River Park Rosé 2009 ($A19, sample)

Yelland & Papps Grenache Shiraz 2008 ($A19.95, sample)Although priced lower than most other wines in the Yelland & Papps range, I enjoyed this a great deal and feel its style is suited well to the sweet, plush fruit that went into it. It’s a wine designed purely for enjoyment, with luscious, dark fruit in the context of a smooth, easygoing structure. Not a hint of mass produced confection. This would be a nice house wine for pleasurable consumption on weekday evenings.
Clonakilla Semillion Sauvignon Blanc 2009 ($A25, retail)As with the 2009 Riesling from this producer, a broader wine than usual, presumably a reflection of vintage conditions. The flavour profile itself is attractively fresh, with the sort of high toned, aromatic flavours typical of this blend. But underlining it all is a richness that seems lazy and fat, and out of place given the style. Certainly not unpleasant, and definitely well-made (as one might expect of this producer), but needs more incisiveness. Tahbilk Riesling 2009 ($A15, sample)I’m not intimately familiar with this label, in fact I believe this is the first Tahbilk Riesling I’ve tasted. Perhaps it’s a style thing, but I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t click with this wine at all. It’s certainly got plenty of flavour, yet the structure here seems coarse and phenolic on the palate, leading to a rough mouthfeel and excessive bitterness. Having said that, may improve with well-matched food that could smooth its rough edges. 

A few wines consumed in between notes.
The 2008 Hoddles Creek Pinot Noir, like its sister Chardonnay, needs some time to settle, but this seems to affect immediate drinking pleasure more in the case of the red. Currently, it’s almost a caricature of itself, flagrantly aromatic and with piericing intensity of fruit, but without the depth and structural poise to round out what will undoubtedly become a delicious expression of Yarra Valley Pinot. I’ll retaste in a year or so, at the earliest.
A 2007 Water Wheel Memsie Red, however, is drinking at its peak now; I just wish its peak were a little higher. A nice enough, fruit-sweet flavour profile (it’s an interesting blend of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot) with the mouthfeel (and alcohol) of a bigger wine, but lacking the intensity to match its other dimensions. Not a bad quaffer, and extremely well priced (I’m sure I paid well under $A15). Just not my thing, I guess.
A better bet for quaffing is the 2008 Second Nature Cabernet Shiraz Merlot from the McLaren Vale. No great complexity, just full of easy flavour. This wine is a sure bet; the one you know you’re going to go home with. Dark berries, chocolate, a few tannins here and there; what’s not to like? I’ll take two.

Friends for dinner and, consequently, a few bottles consumed. We ended up having a nice range of wines through the evening, the most interesting of which are briefly elaborated below.

A few wines consumed over Easter. I’m a bit shagged from having assembled way too many IKEA solutions this weekend and, consequently, wine has been more, um, functional than anything else.

It’s been a busy week here in San Diego; lots of friends over for various social events, which usually means lots of wines drunk and no proper tasting notes as I’m loath to whip out the laptop in social situations. So! Here’s a quick rundown of interesting things tasted this week:2004 Clonakilla shiraz viognier: beautiful as ever, all cedary wood and fading violets, with interesting smoked meat notes throughout it all. Tannins are wonderfully textured, and this wine really seems to be hitting its stride lately.1994 Meerlust Rubicon: I didn’t know quite what to make of this. Unlike the 1993, drunk earlier this month I think, this one seems to be very much dead or dying. Weirdly redolent of camphor and mothballs, this wasn’t entirely unpleasant – yet not pleasant enough to actually drink. Interesting, though: there might be a target market for this, but I’m definitely not it.2005 J Rickards ‘Sisters’ meritage: Wow, this was a surprise. The first JR wine I’ve tried, I think the best way to describe this one would simply be ‘classic California.’ Rich, boisterous red wine that isn’t minerally or refined, but a pure joyous expression of sunshine and warmth. Really well judged oak kicks in as well for a very sensuous experience; this has got to be one of the best California wines I’ve tried lately. Delicous.2005 Hamilton Russell pinot noir: This wine is weirdly on again off again for me. Two years ago it was great, last year not so much, and now it’s great again, turning distinctly earthy with a cigar box aspect, yet still managing to remain relatively light and delicate. This has got to be one of the best wines from South Africa.2005 JK Carrier Willamette Valley pinot noir: To a certain extent, this wine is so correct that at first it’s a bit underwhelming. Give it time and air, though, and it broadens out into an earthy, kola nut thing, dark and brooding and somewhat less delicate than the HR. Pretty fantastic, though, with an undercurrent of earthy minerality that’s very uncommon. Damn good value, too, at $36 or so.Finally, I did want to post a shout-out to the fine folks at Coopers Creek in New Zealand: they gave me two styrofoam shippers at no charge last January, so I bought a bottle of their fanciest Chardonnay (and I’ve stupidly forgotten what it was called). Turns out it was damn good, very similar to the Ridge in style (oak, but not too much; good acidity, tasted of cashews and cream), and all around a lovely wine.

A few wines tasted lately. Apparently, Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc continues to be the default white wine selection when dining out, and so it was the other night when enjoying the company of some colleagues after work. The Te Whare Ra Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2007 is made in an approachable manner (within the context of the style), with good typicité unhindered by any excesses of capsicum flavour or acid. Seems to be outside the mainstream, with rounder, perhaps simpler flavours than usual. I thought I’d be traditional and have this with a goat cheese-based entrée but I can’t say the match worked especially well.

The 2006 Clonakilla Syrah no doubt deserves a full tasting note, but I was much too caught up in the moment when sharing this wine with Chris in New Zealand, and much too lazy to write it up while it was still fresh in my memory. I remember, enough, though. Chris and I found this a tad darker in flavour profile than its Viognier-partnered sibling, perhaps a little denser and meatier. But without a comparative tasting, one can’t be sure. I can say that we found it an extraordinary wine, complex, almost labyrinthine, but in the best way. It seemed less obvious than the Collector Shiraz tasted a few days earlier, with more integrated oak and a slightly more sophisticated, detailed flavour profile. Quite a feat, as the Collector wine is lovely.

More recently, I retasted my favourite 2005 Riesling, the Seppelt Drumborg Riesling. Amazing how little this has moved, but fascinating now to see where it is starting to head. For the first hour, this seemed even more austere than I remembered, consisting almost entirely of texture and minerality. Not that I mind this at all — in fact, I’m a sucker for wines that seem to exist on the edge of impossibility. The next day, a wholly new dimension had opened up that may indicate this wine’s future. No obvious bottle age (eg toast, honey), but a relaxation of structure, allowing crystalline citrus fruit to cascade over the tongue. Still incredibly tight, mind, but moving slowly from acid and sherbet to vibrant, focussed fruit. I will continue to track its evolution with interest.

I recall we consumed these wines over two or three nights. Certainly, it all happened in Queenstown, around Christmas.

Before heading off to the most unlikely (and wonderful) Christmas dinner one could imagine, we downed a bottle of Domaine Emilian Gillet Viré-Clessé Quintaine 2002. I think this wine’s a bit of alright and had been keen to share it with Chris since my first tasting. Gratifying, then, to observe Chris’s enjoyment of what is an unusual and delicious white Burgundy. According to Ross Duke, Jean Thévenet (who makes this wine) picks his fruit in tranches at quite different levels of ripeness, including late picked, Botrytis affected fruit. This is evident in the quite startling array of flavour influences, and a lusciously round mouthfeel. Fabulous wine, great value.

Thinking back, we also managed to drink a bottle of 1996 Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon, though exactly when I can’t recall. As per my previous note, this wine remains a beautiful baby, showing nascent signs of maturity but still prickling with youth.

At some point in the next twenty four hours, we opened a series of Shirazes. From the first sip, it was evident Chris’s bottle of Cayuse Vineyards Cailloux Syrah 2006 from Washington State’s Walla Walla appellation would be the wine to beat. I’ve never tasted Syrah with such a flavour profile before. Explosively fragrant, this wine smells of bright red and black fruits, spice, tobacco, some pepper and a cascade of notes I feel ill equipped to describe. The palate matches the nose’s level of impact with powerful flavour that steamrolls across the tongue. It’s not at all heavy, though. This wine is almost expressionist in its character — vivid, emotional, even a bit uncontrolled. I loved it and was very sad to see the end of the bottle. My wine of the trip, without a doubt.

Many wines might suffer in comparison to the Cayuse, and on the day this was the fate of a bottle of Seppelt’s St Peters Shiraz from 2004. Dan and I felt it was a little bretty — certainly, it never tasted quite right, with a thinly acidic palate and not much stuffing. My last tasting of this wine revealed a balanced, elegant wine of some luxury, so I can only conclude we struck an inferior bottle.

Not so much suffering in comparison to a particular wine as an entire wine style was our next bottle, a Lake’s Folly Cabernet from 1999. Note to self: don’t mix older Hunters with young, fruity Shiraz. Lots of regional stink here and, though it showed true to type, this wine requires the sort of leisurely, isolated contemplation that none of us were in the mood to provide. The next day, I retasted this wine and enjoyed it a deal more. As always, a polarising style, for which I remain grateful.

A 2006 Wendouree Shiraz was just the ticket to revitalise our palates. This is seriously young, yet not as forbidding as I had anticipated. Sure, there’s structure to burn, but the primary fruit is so clean, pure and deep, it’s a pleasure to taste right now. Very dark berry fruits and eucalyptus are the main flavour components. By the next day, it was tasting markedly better, structurally more integrated and with greater elegance. If it’s not yet a wine of overt complexity, its correctness and poise provide ample compensation. A wine with its best days ahead, and one that I’d love to retaste again and again.

I guess we were Shirazed out by this point, because our next bottle, also courtesy of Wendouree, was a fortified Muscat of Alexandria (a blend of the 2004 and 2005 vintages). Not a wine to pick apart, this is designed for easy, hedonistic enjoyment. This is an unusual fortified wine in the Australian context, being relatively fresh and light as a style. Piercing, rich floral and marmalade notes dominate. Delicious.