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The problem with many modestly priced sparkling wines is that they are often good for a glass and then the acidity builds up and starts to grate.

Salmon in colour with sweet red apple, strawberry, a little spice and some creamy pastry aromas. On the palate mid-weight fine and soft with sweet apple, redcurrant and rosehip and a slight yeastiness. It has an attractive fluffiness but has some biting acidity that builds up. All in all though it’s a pretty good wine for the price - especially considering the amount of bottle age it receives.

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I think I have commented on the ordinary labels before but it happened to come up again in conversation recently with a restaurateur friend. He said he would not list them because they looked too cheap. On the upside what’s in the bottle here is really good.

Aromas of lemon butter, nectarine, creamy oatmeal, nuts and light spicy oak. On the palate intense and packed with sweet juicy white peach and citrus fruit backed with fine spicy oak. It has bright clean acidity running through a smooth creamy texture. Lots of interest and yeasty lees complexity with very good length of flavour. An excellent richer style chardonnay (although not without refinement) and a dead set bargain.

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I lost the press release but I can still read the back label and now I think on it I still have a bottle of 2005 lurking about somewhere …opps. This is a collaboration between Donny (Stuart) Gregor, Kate Goodman and Cameron Mackenzie with the fruit ’sourced from an iconic vineyard in Western Victoria’s Pyrenees’ - although they won’t say which one. email thepig@donnygoodmac.com.au to order a dozen at $290 delivered.

Very bright purple colour with equally vivid aromatics. It offers blood plum, cherry, black pepper, a whole rack of spices, flowers and dusty oak. On the palate medium bodied and fresh with pippy cherry, plum, spice and dusty oak. A bit meaty too but the emphasis is on vibrant pure fruit. Nice bright acidity and fine grained tannins round off a wine of considerable style and finesse. Pretty young and cheeky now, but if your tastes run towards spicy Victorian Shiraz then you’d do pretty well to order up a few slices of this.

Other vintages : 2004

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I have always associated Redbank with Sally’s Paddock, or maybe that should be vice versa, but Gary just told me that Yalumba now own Sally’s Paddock, and then gave me a long-winded history lesson that utterly confused me and has given me a headache. I must be using my weekend brain.

A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec. A rich and concentrated nose: red currants and red cherries, spice, a bit of plums and some regional peppermint. The palate is medium bodied and quite silky, with red fruits and peppermint, plummy fruits and some old cinnamon bark. Very nice at the moment, but quite elemental, so I reckon you can drink it now if you like your wines young, or age it for some secondary characters.

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This will be under screwcap next vintage and hopefully they will take the opportunity to revamp the packaging too.

Aromas of baked plum, berries, eucalypt, earth and light woody oak. On the palate medium to full bodied with plum, blackberry, earth and minty leafy flavours. Slightly stewy fruit. There are plenty of firm grainy mouthcoating tannins and lively acidity. Finishes with dry powdery tannins and minty berry flavours. A good value regional cabernet.

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This wine provides an excuse for me to talk about a tasting put on by our friend Heather and her partner. In addition our long term tasting group friend M. L’eveque aka David Bishop and neighbours Tony and Heather. The tasting from her cellar covered Dalwhinnie from 1991 to 2005 with a ring in (Turkey Flat 2004). Wendy and I visited Dalwhinnie a few years back and were impressed with the Shiraz and even the Cabernet. This tasting suggested that the oak and fruit character has provided a moving palate experience. Winefront found the 2005 to have better oak balance than some earlier vintages. The vanilla and oak tannin on this wine was quite pronounced to me but did not show the coconut flavours I saw in the 2004. Lovely berry fruit in this wine suggests that it will develop well. How is the track record? In a word, remarkable. There were only two vintages in the 12 that I tried where I was left with anything negative, the 1997 seemed dried out and a little green and the 1992 a bit thin. I wish my Pinots had a track record this strong. The 1991 was wonderful although I think we were lucky as the cork was very crumbly. The 2003 was another favourite. Like most wineproducers of repute I think Dalwhinnie has gained a better understanding of his fruit with each vintage so that as the vines have aged and his winemaking skills grown the wines get more consistent. My only doubt? I didn’t check to confirm that he used Diam in 2005 since it was Heathers tasting and it was a long but most enjoyable evening.

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Lots of stuff happening on the nose: bacon, raspberries, red plums, liquorice all-sorts, some smoky stalks, new red leather, pepper and grilled nuts. The palate is very youthful and intensely fruited, primary sweet juicy red fruits, with some savoury nuances and a dose of funk. The tannins are seemless and the length is fabulous. Really, a terrific wine that could do with another 5 or more years in the cellar. Now I have not had this next to the standard Shiraz release, but from memory this certainly seems a class above it.

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This is a very interesting wine. The Southwest Rocks vineyard was established in 1995 and is pretty much one great big reef of stone that had to be blasted before planting. It sits at an altitude of 593 meters and crops in a most miserly fashion. The shiraz clone is sourced from Best’s original Great Western vineyard. The grapes are fermented in a single two tonne fermenter for ten days before being basket pressed and taken to 90% new French oak from two coopers - Sirugue and D&J. Only 150 dozen produced.

I put this in front of the delightful JP and her response was ‘hmm mint and horses’ but she really likes the wine and so do I. Much better than the standard shiraz from the same year and far more interesting. If I was a wine wanker with a predilection for comparing local wines to some sort of abstract European counterpart then I would suggest that this looks a bit like a Cornas - only mintier and with sweeter fruit. Probably not much like one at all really I suppose. Certainly looks like a terrific Pyrenees shiraz though.

Aromas of blackcurrant, cherry, chocolate, mint, spice, horse, licorice and stalk. On the medium to full bodied palate there are delightful sweet and sour flavours of blackberry/blackcurrant, leather, spice and olive. Lovely fine sappy tannins. I find them firm and authoritative but there is a plush fruit sweetness here too so you have the balance of light and shade. Long savoury finish that has you reaching out for your glass again far too quickly. You should be savouring a beautiful wine like this. You fool.

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Initially, the nose was just choc-mint in a glass. With a swirl of fondant oak. The palate was smooth and chocolately, with mint and leafy herbs, and yet it was also a bit savoury too. Now I don’t mind a bit of mint, but I can imagine this wine would really upset some people, and there might be some chairs thrown around the room. Overnight it settled down, with red cherries, dry and savoury, a touch of eucalypt and an undercurrant of mint. At 5 years of age it is ready to go, but don’t forget you have been warned about the mint. Store code for this wine is KHL 4634.

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First things first: this needs a decant. This done, the nose is complex and alluring: red currants and red cherries mixed with black fruits, milk chocolate and some smokiness. The palate is full and delicious, beautiful fruits matched with quality oak and ripe medium-grained tannins. A super wine with years ahead of it - it is hard to believe it was priced around $20.

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Black coffee beans and liquorice, gunsmoke, traces of vanilla. The palate shows raspberry and smoky red cherry fruits, dry spices, nutmeg and lots of acid. The finish is quite drying. This is not a giving wine, lighter bodied than expected, and what fruit sweetness there is is almost overwhelmed by the acid. Refined and tight, but I’m not really sure where it is heading.

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Cherry red in colour – looks nice. On the nose, medicinal red toffee, green tea and herbs, cinnamon bark, and light red cherry fruit. A good start, but the palate is thin, with old stale oak overtones and acidic undertones. The finish, that that there is, is bitter. Hmmmm. Looking very tired indeed, and pretty hard work to drink anything more than a couple of glasses. This was purchased under 2 years ago, and it seems almost shot already. Dunno really…

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I think this is a record for Winorama - McLaren Vale 67%, Mudgee 24%, Alpine Valley 4.6%, Limestone Coast 4.3%, Pyrenees 3.3%, Hunter Valley 2.3%.

Crimson red. Aromas of red berry, spice and a light smoky earthy character - a bit like a Graves actually. On the palate it is only medium bodied with red berry, blackcurrant and those earthy characters again. Dry sandy tannins and a palate cleansing dry, somewhat abrupt, finish with some alcohol warmth. This is a serviceable dinner claret style and I like it for that. You can’t really complain at the price either.

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The fruit is sourced from a vineyard in the Glenlofty Ranges established by Seppelt in 1995. This is the second release that I have tried. I like this better than the 2004.

Aromas of grapefruit/nectarine,candle wax,white flowers, spicy vanilla oak and savoury yeasty characters. On the palate it has good weight and texture - a combination of creamy lees and bright grapefruity acid with flavours of stonefruit, grapefruit, nuts, spice and distinctly savoury yeasty flavours. Just a little warmth from alcohol. Clean finish with grapefruit and more savoury flavours. I am betting that this will age into something really quite interesting.

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Gary reviewed this wine here, so it was my turn.

Very pleasant straight off the bat: nougat, dark berries, tar, milk chocolate, dark spices, quite savoury with a certain broadness. The palate shows red fruits, dry and savoury meats, woody spices and a dry finish. Some fruit sweetness appears with air time, so don’t quaff it – allow some time to see it shine.

Ideally needs a couple of years, and is really great value for money.

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I don’t know why a wine from the 2001 vintage is still available at retail, but I suppose they must have had some trouble selling stock, and you may note that the price of this wine has been reduced as well.

The colour is a dense red. The nose showed dusty herbs, black olives and smoke, blackberries, and nougat, and something like spearmint, or is it eucalypt, I’m not sure. The palate is still quite tannic, with dry woody spices and dried herbs, soy sauce, black and red fruits, and finished firmly. This wine is a little like an 18 year old: doesn’t quite know what it is and doesn’t know where it is going. Probably not bad value at the new price, but drink sooner rather than later.

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Much talk about this wine of late so I thought I had better check it out myself. I tried this and the cabernet last week at an instore tasting. Both nice wines. The cabernet had too much of that tinned corn smell that you see in some central Victorian wines. Good wine no doubt, just not one for me. Bought a bottle of the shiraz to taste at home.

Aromas of plums, blackcurrant, turkish delight, spice some dark licorice and lots of sweet (almost sickly) vanilla oak. On the palate very silky with lovely fine grained tannins and flavours of rich plum/blackberry fruit and vanillin oak.Perhaps a suggestion of sweet blackcurrant veering towards tinned corn. Balanced acidity and a fine ripe tannic finish. Lovely but leaves me a bit cold. Like the dinner guest that is manicured, perfumed, beautifully presented and perfectly behaved..yet rather boring.

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The 2004 vintage looks excellent for Seppelt. I have tasted the Chalambar and St Peters from this vintage and they are splendid wines. This is the entry level shiraz and it delivers the goods big time at this price point.

Deep purple. Aromas of dark berries, spice, pepper, milk chocolate with meaty savoury overtones yet quite pretty and floral. On the palate medium to full bodied and quite quite dry with meaty dark berry flavours. Spicy too. Fine lightly sandy mouthcoating tannins. Finishes dry and savoury. This is just sensational at the price. So much so that I wonder if I am being stingy with the points? Try one and see for yourself.

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