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Well I reviewed this nearly a year ago and gave it an 89+, tasted a second bottle a few months ago and thought it much better, and this third bottle I thought better again. Good old plus sign eh. Get out of gaol free. I tasted this alongside the 2006 Reserve Pinot, and while the Reserve has greater intensity and focus, there’s certainly not a huge gulf between their relative stations. I’d also add that I poured off a glass out of each bottle and left them in the fridge until the next day. They looked all the better for it too.

A mix of rich cherry, spice, Autumn leaves and toasty caramel oak lead on to a medium to full bodied palate with plenty of flavour that’s full of ripe cherry and plum, earth and spice - sweet and savoury at once. It has bright clean acidity and fine grained textured tannins providing firm structure. Excellent length of flavour finishing spicy and dry. Still needs more time.

Other vintages : 2006, 2006, 2005, 2004

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The Chardonnay of the same vintage is a pretty good wine, smoky mind you, but otherwise excellent. I’ll review it later. This on the other hand, should most likely not have been released. I don’t normally review lesser wines but this is fully priced, and from a company not lacking in resources.

It smells good with dark cherry, peat smoke and spice - rich and inviting. On the palate medium to full bodied with black cherries, Chinese plum sauce, spice and some peaty smoke flavours (think Talisker) but texturally it feels distinctly odd - shapeless, denatured, acrid and rubbery. Most unnatural, it holds a sort of car crash fascination, and while drinkable affords little pleasure.

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No introduction, I am in a rush and Blackboard is telling me to “hurry up”.

Glacé cherries, a roundedness, stalk and pepper, soda water, mint tea and a touch of dried meat. The palate showed red fruits, dried stalks through the mid palate and fleshed out on a finish that included a touch of sap too. There was some sweetness of fruit, with some game and dried meat characters, but there was also an underlying stalkiness that might disconcert some people. A lovely light mouthfeel, good length, dry and perhaps a bit shy, lightly weighted with a feminine edge. Short term drinking I would guess.

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I know what you’re thinking, here goes Lincoln with that weird descriptor, but this does smell like sausage meat. It does. I might be odd but I hope I am consistently so. There are also aromas of red fruits, spices and smoke, but all this is dominated by spicy tomato sauce and sausages. The palate is, to be honest, a bit feral, with plums and red cherries, minerals, hints of meats and stalks, and wild sauvage character. The finish is little warm and metallic. Very odd indeed, though good persistence through the palate, with some creaminess, but the sweet tomato sauce confection pushes the wine well to the left of field. A tough one to rate.

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I often like saying “Toolangi” in a baritone African Chief style voice before tasting a glass. It’s nearly as enjoyable as the wine, but not quite.

It offers up a gentle classic Yarra Pinot aromatic of red cherry, strawberry, spice and a bit of leaf mulch that leads into a light to medium bodied palate. The flavour is good with sweet red fruit and spice being the major players, accompanied by light dry tannins and clean soft acidity. It all flows along very nicely, is balanced and long, and drinks a treat from beginning to end. If you’re out shopping for good Pinot under $25 then I’d pop this near the top of the list.

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There’s plenty of good Pinot about for under $30 and the Yarra is generally the place to look for it. I was speaking to a wine writer the other day, moaning about how I wish I had time to do more reviews, but the formatting slows me down. He offered that all people want is an opinion and a score. Maybe he’s right? See below for an unpolished note.

It’s taught and acidic with lots of flavour - cherry, earth, briar, dusty oak, aniseed and dried herb. Quite dramatic and certainly spicy. Tannins are a little chalky and chunky and there’s a touch of bitterness on the finish that detracts but otherwise all very good. Like it and good value.

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A dinner where a couple of us tried to bring wines from 1999. This had lovely aromas of bright cherry fruit. The palate was supple and very long. The fruit was clean and expressed ripeness with a spectrum of flavours from dark cherry thru to raspberry. I could see oak but it was well integrated and did not stand out. The wine was very popular and a lot better than a few other ’99s I had a week earlier. Alongside the 99 from Bernard Dugat-Puy it shone.

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A dinner with Pinot producers looked at quite a few Bourgognes from 2005 and one from this maker looked very reduced and seemed extractive so the question was posed about how they age. Fortunately an example from the great vintage of 1999 was at hand and although we didn’t have any other Bourgogne from ‘99 we did have a Nuits Saint George to act as reference point. The colour of this wine quite dark with little sign of development. The nose had cinnamon, plums and maybe a little bacon. The palate was rather tough, a lot of tannin and very tight fruit at the plum end and some oak flavours of cinnamon spice and nutmeg. It may well open up in a few years but for now it was not a wine I would choose to drink. I had a bottle of my ‘99 and also the Kooyong ‘99 the next day and both showed more development but were more approachable. Some of you may have experience with how this level of tannin and fruit resolve with time but for now I reckon it would probably be loved by Bob Parker and his followers.

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A curiously cork sealed Central Otago pinot from the Bendigo and Pisa sub-regions. Very good though and perhaps a bit more refined than you would expect of a Central Otago.

Lots going on here with black cherry, plum, sarsaparilla, pepper, spice, smoke, flowers and pencilly oak all making their contributions to this aromatically action packed wine. It’s medium bodied with bright fresh acidity, smooth lightly chalky tannins and excellent flow through the mouth. Not heavy or sweet with flavours of black cherry, graphite, liquorice, spice, a little cocoa and a long clean spicy finish. It’s a very impressive wine.

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Anthony at Boccaccio Cellars told me to get onto this wine because he said it was a match made in heaven with his signature dish of Findus Ham ‘n Cheese Crispy Pancakes. My culinary skills are not quite as advanced as his so I had to make do with oven roast duck breast and steamed Asian greens on a bed of spiced couscous. I usually like to add that I think Marlborough is generally under-rated as a region for Pinot Noir…so I will.

It smells of ripe cherry, spice, cocoa, tamarillo, smoke and Autumn leaves - at once both typically Pinot and NZ. On the palate medium to full bodied with bright sappy sour edged cherry and plum fruit that’s rich, mouthfilling and complemented by spice, cola and dried herbs. With smooth fine grained tannins, a velvet texture and excellent length of flavour this delivers the complete Pinot package - satisfaction guaranteed.

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Good wine this and probably the best Ninth Island I can remember tasting - it has personality and vigour.

Intriguing and challenging with dark cherry, raspberry, spice, Irish Moss (if you remember either the lozenge or the syrup) and a little smoke. On the palate firm and muscular with quite chunky grippy tannins and some tangy acid. It has savoury flavours of peat, undergrowth, black cherry and dried herbs. It’s complex and engaging - an earthy wine with an abundance of personality that finishes with bright acid and decent length of flavour. A winner at this price point.

Other vintages : 2006, 2005, 2005

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It’s often a funny business reviewing or trying to form an opinion of a particular wine. Sometimes, even after only the first sip, you have a firm one (opinion that is) and think you have it sorted, other times it’s hmmm well…more elusive and you dither a bit. What am I trying to say? Not quite sure but there’s certainly no certainties when it comes to this sort of thing - especially with Pinot Noir. And am I dithering again?

The light bright red colour that says Go! rather than Stop leads on to complex, multi-faceted aromatics of spicy red fruit/cherry, liquorice root, decaying leaves and some vanilla toffee oak. It’s just medium bodied, clean, light and fresh. Lithely tannic with spicy red fruits, fine oak and a long expansive finish. It’s another excellent example of just how good we are getting with this variety.

Other vintages: 2005, 2003

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Macedon region provides some great wine and this is a fine example. It has a lovely dark red colour and a nose that starts off a little disconcerting but after 20 minutes or so settles down. Initially it has dried herb aromas with licorice and quite a bit of Maraschino cherry. The licorice breathed out leaving pure cherry with a hint of raisin. The palate experienced the same level of change as the nose. It ends up being long with a lovely intense, pure red cherry. It is a complex wine that deserves time and maybe some revisits over a 24 hour period. I had it alongside a range of great Pinots, all were served blind and it provided a great deal of interest as it revealed its self compared to some of the others that were immediately drinkable and showy.

Other vintages : 2005, 2004, 2003

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I attended a blind tasting of Pinots the other night and was blown away by how good this wine looked. My initial reaction was that it was New World with lovely red berry fruits. However, like many young Pinots it changed quite a bit over the 20 minutes that I tasted it. The colour was reasonably dark and the nose had a hint of sweet and sour style fruit flavours that I often associate with Central Otago. A few minutes later these aromas resolved into cherry and a bit of blackberry. The palate showed superb length with the cherry of the black, intense flavour type. The tannins were firm suggesting this will continue to deliver for some time. A very impressive wine.

Other vintages : 2005, 2004

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One from the cellar. A light red in colour, no browning but no vibrancy either. Red cherries, leather, clean earth on the nose. The palate showed red fruits and some secondary development, a bit of gloss and a brief moment where the wine seemed to have some weight and mouthfeel. But really, it is starting to dry out and leaves a watery impression. And the finish evaporated quite quickly in the mouth. Dry. Drink up.

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I tasted this alongside (is that one or two words?) the 2005 vintage and you can really taste the different growing seasons captured in the wine. I often think that grapes remember the weather much better than we do, especially those of us that only have slightly bigger than grape sized brains..and I know a fair few of them.

It smells of cherry and other red fruits with plenty of spice and clean soil - a smell I often call ‘worm farm’ although that’s probably a bit esoteric. On the palate firm and muscular with bright acid and fluffy dry tannins offering authoritative grip. It’s a touch sappy too. It looks young and unevolved at the moment but I’d say it has good potential for further improvement. A convincing Pinot.

Other vintages: 2005

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There’s apparently a few cases of this still available ex-winery although the 2006 is now the current release. I’m becoming something of an (inadvertent) champion for Yarra Valley wine these days, one way or another, and let me say I’m always very happy to see them come through the door. Big wines are great, but they tire you out pretty quickly, so it’s often Yarra to the rescue with refreshment and style. And this wine has both of those characters in abundance.

Colour looks a bit developed but it smells pretty with spice, red fruits, forest, clean earth and flowering basil. There’s a bit of stem here to add interest too. In the mouth it’s medium bodied offering a mix of black cherry, strawberry and raspberry with spice, mint and earthy characters. It feels light and balanced, cool and fresh, with a lovely gentle texture and light dry tannin. A graceful wine that flows along beautifully and closes with excellent length of flavour. Imagine a cool summer evening picnic by the edge of a fragrant forest and you have the mood.

Other vintages: 2006

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Dry grown and handpicked from a 30 year old vineyard located in the Woori Yallock sub-region of the Yarra Valley. It’s an excellent wine, unbeatable value and I’m guessing you are getting a big discount for the ghastly label. Oh Canada..Oh Canada!

It smells and tastes of poached strawberry, cherry, fennel, new shoe leather and a bit of spice. On the palate it’s medium bodied and offers gentle easy drinking with a touch of complexity and style. It has a kiss of spicy oak, fine soft tannins and flows through the mouth effortlessly. Finishes with decent length and closes with sweet spicy poached strawberry flavours. Lovely wine and a damned tasty drink.

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This is the partner wine to the excellent Tarraford Vineyard. Both wines are made exactly the same way in order to allow the full expression of site. As an aside, whenever I read the name “Sexton” the reed thin smoking teenage 80’s one hit wonder Charlie Sexton comes to mind and I start humming “Beat’s so Lonely”..but that’s just me. I have an odd mind for associations.

The dark cherry, bramble fruit, spice and earthy forest floor aromatics are highly pleasing. On the palate medium to full bodied (in context) with excellent flavour offering plum, sour cherry, brown spices and an earthy mushroomy character. It has fine but slightly chalky tannins and balanced acidity. Decent length with a touch of citrus peel to close. Excellent now with the X-Factor potential for further improvement.

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So much good wine and so little time to write it up. I’d love to have either the luxury of time or a conscience that allows me to do half arsed reviews but sadly I have neither (at least at the moment).Then again, wineries that deliver the sort of quality and attention to detail that Giant Steps have been dishing up recently deserve that bit of extra effort, and really it’s pretty easy for me to sit down, taste a bit of fine wine, and offer an opinion and a few words. I should really just shut up and stop moaning shouldn’t I? Right then! *slaps hands and rubs them together*

Delicate and dripping with Pinosity this pretty bright red coloured wine offers up a scented bouquet of cherry, strawberry, roses, a little spice, aniseed and a dusty earthy character. On the palate light to medium bodied with fine dry tannin and bright clean acidity that gives a feeling of real clarity and freshness in the mouth. It has flavours of red cherry and liqueur strawberry with just a touch of earth and dried herb and finishes clean, dry and long. It’s a wine that combines delicacy with a firm structure and delivers it in fine style. Excellent.

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