November 2007 Archives

Pencil shavings, olive, and strawberries dominate the nose of this wine; it's not too shabby, but it never really seems to evolve much beyond fruitiness with an oak undertone. It's kind of like Kool-Aid mixed with wood chips.

In the  mouth, this wine seems frankly way too sweet for a Napa merlot - and it's not sucrosité, but residual sugar I think I'm tasting here. Ewww, gross - there's barely any acidity here at all, and the overall effect is thoroughly unpleasant. However, the tannins are fairly interesting: finely grained and almost Australian in style, they seem flown in from a much better wine. Sadly, though, the bulk of the wine just hangs there limply in the mouth, waiting for you to swallow so that you can move on to something else. In terms of flavor, there's some indeterminate milk chocolate but that's about it, and there's not much in the way of length here either: once the wine's gone, the flavor's gone. It's all very disappointing. I imagine this is precisely the wine Miles was talking about in Sideways - and I probably should have heeded his advice.

Napa Family Vineyards [but really fresh&easy]
Price: US $10.99
Closure: Diam
Date tasted: November 2007

Pine-Sol, turpentine, and shoe leather came to mind when I first smelled this wine, but then I realized that no one wants to drink anything that smells like the toilets at summer camp. Therefore, let me revise that to pine needles, dirt, rich Corinthian leather, and dark red raspberries. There's also a whiff of smoke, tar, and black cherry there as well - it's a fairly complex nose for a wine this cheap. With some air, it started to tend towards cedar shavings (hamster cage?) and blueberry - very impressive, really.

In the mouth, it's rich, meaty, and chunky, with a prominent streak of savory acidity at the back of it all. What does it taste like? Well, that's hard to say: it's a little bit like lavender and meatloaf, somehow. On the finish, you're treated to firm, drying tannins and then a soft, gentle trail-off of sweet bacon and chocolate. It's all very appetizing and thank God it's Friday night because I'm probably just going to stay at home and polish off the bottle with the neighbors.

Panarroz
Price: US $6.99
Closure: Cheesy plastic cork
Date tasted: November 2007

The nose is best described as elusive, but tantalisingly so. Flavours of powder, flint, light tropical fruit, herbs and musk seem to emerge from the glass with unexpected intensity and then disappear again just as suddenly; the overall effect is quite beguiling.

The entry is not flavourful so much as textural. It's slippery and surprisingly viscous and leads to a medium bodied palate that is again surprisingly intense. There are herbal edges to the same light tropical fruits that showed on the nose, plus a whack of acidity that introduces a mineral aspect to the flavour profile. It also counterbalances the residual sugar that emerges on the middle palate. Really nicely judged in this respect. Flavour density builds towards the after palate, and the wine's finish shows very clean, lingeringly sweet fruit and minerality in equal measure.

I'm actually having this wine as an aperitif, and regret that I don't have something like a nice liver pate to go with it. This is a lovely wine for those who enjoy a more subtle white wine experience - perhaps those who can appreciate a younger Hunter Semillon might enjoy this wine. To me, there's a sophistication in this wine's reticence and elusiveness. Balance and complexity in spades. Very nice indeed.

Marc Brédif
Price: $A30
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

In the glass, this wine seems nearly as clear as water - it's very, very pale, almost the color of weak chamomile tea. On the nose, there's lots of passionfruit that revealed itself after warming up some in the glass; colder, it smelled more steely, minerally. It's uncannily liked canned lilikoi iced tea from Hawaii, and I mean that in the best possible way: it gets you salivating just be smelling it. There's also a sort of chalky undertone to the smell, which is most appealing.

In the mouth, the wine isn't at all thin - it shows good, albeit slightly soft acidity with the all important US-palate pleasing slight residual sugar that takes the edge off just a bit. Texturally, it's reasonably fat with a nice sense of viscosity - it feels rich and full. Smelling it again, there's a faint smokiness there as well.

The finish is pleasant, if perhaps slightly simple: a rich fruitiness, a hint of smoke, and then it's gone after persisting on the tongue for just a bit. Lovely stuff, and excellent value. Think Cloudy Bay at a third the price (and slightly less huge). On the other hand, the instant this warmed up, it tasted terrible, unlike Cloudy Bay - if you do buy this, make sure to chill it down beforehand.

Boro Hills [but really fresh&easy]
Price: US $9.99
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

As blatant as they can sometimes be, I do rather like a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc now and then. It's like blue cheese or test cricket -- if you're in the mood, nothing else will do. This one popped up at the lunch table the other day and, as it was a hot day, I dived in.

Whether you like this wine will depend on how you like your Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Some lean quite far towards the piercingly aromatic end of the spectrum, whereas others exist in a more easygoing space, more tropical fruit and less cat's piss. This one definitely sits at the the easygoing end, with obvious and slightly cloying aromas of tropical fruit, passionfruit, etc. Pretty typical in style, although not showing much of the minerality that can add extra complexity to these wines. The palate continues the same theme, with softer acidity than some, and a sweetness to the fruit that you will either enjoy or find just vulgar (alas, I fall into the latter camp). The sweetness is such that I wondered whether there's a degree of residual sugar hanging about. As well made as it is, I found this wine a bit cloying on the palate in particular, a factor amplified by this wine's length (it does linger). On the plus side, it's pretty crowd pleasing and is full of flavour.

Maybe I wasn't in the mood after all.

Stoneleigh
Price: $A13
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

53% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Cabernet Franc. Australian Merlots are a curious beast - perhaps a little like Shiraz, they can tend to be chameleon-like, morphing with region and idea of style. This one is from Pemberton in Western Australia.

The nose immediately establishes the wine's savoury flavour profile. Genuine complexity draws one back to smell repeatedly, with savoury black fruits, leafiness and cigar box oak flavours intermingling and constantly shifting around. The linear entry opens out to a palate of medium to full body, with full yet not terribly sweet black fruit sitting alongside the same mix of leafy/green olive notes and relatively prominent oak as seen on the nose. Flavours are quite dense and of reasonable intensity. The wine's structure at this stage is assertive, both from an acid and tannin perspective. The tannins are quite interesting in character, being relatively abundant, ripe, and moderately (but not overly) fine. They have a nice rustic edge, in fact. The wine shows a nice line with no dips through the palate, and finishes with good length.

The wine responded extremely well to a strongly flavoured pasta dish, the structure calming a little and the power of the fruit shining through. This is a very good wine with, I think, good potential for improvement through bottle age. Blindingly good value.

Picardy
Price: $A20
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

A slightly dicey restaurant wine list last night led to the selection of this wine, its merit being primarily that we hadn't tasted it before. McLaren Vale, Shiraz, 2005: so far so good.

Fruit-forward, slightly thin aromas greet the nose with enthusiasm, but there's something a bit icky and confected about the red fruit. I would describe it as an easy, commercial style. Not much oak influence. The palate is medium bodied and quite linear, introducing more confected, bright red fruits to the middle palate and, less successfully, some rather harsh, disjointed acid. This continues on through the after palate to a finish that is marked by a few, slightly coarse and uneven tannins.

We had this wine with pizza and it went quite well, although the acidity remained a bit rough and ready despite the food. It's just not a very interesting wine, frankly, although there's nothing especially wrong with it either. I can't detect much regionality in its flavour profile, which for me is a particular shame as I'm fond of the dark chocolate and earth overtones often found in McLaren Vale Shiraz. Drink if you don't want to be challenged.

Cape Barren
Price: $A20
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

I love our fortified wines -- in particular, Muscats and Tokays from North-Eastern Victoria. So when I saw this on offer, it was hard to resist. Material in this wine dates back to the 1950s. Consumed in lieu of dessert.

A brilliant deep brown, sparkling yet dense and rich-looking. The nose captured my attention for several minutes before I moved on to tasting this wine, so surprising is its mix of aged characters and fresh vitality. It's one of the ironies of this type of wine that these older, concentrated versions simultaneously present a greater degree of both aged complexity and freshness than their younger, simpler and often more cloying siblings. In the case of the Chambers, a lovely floral note, slightly tea-like, but more exotically fragrant, sat prominently alongside intense aromas of dried fruits, plum pudding, etc. So balanced, such elegance and singularity.

In the mouth, the first thing that strikes one is the mouthfeel. The wine is so viscous that it doesn't immediately unfold in the mouth upon entry. Instead, the wine seems to exist as a bubble for a moment or two, before collapsing and flooding the middle palate with flavour. The first sip I had of this wine shocked my palate with its concentrated flavour, and had the effect of drawing saliva from my mouth, in the manner of eating something tasty when very hungry. Amazingly, and as with the nose, the wine shows a floral dimension that adds lightness to the palate. This is aided by a surprisingly firm acid backbone which drives the wine's line and helps it to be, ultimately, quite cleansing. The finish just goes on and on.

This is probably one of the best fortifieds I've ever tasted and, although it's not cheap, it's one of the best value wines I can think of. If you wanted to finish off a special dinner party in style, you could do a lot worse than pull out a bottle of this.

Chambers
Price: $A60 (375ml)
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

I loved the previous vintage of this wine, so it was with some anticipation that I opened this bottle, the current vintage. Tyrrell's has really been hitting its straps on the red wine front of late, with some sensational '03s, '05s and even some good ones from the problematic 2004 vintage (I really enjoyed the 2004 Vat 5 NVC Shiraz).

This wine struck me as rather different to the 2005. Whilst my last bottle of '05 was extravagantly fragrant, this one was a little more reserved. Actually, on opening, it was a bit stinky (sulfur?), and it took a few minutes of swirling to help this blow off and reveal clean, slightly stewy red, plum-like fruit with savoury spices. The wine's entry promises greater things, with its smooth and elegant delivery of the wine's middle palate. It is here that the wine finally starts to sing, the same slightly odd plummy fruit gaining in intensity and sweetness. The palate is medium bodied and quite dense in flavour, mouthfilling without being heavy at all. The wine's acidity also contributes some freshness in the mouth and a nice sourness to the flavour. For my taste, the acidity is a bit too relaxed in character, even though it's quite "present" in quantity. Tannins are fine and not especially dominant, so it is primarily acid that is left to carry the wine through an after palate and finish of satisfying length.

This is a lovely wine of elegant structure and generous flavour, but for me there's a slight question mark over the  stewed character of the fruit. I prefer the 2005 on the basis of this bottle. I will, however, follow the  evolution of this wine with interest. I note it continued to gain in intensity and complexity as we worked our way through the bottle, and went very well with our dinner of steak and vegetables.

Tyrrell's
Price: $A32 (early release, cellar door)
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

First of all, this wine should definitely not be served straight from the refrigerator. Give it half an hour to warm up, and only then give it a try. This is one of the most elusive wines I've ever tasted: the nose had all kinds of things to smell, and almost none of them are anything I could name off of the top of my head. At first I figured I'd just cheat and say it smelled of kerosene or petrol or diesel or whatever, but it really didn't: it briefly smelled like a fresh peach, and then suddenly like dulce de membrillo, and then it smelled like some unidentifiable white flowers, and then it moved on to something vaguely like what mesquite smells like after the rain in the Sonoran desert... but by then it had skipped along to something else vaguely like stale oregano. Who knows? Let's just say that there was a lot going on in there, and without a gas spectrometer or an afternoon with Le nez du vin, this is the best I can offer you.

I was hoping it would settle down some in the mouth to give my powers of association a rest, but alas, no such luck. First off: the mouthfeel is sublime. There's a lovely fatness to it that isn't built on sugar; there's also striking acidity that nicely balances everything. Is there any residual sugar? If there is, there's very little: this is a classic Australian style. Upon reflection, the usual hints of lime peel offered themselves up as well, and the finish was sleek and simultaneously angular as they come, all sophistication and elegance. This is definitely what you Aussies would call moreish: my partner and I found ourselves in a competition to see who could get more of the wine more quickly before the bottle was finished (never an easy task, that fine balance between enjoying it leisurely while also peering over to the other side of the couch just in case their glass starts emptying itself before you have a chance to refill your own).

Overall, wines like these just don't come around very often. Nearly six years after harvest, it still seems relatively fresh and I'd venture to guess it's got a few useful years left, although I'll probably leave one bottle to try again in 2022 just for the hell of it.

clos Clare
Price: US $14 (current vintage is 2006 at US $18)
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

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I've never been to find reliable information about who makes these wines, but my best guess is Jeffrey Grosset may have prior to 2006, and now it's someone by the name of O'Leary Walker.

One additional thing I've been thinking about this evening harks back to an interesting series of confrontations in wine school - the professor had been educated in Burgundy, although the school (and nearly all the students) was very much located in Washington state. I was docked a point or two on an examination for suggesting that one could enjoy a glass of sherry before dinner, and a few weeks prior to that I had been told that I was quite wrong to suggest that a Clare riesling could perhaps age successfully for five or maybe even eight years; her French education had apparently insisted that dry Riesling must inevitably be consumed within a year or two lest it fall apart, especially with the high acidity Clare rieslings tend to display. Both times I wanted simply to say "well, you know, I've had a few dinners in Spain and very much enjoyed a copita before my meal, and I've had a few bottles of aged Clare riesling (a fairly old Taylors St Andrews came to mind immediately) and loved it - so why are you privileging your French university education over my personal experience and other nations' traditions?" Of course I didn't, which is how I probably escaped without failing the course. It's still frustrating, though.

One sniff of this wine takes me back to the Clonakilla cellar door, where I first tasted and subsequently purchased the 2004 Ballinderry. At the time, I wasn't sure about the wine. It seemed to be almost completely dumb on the nose, much more so than previous vintages, but I have enjoyed this Clonakilla Bordeaux blend on so many occasions that I bought a few purely on past performance.

A couple of years on, and as I say, one sniff takes me back, because it's still quite a tight wine in terms of its nose. It is, however, starting to unwind, the way a stripper starts by peeling back the outermost layers of clothing. So I'm told. Aromas of dark, perfumed fruit emerge from the glass, with edges of leafy cabernet character and spicy, cedary oak. Very tight, coiled, but by now leaking a little. The wine's entry is a bit misleading, in that it is quite easygoing and quickly moves on to an elegant, medium bodied palate of pure, fleshy red berry fruit. Good intensity and complexity of flavour. But just as you begin to suspect the wine is a bit of a sheep in wolf's clothing, the fine, ripe but rather abundant tannins make themselves felt. They don't exactly swamp the fruit, but they are very assertive at the moment, and create a lengthy, puckeringly dry finish.

It's pretty clear to me that this wine's best years are ahead of it, and I may well wait 2-3 years before trying it again. Really good potential on the basis of this bottle. I'm about to tuck in to a big rump steak now and it will be interesting to see how the wine responds.

Update: food didn't do much to tame this wine's structure. Perhaps only time can do that.

Clonakilla
Price: $35
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

Heady, rich cedary blackberries and dusty book leather hit you the moment you pull the cork from the bottle. It's obvious that this is not a young wine: there's a bit of wateriness at the rim, and the color is a bit faded there as well, although the drink itself still looks fairly youthful.

In the mouth, this wine doesn't really taste at all like it did five years ago: it's calmed down into something entirely different. There's a little bit of spiciness, and (thankfully) the fruit is still holding in there, but secondary flavors of peat and wood are beginning to dominate. It all still works fairly well, but it's clear that the wine is probably on its way out - if you have any of this, you'd do well to drink up now while it's still fairly good. I imagine that another year or two is all that's left in this, and to be frank I'm sad that I didn't drink it while it was young (I tasted this wine at the tasting room in the winter of 2002 and it was at that point one of the most stunning wines I've ever tasted). Still, it's a beautiful example of an aged Australian shiraz at this point, and if you prefer your wines aged, this is as a good 'un.

Plantagenet
Price: US $20
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

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If you're ever in Mount Barker, Western Australia, you owe it to yourselves to see these guys. As an added bonus, the Valley Views Motel is the best motel I've ever stayed at in Australia: well priced, comfortable beds, friendly proprietors, and a lovely, quiet location is a beautiful WA country town.

First off, I was surprised to smell this wine because whoa - it actually smells like Pinot Noir, which is practically unheard of in wines at this price point. It smells like a woody cherry Coke, spicy with a strong scent of vanillin. It's noticeably light for a New World pinot, which isn't a problem for me at all but I suspect it could be problematic for many American wine buyers who expected red wine to be opaque (this isn't by a long shot).

It's rather light in the mouth but not as light as low end Burgundy; there's some varietal fruit sweetness but not much more than that, and the finish is short and uninteresting. Ultimately, it might be better just to smell this wine (and not drink it).

That being said, though, it's not too shabby given the price point - but there are better options for just a few dollars more (or even the same price - Montes Pinot Noir from Chile can be much more interesting than this wine is). I'd suggest you serve it with Thanksgiving dinner (oops, too late) and hope that no one pays too much attention to it.

South Island (but really fresh&easy)
Price: US $9.99
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

A New World style from the Old World.

A truly inviting nose of dark berry fruits, bramble/undergrowth, some sweet spices and noticeable vanillin oak. Smooth, quite seamless, not overly complex. The entry and middle palate are again smooth, showing the same mix of flavours within a body of medium weight. There's no angularity here; no prominent acidity, no premature raspy tannins. Nothing, in fact, to dominate the round, pleasant fruit and oak flavours. Flavours are perhaps a little light on in the intensity stakes, which in a sense is appropriate for the wine's easy going structure. Finish is soft and of reasonable length. Despite being a bit light on, the wine does have a nice sense of balance.

I had this with pasta and goat ragu and, whilst the wine was generally a good match (the fruit sweetness in particular enhanced the sweet sauce), I would have preferred something with more structure.

Prunotto
Price: $A25
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

Dinner last night was enjoyed outdoors, accompanied by balmy weather and appropriate wines, of course! We had this wine as an aperitif, without food. It was served straight from the fridge and had a chance to warm during consumption. It is made from 100% Grenache.

Bright, happy, lolly shop aromas leap from the glass with the sort of eagerness that one looks for in a wine of this style. Having said that, it's not overly sweet or cloying, and the bright fruit aromas are balanced, a little anyway, by hints of savouriness, and complemented by more floral, rose petal type overtones. In the mouth, this wine immediately presents fruit flavours along the same lines as the nose, perhaps lacking the intensity promised, but attractive nonetheless. The floral element is slightly stronger on the palate.

Served cold, though, the wine starts to go a bit awry at this stage, structurally. There are surprisingly firm tannins from about mid-way through the palate that rob the wine of its fruity fun just a smidge too soon, and carry the wine off to a premature finish. Mind you, the tannins are fine and ripe, just a bit too eager. As the wine warmed up, the tannins receded a little, and enabled the wine to present a more rounded palate profile, which I enjoyed. But I also found the wine started to lack crispness at this warmer temperature, owing to a fairly relaxed acid structure, and edged towards flabbiness.

I'm probably being super critical of this wine, and really it's a juicy, tasty rose that will make most people happy at Friday afternoon drinks.

Wirra Wirra
Price: $A18
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

On the nose, it's hard to move beyond a sort of "21st century rich Australian wine made for an American market" kind of smell. There's a bit of rich jammy road tar, lots of dark indifferent fruit, a certain sweetness, and finally a sort of menthol-eucalyptus smell. It's all vaguely like those old-timey cherry flavored throat lozenges with the two bearded men on them - almost a 19th century home remedy effect. But I'm half joking here; it's actually deeply inviting and all very comforting somehow.

In the mouth, the first thing that hits you is the humongousosity of the wine: it feels like you've just filled your mouth with the most Brobdingagian thing that's ever sat around inside of a bottle. Rich and sweet, swallowing really doesn't get you anything other than a sense of alcohol burning - I do occasionally drink bourbon, and this stuff holds its own, mouth-on-fire-wise, with many bourbons. Coming back to it again, other than a lovely, smooth, silken mouth feel, there just doesn't seem to be a whole lot going on in terms of actual flavor - although there is just a tang of salty sourness there which adds an interesting note. With time, it starts to mimic a sort of dark raspberry liqueur - it's so strong and so thick that it's occasionally hard to believe that this is supposed to be a table wine.

So how do I feel about this sort of thing? Well... against my better instincts (and four months of wine school), I like it just fine. It's huge, rich, jammy, alcoholic, and trashy in the best possible kind of way. It's kind of like going to a kegger wearing a toga and then finding out that it's Duvel on tap (and not Milwaukee's Best). Sometimes the thing that hits the spot after a hard day at work is booze, plain and simple, and if you're going to be drinking, you might as well be drinking something that feels good and tastes like it wasn't cheap to produce. Save your intellectually satisfying Hermitage and your ethereal Côte Rôtie for another time - this wine is all about getting your freak on with a stylish bottle that probably got a bazillion points from The Bob.

Marquis Philips
Price: US $11.89
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

I really felt like sparkling wine tonight, but didn't want to spend a bundle. I reached for some Domaine Chandon at the local bottlo but thought I'd give the Deutz a spin.

Whoops. On pouring, this wine shows a frothy, coarse mousse that almost instantly disappears. In its wake is left a basically non-existent bead. A bit like flat Diet Coke. The nose shows some bready characters, nothing especially interesting or complex, and slightly stale-smelling. The palate is more fruit-driven, with some attractive, round fruit flavours in the mix. The wine froths up again in the mouth, and the coarseness of the effervescence means this is isn't altogether pleasant. On the plus side, the acidity seems well balanced and there's some tasty fruit in there. But the textural dimension to this wine lets it down almost entirely, and I can't find much sophistication anywhere in this wine.

For the price, I would expect more. I wonder if it was a bad bottle?

Deutz Marlborough Cuvée
Price: $A20
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

One sniff and you know for sure that this is the real deal: oxidized, delicious Sherry. It's got an appetizingly dark caramel color that really looks a lot more like brandy than most wines you see these days: there's also a whiff of burnt almonds on the nose as well.

In the mouth, it's luxuriously smooth with a lush sweetness nicely counterbalanced by friendly acidity that all seems just right. On the finish, the flavors repeat themselves: toasted nuts, caramelized sugar, and something like spring wildflowers (honest!) - it's almost like orange flower water.

It's even better with roasted Spanish almonds right before dinner.

Williams & Humbert
Price: US $11.99
Closure: Cork, resealable
Tasted: November 2007

Time to taste the companion wine to the Chardonnay tasted a few days prior. I started on this bottle last night but wasn't really in the mood for analytical tasting. And, I must say, the wine didn't much suit my mood. Tonight, however, the wine and I are more in sync. Fickle, fickle me.

This wine is a savoury expression of Pinot Noir fruit, with little in the way of easy padding or obvious fruit flavour. Instead, the nose greets one with tightly held dark fruits, beetroot type flavours, some sous-bois, perhaps the slightest hint of sweetness peeping out. The wine's entry reinforces a savoury flavour profile and, whilst flavoursome, is very focused and structured as it opens out to the middle palate. It is here the wine's mouthfeel asserts itself. It's all about texture, this wine, with the same flavours indicated on the nose riding atop the wine's structure. Savoury tannins kick in quite early and carry the wine through the latter stages of the palate to a lengthy finish. The tannins are again quite remarkable in texture but I wonder if there's a slightly unripe edge to them too.

This is not an easy drinking quaffer but rather a Pinot that will reward those who enjoy chiseled, savoury wines; a more "intellectual" wine, if you will. It might surprise those who are accustomed to Yarra Valley fruit bombs.  At this price, this is excellent value. Don't serve it too warm.

Hoddles Creek
Price: $A18
Closure: Stelvin
Tasted: November 2007

Hrm... almost smells like nail polish remover, albeit with a whiff of black cherries; it's not particularly appetizing. The color is noticeably light - almost like Beaujolais nouveau (hey, what a temporal coincidence!). There's also a weird smell of dusty closet floor in their somehow - like something shredded up the cedar blocks you put there a few years ago to ward off moths. Yecch.

Taste-wise it's no picnic. What little fruit there is is quickly overwhelmed by grating, drying tannins as well as a whack of unwelcome acidity. Hoo-boy. This is no fun at all - it's probably best saved to serve to unsuspecting Midwestern tourists at a "tapas bar" in someplace like downtown Anaheim as part of an "authentic Spanish dining experience." I can't recommend this one at all - I'm not even sure it's up to sangría.

Saludas [but really fresh&easy]
Price: US $2.99
Closure: Stelvin
Tasted: November 2007

For a moment I found myself transfixed by the nose of this wine... it smelled familiar, and yet not. But what was it? Ah, there we are: scented permanent markets, just like the ones we used to huff in elementary school. Childhood memories... Seriously, it smells like children's fruit candy: plums and raspberries and nothing too complicated or unusual. There's also a slight hint of camphor there as well; on the whole, a promising start.

In the mouth, it's just this side of off-dry (as I'm coming to expect from fresh&easy's own label wines), with a fleeting sourness and not much else in the way of flavor, save for something that's reminiscent of raspberry flavored wax lips candy. There's a bit of tannin on the finish, probably more from pressing the grapes too hard than any kind of barrel fermentation, and then it's gone. It all works reasonably well and would be a fantastic accompaniment to spicy barbecue or good old fashioned meat loaf. Amazing value and recommended for your next braai.

Recoleta [but really fresh&easy]
Price: US $2.99
Closure: Short, low quality cork amusingly labeled "estate bottled"
Tasted: November 2007

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I'd like to note that I won't always be tasting bargain basement wines from Tesco's new US chain stores; it's just that they happened to open their doors here two weeks ago, which prompted me to buy a case of their least expensive wine just for the heck of it. So far, I'm impressed by the QPR [quality price ratio] but haven't found anything I'd drink on a regular basis. Thankfully, I'm down to only a few bottles - the most expensive one almost breaking the ten dollar mark - and when they open one near my home in San Diego, I promise I'll go back and try their high-end own-label wines [I think I remember seeing a $15.99 Napa merlot, for example].

I had this with food; specifically, a creamy chicken pasta dish.

With a few minutes in the glass, this wine gave off aromas of roasted nuts, vanilla, coffee and spice (presumably oak derived), light sulfur, along with cool climate chardonnay fruit (white stone fruit, etc). It's an attractive nose, with good volume and flavour integration, quite complex really. The wine's entry is smooth and focused, leading to a mid-palate that is again focused and reasonably intense. Flavours show tight preserved lemon and a range of noticeable, though not overwhelming, oak notes. There's a nice crescendo of flavour towards the after palate, and this ensures pleasing persistence through the tight, acid-driven finish. This is an elegant wine of reasonable complexity.

To return to the starting point, this wine went extremely well with food, graced as it is with ample acidity. It doesn't jump out at me as a 'wow' wine in any particular way, but it's also rather hard to fault. Excellent value.

Update: on the second night, this wine had upped the intensity an extra notch, without losing its focus and structure. I'm feeling happy to have bought a few of these.

Hoddles Creek
Price: $A18
Closure: Stelvin
Tasted: November 2007

In addition to some lovely Pinot Noir, one of the delights of my trip to Central Otago earlier this year was tasting the range of delicious, aromatic whites. Although I noted a degree of inconsistency between producers, the region in general seems to produce full, generous Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer that are often notably different in style to those produced in Australia. In particular, producers in Central Otago seem more inclined to a range of styles that include varying degrees of residual sugar. Now to the Peregrine, from the 2005 vintage.

Signs of age are already appearing on the wine's nose, with toast and perhaps even a slight kero edge infiltrating the wine's otherwise heady honeysuckle-like nose. No shrinking violet, this wine. Despite the generosity, I thought it was initially all over the place and quite disjointed. After about half an hour with it, I wouldn't say it's entirely resolved, but it's much more coherent than it was on opening.

The wine's entry immediately introduces vivid, somewhat coarse acidity onto the palate, along with intense citrus and apple flavours. The middle palate is quite full and it's here the wine's residual sugar starts to influence the flavour profile. It thickens the fruit and introduces a tropical fruit element into the wine, not at all unpleasant. This may sound odd, but this wine has a sweet and sour line running through it that strongly reminds me of some New Zealand Pinot Noir. Flavours persist well through the after palate, winding up in a neat, surprisingly soft finish.

There's no denying this is a tasty wine with plenty of flavour. I would have preferred a tad more elegance, though, and would happily trade some of this wine's intensity of flavour for a greater sense of poise and balance. Despite the modest residual sweetness, the wine still comes in at 13.5% alcohol.

I don't have any food to go with this wine right now, but I bet some Asian canapes would be perfect.

Peregrine
Price: $A22
Closure: Stelvin
Tasted: November 2007

Don't laugh, but the first thought that came into my head upon smelling this wine was "Bananas Foster." Yes, seriously! It's also got the standard strawberry rosé smell there as well, but with an unusual creaminess and that hint of bananas, vanilla, and burnt sugar as well. There's even a subtle whiff of attar of roses, as well as a nearly buttery note.

In the mouth, the wine shows a lovely medium weight, not overwhelmed by sweetness, finishing on a dry, tart note. The taste is surprisingly different than the smell, tending towards sweet violet coffee and freshly milled flour, again with that lovely undercurrent of roses. The finish isn't especially long, but it offers a nice counterpoint to the rest of the wine, ending on a flat note of candied lemon peel. On the whole, though, it's probably the best rosé you'll find for under ten bucks.

La Ferme Julien [but really Trader Joe's]
Price: US $7.99
Closure: Stelvin
Tasted: November 2007

The nose offers up a rich, creamy fruitiness that's reminiscent of strawberry paletas, with a slight pepperiness and a hint of grapefruit peel; it took a few minutes for the wine to express any clear flavors, though, so it may be best not to serve this wine straight from the refrigerator - give it fifteen minutes or so to warm up a bit. In the mouth, there's a definite spritziness which seems somehow appropriate; it's quite full in the mouth, with a good amount of sweetness nicely counterbalanced by the CO2 and moderate acidity. Although it's overall too sweet to be a truly fine rosé, it works quite well for what it is and is a nice halfway point between, say, a pink Bandol wine and "my teeth are melting" white Zinfandel from California. Overall, the effect is basically liquid strawberry shortcake: easy to drink, and nicely refreshing on a warm summer's day.

Serve with chiles en nogada, I reckon.

Bodegas Realeza [but really Acciona, owners of Hijos de Antonio Barceló, S.A., presumably under contract to fresh&easy]
Price: US $4.99
Closure: Stelvin
Tasted: November 2007

Straight out of the fridge, the first whiff out of the bottle is of simple strawberries and pepper, pleasant enough; there's also a hint of something unpleasantly funky, a dark note that seems out of place. In the mouth, the first thing that hits you is a lot of undifferentiated fruit sweetness, which calms down into something like blood orange peel, but the wine is unbalanced and flabby, with not nearly enough acidity to counterbalance the sweetness. It's all a bit thin as well, with a finish that isn't particularly pleasant - it's kind of like eating Triscuits that someone's already licked all of the salt off of, combined with strawberry fruit leather stolen from a lunchbox someone found behind an abandoned schoolyard. So what do to with this wine? I think the answer's pretty clear: make sangría. The wine quality's OK, but it really needs some additional flavor there to detract from its flaws.

Saludas [but really fresh&easy]
Price: US $2.99
Closure: Stelvin
Tasted: November 2007

It's late on Saturday night, I've raided the cellar looking for something to keep me company as I settle down to relax and watch a DVD. Hmm, Merlot, that sounds good. I've been meaning to try the Mike Press version, relatively hyped as it has been in online discussion fora and wine press. So: how good can $A10 Merlot be?

The answer is: pretty bloody good. Lifted nose of black fruits and leafiness, along with supporting caramel/mocha oak. Not explosive, but balanced and elegant. The wine slides smoothly into the mouth, whereupon flavours of black fruit and olive build and spread over the tongue. This isn't a fruit bomb, although the fruit is delicious and ripe. Rather, there's a nice dialogue between fruit, savoury flavours, somewhat resiny oak and a firm acid/tannin structure, all within a medium bodied palate. The wine's line is quite focused. Finish is puckeringly tannic, but not unapproachable, and of decent length.

In absolute terms, this is a good to excellent wine that shows varietal character and a sense of style. The oak is sticking out a bit much for me at the moment, but that's a matter of taste as much as anything else. For the price, I just don't see what else one could ask for. I'm off to pour myself another glass.

Mike Press Wines
Price: $A120/dozen
Closure: Stelvin
Tasted: November 2007

The nose is classic Burgundy by way of Oregon: little red fruits, dark earth, forest floor under California redwoods, smoke, camphor, and soft sweet peat. Young still, the color is a beautiful deep ruby, darker than 'proper' Burgundy and yet lighter than most New World pinot. Smelling it alone is enough to get you salivating; it smells inviting, like an old family friend you don't see but once a year.

In the mouth, it exhibits a rich, inky sweetness of summer fruits, followed by an unexpected sourness, which resolves again into a smooth, rich, deep flavor that trails off into a range of unexpectedly delightful flavors, with just enough alcohol to support it all without becoming intrusive. There's a bit of firm, supporting tannin there as well, which suggests wonderful things just a few years down the road; it might be a good idea to lay this one down until the next presidency at the very least.

With a bit more air, the wine began to develop ever more interesting flavors, with a touch of barnyard or wet earth at times, and occasionally fresh straw, hay, or even something approaching newly laid asphalt.

JK Carriere
Price: US $42
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

Second tasting for this wine. The first bottle was a bit disappointing -- correct, but somehow generic and uninteresting. I've had positive experiences with this wine, the 2002 and 2005 vintages in particular, so I was hoping this bottle would show the wine to greater advantage.

And it did, sort of. The wine's regionality isn't in dispute: typically Eden aromas of slate and citrus flowers emerged enthusiastically from the glass soon after pouring. It's a lovely, pretty nose, perfume-like in its profile and delicacy. The palate didn't live up to the promise of the nose, at least initially. The entry is tightly focused, leading a mid-palate that at first presented intense but broad, simple fruit flavours that seemed to fight against, and almost overwhelm, the wine's acid structure. It's bone dry but the fruit presented as unattractively full, even overripe and slightly oxidised.

After sitting with the wine for an hour or so, though, it has warmed to almost room temperature, and a significant improvement is the result. The palate now presents more complex flavours, with prominent mineral and spice dimensions, that are a true reflection of the wine's aromas, and that sit better alongside the wine's quite focussed structure. Flavours persist well through the after palate and ride the bright finish for some time. The lesson being: don't serve this one too cold.

Despite the improvement, there's something missing with this wine. Perhaps the flavours are a bit broad for my taste, combined with a structure that is clear but somehow dull. It's not a bad wine (far from it -- were more wines of this quality) but it does lack the "x factor" that I've experienced with previous vintages.

Mesh
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

Whoa. Clouds of rich, dark chocolate, bulldust, and black olive billow up in the glass, and there's an almost perfumed character to the wine, with a slight sweetness - it's not unlike vetiver or sage, albeit with a lovely, restrained edge. The color's a lovely, dark purple with nearly visible particles towards the rim; it just looks expensive, somehow. On the palate, the first thing that strikes me is the lovely texture: firm and round, followed shortly by flavor that I can honestly only describe as delicious. There are tastes of cassia, Kalamata olive, and cassis, and it all trails off into a clean finish with hints of tannin, acid, and a lovely sweetness, almost like violet pastilles mixed in with tahini. Best of all, the finish keeps going for a while, not resolving itself; it's a fine drink.

Cameron Hughes
Price: US $9.99
Closure: Diam
Date tasted: November 2007


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For you Aussies out there, Meritage is American for "Bordeaux blend," more or less. This also marks the first time I've seen an American wine closed with a Diam technical cork, which is awesome. Finally, it may interest you to know that we don't have cleanskins - but Cameron Hughes is pioneering what y'all would call cleanskins in the US market. If you're in the USA, you can probably find one or two of them at your local Costco, and they also do mail order (their Lot 39 Shiraz Viognier from the Barossa is probably the most incredibly fun $10 wine I've had this year).

On the nose, this wine is your basic generic bistro red, with a vague fruity flavor combined with an even vaguer wood-esque kind of smell (shavings? chips? powder? an unfortunate accident in a pallet manufacturing plant?), with a definite hint of sucrosité. The color's a fresh, young purple; it looks rich, just like "real" wine.

In the mouth, the first thing that hits you is an overwhelmingly jammy-sweet, Smucker's Grape Jelly flavor, with a strange, off-putting note of fake something there as well; on the run-out, acids take over for a second, and it all ends on a badly jumbled, utterly fake note that's quite a disappointment.

On the other hand, compared to other wines in this price range, it isn't really all that bad. Sure, it's not particularly pleasant, and it doesn't taste at all varietal, but if it were lightly chilled and served with a nice greasy pizza, it just might work.

The Big Kahuna [but really fresh&easy]
Price: US $1.99
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

This wine is a blend of 60% Pinot Blanc, 15% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Chardonnay, from the Alto Adige region of Italy. Unusual blend from an Australian perspective. Fermented in stainless steel and left on lees for six months, but with no lees stirring.

I served this a bit cold, so the nose wasn't really able to express much when first poured. After some time in glass, the wine started to give off attractive, ripe fruit aromas and yeasty notes. The real action, though, is on the palate. The wine's entry is immediate and generously delivers bright flavours to the tongue, along with a nice dose of lively acidity. The middle palate sings with tasty fruit -- citrus peel and pineapple and an almost overripe muskiness -- underpinned and driven by really lovely acidity. Flavours drop off perhaps a little precipitously towards the after palate, but not entirely, so that a subtle echo of the wine's flavour profile continues to ride the wine's acid structure for a good amount of time on the finish.

I must say, I'm attracted to this wine very much. It's not a wine of great sophistication, but it is generous and has a structure that is entirely complimentary to its flavour profile. Recommended.

Kellerei Cantina Terlan
Price: $A29
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

Generic Côtes du Rhône reds can often make a nice change to the usual mid-week wines. Here's one from the problematic 2003 vintage, coming in at the $A20 mark.

A transparent garnet, bright, attractive, with some signs of bricking at the rim. The nose is extroverted and fruit driven, if a bit simple. Bright, somewhat confected red fruits and floral notes are the dominant theme, with some  gamey, meaty characters adding complexity. The entry is a little weak and it's only on the middle palate that flavours really expand and become generous. The wine is medium to light bodied, again with bright, sweet and slightly confected fruit flavours. Mouthfeel is soft and easy, with enough structure to keep the wine from lapsing into flabbiness, but only just. Alcohol heat pokes out a bit. The after palate thins out fairly quickly, and the wine's finish is not truncated, but neither is it remarkable.

This wine's a bit middling in most respects, but it's also flavourful and very easy to drink. Value for money is always a bit hard when it comes to wine, as it can be difficult to put a price on variety and difference. If you're bored of local quaffers and would like a change, this certainly fits the bill at a reasonable price. In absolute quality terms, though, there are any number of local wines that beat the pants of this wine at the same price point.

Château Mont-Redon
Price: $A20
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

At first smell, this wine offered up sour black cherries and shoe leather, with a very small amount of mousiness (or is that honeysuckle?). Dark, dark purplish red in color, the wine is surprisingly light in the mouth for a Zinfandel, with simple black cherry fruit complicated by that same slightly off-putting animalistic character reminiscent of Brettanomyces (but is it? I can't really tell). It seems sweeter than most zinfandels I've had before and definitely tends towards flabbiness. The finish is surprisingly long, but not particularly complex, ending on a sweet, raspberry Lip Smacker note. There's a potentially appetizing sourness about this wine that seems distinctly Italian, but on the whole the sameness of every sip quickly grows tiresome.

Ogio (but really fresh&easy)
Price: US $3.99
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007


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I was originally going to allow my native Californian out to whinge at great length about the, ahem, chutzpah of importing Italian zinfandel to California of all places given our state's long history of quality Zinfandel wine production - and then I double-checked my receipt for this wine and dropped the idea. $3.99? Never mind. The best California zinfandel I've had in this price range (Three Thieves) ran $10 per liter, so this is a steal. It's perhaps not correct (in that it's frankly too sweet), but it has definite potential as an easy drinking party wine. Caution: may result in unintended pregnancy.

Extremely pale, flaxen color with an obviously watery rim. Slight aromas of pear and fresh sugar cane combined with a slight dustiness on the nose. In the mouth, medium bodied with slight residual sugar and a taste reminiscent of pineapple Jell-O, but with an attractive flatness there that is a subtle compliment to the bright tropical fruit (oak chips?). Thankfully, there's a decent level of acidity that makes the slightly sweet finish more than acceptable.

Drink this puppy with spicy Asian noodle dishes or maybe even mole poblano - the sweetness and acidity should stand up just fine to any culinary onslaught you can think of.

The Big Kahuna (but really fresh&easy)
Price: US $1.98
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

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Tesco, the UK's largest retailer, entered the US market last week with the opening of their fresh&easy stores in southern California. The Big Kahuna is their low end entry-level wine brand, produced in Australia. It competes with Trader Joe's Charles Shaw line, better known as Two Buck Chuck. The differences? The Big Kahuna is packaged in attractive bottles with well-printed labels and high quality screwcaps (as opposed to shabby, trailer park-appropriate bottles with low quality corks). Plus, what's in the bottle could easily pass for [yellow tail] at a third the price. It's well considered, decent quality wine that isn't at all disappointing considering the price.

Most importantly, this wine strikes me as being right on target when it comes to American consumers' taste preferences. It's attractively packaged, keenly priced, and has enough residual sugar to keep its audience's interest. My only complaint would be that it's not an American wine - surely Tesco could source this sort of thing locally instead of hauling it up here from the Southern Hemisphere?

The 2007 Clonakilla Riesling was made from non-Estate fruit, after Clonakilla's own was lost to frost. Still Canberra region fruit, though.

Expressive nose that shows fruit blossom and juicier fruit aromas, framed by a powdery mineral edge. The entry is lively and delivers flavour quickly onto the middle palate, which is surprisingly dense and juicy, with more citrus, herb and mineral flavours. Acid is abundant and balanced, though is perhaps a little coarse (less so as the wine warms in the glass). A slight phenolic bitterness asserts itself as the wine progresses towards the after palate, building flavour intensity as it goes, and the wine's finish is long. A small amount of residual sugar boosts body and helps the wine's attractive and moderately complex flavours to assert themselves.

Part of me wished for the wine to have been made in an even less dry style, as the flavours respond well to the residual sugar that is there, and there's certainly plenty of acidity to maintain balance. As it is, a lovely wine, enjoyable and well priced.

Clonakilla
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

Ngeringa is a new biodynamic producer located in the Adelaide Hills. This is the first of its wines I've tried. It won't be the last.

Pale green/gold colour of exemplary clarity. Straight out of the bottle, the nose was moderately expressive and showed high quality fruit and equally high quality, though perhaps overabundant, oak, plus a hint of sulfur. A little while in glass allowed the wine to gain its true balance. Exceptional focus, good intensity and real complexity make this wine a pleasure to sniff over and over. Fruit flavour is squarely in the cool climate spectrum, showing typical grapefruit flavours, etc. The entry prompts flavours to widen quickly and spread through the mouth, without losing focus or elegance. Mid-palate is marked by genuine intensity of flavour that leads seamlessly to an after palate of excellent persistence, flavours stubbornly clinging to the tongue. Finish is crisply acid-driven. Mouthfeel has a creamy dimension but not to the detriment of the wine's structure or line.

I love this wine for the character and intensity of its flavour. It is a wine of sophistication, and accompanied our chicken dinner well.

Ngeringa
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

I've had many enjoyable bottles of Bin 56 over the years, and I especially love how it develops with some bottle age.

Expressive, bright nose of jammy red fruit and oak. On entry, it's apparent how intense and generous this wine's fruit is. The mouth fills with sweet, jammy red fruit that tapers off just as assertive yet fine tannins emerge to dominate the finish. Despite the generosity of fruit flavour, the wine is of medium body and is, structurally, quite focused. At the moment, though, it's all youthful arms and legs. With some time, I hope this wine will obtain balance between its elements and improve substantially.

Leasingham
Price: $A20
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

These were on special at cellar door a year or so back -- apparently there's an issue with sticking corks. No such problem last night; in fact, the cork came out a little too easily and was quite wet. There were signs of leakage under the capsule, so I was prepared for the worst.

I remember having a bottle of the 1995 Lovedale some years ago and finding it at an excellent stage of its development. Gloriously waxy mouthfeel, flavours of lanolin and honey, just gorgeous. What's amazing about the 1996 is how relatively undeveloped it is, at over ten years of age.

On the nose, toasty notes betray some bottle age, along with hints of sweet honey, and that peculiar cork (as opposed to "corked") flavour that a lot of aged Semillons have. Relatively reserved, but complex and beautiful. The wine's entry sizzles with spritzy CO2 and leads to a focused mid-palate of delicious, complex flavours that echo the nose. More toast, caramel and delicate honeyed notes sit alongside residual signs of the wine's youthful citrus flavours.  It has the beginnings of that distinctive waxy mouthfeel that so pleased my palate with the 1995 wine. The wine's sweet, aged flavours linger with satisfying persistence.

Acid, though, remains a defining feature of this wine's structure and it is still a fairly dominant presence. I can only imagine what this wine was like as a youngster. I prefer to drink aged Semillons in the full flower of their maturity, and am eager to experience this wine again in a few years' time, when the aged flavours will, I hope, display greater intensity and complexity.

McWilliams Mount Pleasant
Price: $A30
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007