006 Pinot recently and think that quality is down and price is up compared to the 2005 and hence no review. New note from memory below..

Aromas of lychee, pineapple, ginger spice and rose petal. Very aromatic and exotic. On the palate light to medium bodied with flavours of lychee, hard green pear, ginger spice and flowers. Nice crunchy acidity and only fractionally viscous. It looks good and fresh. Finishes with spicy green pear flavours. Lovely wine.

Other vintages : 2006

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Well I had lost track of time and this just so happens to be Winorama’s 2000th tasting note….and now I reflect on it I can’t really think of a better wine to celebrate. Lincoln and I (and perhaps David) cut our teeth on Tahbilk, and really, they have to take some part of the blame for our interest in wine. That interest (or obsession) leading to this website and all these pages and pages of tasting notes. It has been a wizard wheeze doing the first 2000 and I reckon we are only just warming up. Cheers all and thanks for popping by.

Aromas of prune, blackberry, licorice allsorts, resin, mint and leather. Lots of action. On the palate medium to full bodied with a mix of prune, raspberry and blackberry fruit with licorice, leather and resin flavours. Good ripe but firm tannins. It looks a bit cooked but pulls it off with plenty of rustic charm and a sense of integrity. It’s a great bargain.

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1 to go …. what will it be?

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I have decided that I really like these new Rosemount bottles. They remind me very strongly of the shape of Kryten’s head. The other far less important reason for liking them is that they are screwcapped which means that those really little dodgy corks they used to use are now a thing of the past.

Aromas of plum, red berry, cocoa, pepper, spice and toasty oak. On the palate medium to full bodied with flavours of red berry, plum, toast and pepper. Light dry tannins. It’s a gentle wine, not especially deep or rich, and it drinks quite nicely too - it just seems a bit pedestrian. I’d expect more from old vines in a top vintage.

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A rich and, to my way of thinking, quite an oaky nose; nuts and dark fruits, blackberries, vanilla, raspberries and a bit of char. The palate is impressive, tangy ripe fruits, blackberries and raspberries again, and I choose the latter fruit because there is acid to match the lovely fruits and I always think of raspberries as quite acidic. There is also an underlying smokiness and earthiness that adds weight and complexity. Soft and smooth tannins; drinking a treat now, though I would recommend a decant, and will look just as good with 5+ years under its belt I reckon.

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