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Wendy and I tried this and the 2002 release fairly close together. Wendy liked one vintage and I the other. A blend of Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer from Bergheim. This opens with lovely fruit flavours and a nose showing ripe honeyed fruit almost like that of a 4 year old Clare Riesling. The character is typical of quite a few whites from 2003 in Alsace that I have tried. The wine has nice length, good acidity and reasonable hit of residual sugar but in excellent balance. The flavours start off with the ripe grapefruit, then the rose petal, straw and honey.

Other vintages : 2002

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The website for this domain has some lovely images of Alsace. It is also possible to see the great vineyard sites they have. This wine is an interesting mix of Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer. Rich fruit flavours on the nose, nice length on the palate, good acidity and reasonable residual sugar but in excellent balance. A really complex mix of flavours that is not about a single variety but a stylish mix that is complexed by regional terroir. It is a little tricky to describe the actual fruit related components but a bit of honey, some roses and a bit of peach. I believe the 2002 is sold out now but will review the 2003 which is available in the not too distant future.

Other vintages : 2003

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I got this cheap from a bargain bin. There was evidence of leakage, though I was assured that the bottle had spent most of its life in a wine fridge. I was not expecting much. Now Hugel make a huge selection of wines, and I believe this is from the “Classic” range. Anyhoo, the sodden cork was removed and I was greeted by concentrated aromatics, orange blossoms and citrus peel, turkish delight, candied oranges, rose petals, pretty and potent. It was really quite a compelling nose. The palate was rounded, a candied sweetness but not overly sweet, oranges and lemons, a little spicy, persistent, and finishing dryly with a bit of petroleum and a touch of green hardness. But I am being fussy. Great length, with some lazy flavours just lingering in the mouth. I think this would be considered too sweet by many Australian palates, but I quite like a bit of residual sugar in my Rieslings and Gewurztraminers.

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I like Alsatian rieslings but the long bottles are a bit of a pain because it forces me to write longer tasting notes to accomodate the longer picture. This is just the generic AC riesling from this producer but it’s very good. I’d love to see more Alsatian rieslings sealed with screwcap.

Aromas of lime, orange and cumquats. Slightly floral. On the palate dry and crunchy with some grainy phenolic grip. It has intense lime sherbert, orange and spice flavours with a good dry spicy finish. Palate cleansing and very tasty. I think I might be being a points miser with this wine so I’ll use that as a good excuse to buy another bottle. Just to be sure.

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Served blind with a few other rieslings this looked rather special. The nose showed vanilla, apple and maybe even a little spice. The palate was long with great power. Very intense, oily sweetness that oozed apple and the vanilla along with a lingering perfume that was a bit of lime and maybe a hint of apricot. Great wine.

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A tasting put on by some friends featured a few special aged wines of renown. It had a golden colour with a nose with apricot and a hint of lime and a little rose. It is a rich and powerful wine on the palate that shows rose, apricot and a little lime. Great palate weight and length. It was served blind so many of us suspected botrytis and Alsace but the gewurz aspect didn’t leap out. When it was revealed to be a Selection de grains nobles with age it made sense, but the overall conclusion was the whole package, ie aged, Alsace and botrytis. A lovely wine that reinforced what several winorama readers have suggested, leave the great wines of Alsace alone for 10+ years.

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A friend makes Pinot Gris and placed this in a bracket of three for us to try. It is my feeling that Pinot Gris styles are all over the paddock, regardless of where they are from. Josmeyer seems to be of the style that starts off restrained and needs time to evolve. This wine was no exception. It opened with a restrained nose that suggested soft fragrances of straw, violets and even a bit of licorice. The palate built up over about 40 minmutes but was always restrained and clean with a little kick of sugar at the end to fill it up. I think this was a bit of vinocide and suggest that if you buy any, it is left in the cellar for 2 to 3 years at least. It is very different to anything that I have tried from Australia.

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A friend bought this last week. It had that classical honeydew and rich flavour that one associates with Alsace. Nice wine but a bit sweet. In case you are wondering about the grape, it is a mutated Pinot Noir. It tastes like a cross between Pinot Gris and riesling with a hint of traminer plus a good sugar boost. I reckon it would make a sensational food mix with something that has great acid a la the tamarillo based desert we had at three clicks west in Sydney for our Champagne master class a few weeks back.

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This was blind alongside some really left field wines. It opened with a floral, riesling like nose. I immediately thought it was an Italian wine. On the palate it showed tropical fruit salad with a rich honey finish. There did seem to be a hole in the middle. When it was revealed I tried it again and concluded that it was a reasonable Pinot Gris but not great. It was good enough to get me interested in searching for more from the Domaine.

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Graeme G suggested that a Riesling I had from Alsace was too young at about 4 years of age so this is my attempt to follow his advice. I can also report that many Australian Rieslings seem to go to that Kerosine edge by 4 years so this was an interesting wine to try. I had a matching Grand Cru Riesling that was great but I chucked the bottle before photographing it. So a Tokay Pinot Gris of 8 years it is. The wine had a nose that was opening up. Lovely, almost Rieslingesque tang with a hint of straw. The palate was tight, superb acid punch and long straw/riesling like flavours with a citrus edge. Great wine that was enjoyed by all present too quickly. Now if only I hadn’t chucked the Riesling bottle out….

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Officeworks, aisle 4, half-way down on the left-hand side. Cardboard. Corked. I hate corks, sometimes.

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On an earlier review of this style someone commented that they need time, eg 5+ years so when I saw this on the shelf at Dan Murphys I grabbed it. The colour is a little yellowish and the nose has kerro tones. When I asked the others present what they thought, the answer was New World, possibly Clare and about 4 to 5 years. It has a perfumed nose with apple. A tight palate where the fruit is quite sumptuous. Great value for those who like Riesling.

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Tight nose with subtle fruit aroma. On the palate this wine shows apple flavours and high acid.
The impression is of a bigger, richer wine than 13.5% would suggest. It showed apple and honey with a long finish.

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Had an excellent dinner up at Shakey Tables in the Hunter Valley the other night. Ambience is good, service excellent and they have a very well priced and comprehensive wine list. On this night we were lucky enough to be allowed to drink our own selection (more on this later).

To start with I ordered the Foie gras & truffle filled brioche with a jellied pear & grape terrine. A very interesting dish that was well presented and offered a range of flavours and textures. To follow on for main I chose the Wagyu beef short rib, potato & pea puree, baby root veg & bone marrow dumplings . This dish was sensational. So juicy. So moist! The texture was similar to a duck confit so meltingly soft and tasty. Oh and we also had a big bowl of chips. I like chips and these were chip perfection.

We drank some interesting wines too. I am just going on memory here rather than notes.

Served blind there was a 2001 Albert Mann Schlossberg Grand Cru Riesling. No problem picking it as an Alsatian in options. A big wine full of flavour and power. Some botrytis and plenty of phenolic extract. Bit short on the finish though.

Next up we opened a 1999 Tardieu Laurent Cote Rotie. This wine is 100% shiraz. Quite stemmy on the nose (must be whole bunches?) with black fruit, smoky oak. Very clean. Just above medium bodied with those stemmy tannins intruding a lot. Over the night this wine opened up very well. Long term wine with a lot of potential.

Then (again blind) a 2000 Brunel Les Cailloux Chateauneuf du Pape. Picked this as a Rhone valley wine but not a CDP. A much cleaner smelling wine than the last one I had. Smells great - you know raspberry, herbs, bit of leather..all of that. Really smooth and refined palate. Drinking very well. Delicious.

A 2000 Meerea Park Terracotta Shiraz/Viognier looked super with a generous nose of stone fruit, spice and vanilla. Lovely ripe sweet fruit on the palate. Looking young but very drinkable.

The 1998 Meerea Park Alexander Munro Shirazhas a complex nose with berry, pepper, anise and leather. Good fruit. Still tannic. Opened up very well. This wine has years to go. Very impressive.

The 2003 Meerea Park Hell Hole Shiraz looked as good as ever. Classic stuff.

Simon, the owner of the restaurant, went off to open a 2000 Mount Pleasant O’Shea Shiraz for us because someone (was it me..hint hint) had not tasted it from a whole bottle. The oak jumped out a bit. Cheap looking resiny oak. Under that very dark, very ripe licorice fruit. Tannins fine and ripe. Quite warm with alcohol. Built up and improved in the glass and the oak settled in. This is monster Hunter Shiraz. Loved it but I wish they would use better oak.

We mopped up the rest of the wine over a plate of excellent Stilton and some Scottish oatmeal biscuits (I would rather water crackers). A top night of food and wine. Shame about the company

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