I really do try to be a sympathetic partner, but I find myself involuntarily laughing when, on opening an unusual wine, my other half has a dramatically negative reaction, sometimes declaring a wine horrible and utterly undrinkable. “Oh really, what don’t you like about it?” I usually ask, knowing I’ll get back an amusingly colourful rant. Granted, he has an extremely low tolerance for things not to his taste (not a bad thing) which, when combined with my forgiveness of odd flavours and wine faults, means we have these conversations more frequently than one might expect. And so it was when we opened this wine a couple of nights ago.
Without wanting to suggest I’ve tasted an extensive range, ever since Chris and I shared a magical moment or two over a bottle of Tetsuya’s house red (a Bass Phillip Pinot made especially), I’ve had a soft spot for Phillip Jones’s wines. This one is testing my loyalty, though. Tasted from the same bottle two days apart, my experience is mixed. On the first night, a masculine wine full of robust, sour berry fruit and stalky, in fact almost twiggy, flavour. Although eliciting the aforementioned “yuk” from my partner, I really enjoyed the robust character and almost brutish force of the flavour profile. Granted, there seemed to be all sorts of weird flavours in there too, quite indescribable and frankly not quite “right.”
Two days on and those odd flavours have won the battle. On the nose, a really odd smell that reminds me of rancid deep fryer fat, mixed with crunchy red berries, freshly ground black pepper and horse hair. Not exactly your clean, New World Pinot Noir. The palate continues this oddness, with flavours of paté on Melba toast, potato chips and utterly delicious sour fruit. And that’s the thing with this wine. It’s not right in the head, yet I keep coming back to it, fascinated by its combination of strange and compelling flavours. Flavour profile aside, it is structured really well, with good movement through the mouth and a well balanced interplay of acid and tannin.
I wouldn’t recommend this wine to a stranger, but I would share it with a friend.
Bass Phillip
Price: $A35
Closure: Cork
My friend told me about drinking this wine recently and his remarks were remarkably similar to the impressions you give here in some ways. The first day I spoke to him about it he remarked on how profoundly dissappointed he was in Bass Phillip for the pinot. Then, a week later, he felt compelled to say that he thought he had grossly misjudged the wine and also that he suspected it may be better with a bit more time.
Very interesting, I’ll have to chat with him when he and his partner return from their SA jaunt next week (with a ridiculous amount of good wine, including a couple of 05 Hill of Grace. I suppose their has to be some benefits to compensate for the hours he puts in as a Doctor). They also often disagree over their wine too 🙂
cheers
j
That’s really interesting — to be honest, I wasn’t sure whether my bottle was especially wild, as it wasn’t the kind of wine I could easily assume was “meant” to taste this way. I still can’t decide whether I like it or not. Ambivalence (as opposed to indifference) is something I rarely feel with regards to a wine so in that sense perhaps it is an achievement of sorts.
J.
This sounds much like the Estate version of the same year – another challenging wine:
‘Bass Phillip Estate Pinot Noir 2005
Unequivocal. Real typical BP and actually genuine hard work, though you just know there is glory in there somewhere, hopefully, definitely… Hardy & quite smoky on the nose with some real whole bunch stalks & pips on the nose. It reeks of structure first, fruit second. The palate surprises in its balance, retaining generosity, though only a smidgen. Challenging drink now. 16.6++’
On the subject of non wine geek partners, my other half has a good palate, loves wine, loves complex wine, but just doesn’t understand several styles that I get excited about – notably, Hunter Semillon & German/Austrian/Australian dry Riesling. She does, however, love Muscat, and a bottle of Campbells & a bottle of Brown Brothers Muscat sit on our kitchen bar, the contents emptying almost by magic…
Thanks for the note Andrew — there definitely seems to be a family resemblance there! I’m still thinking about the wine, wondering whether I liked it or not. Certainly, it makes the Wynns Johnson’s Block I am having tonight seem simple by comparison.
Sometimes I think the best partner for a wine geek would be someone who finds the whole scene utterly ridiculous 🙂
“Sometimes I think the best partner for a wine geek would be someone who finds the whole scene utterly ridiculous :)” – you may well be spot on Julian, but as you know, my experience is limited in both ways 😉