Category Archives: White

Dowie Doole Cane Cut Viognier 2010

Posted on by
Reply

For some reason, I don’t often reach for a sticky, even though I have thoroughly enjoyed many bottles over the years. I suppose it’s the, perhaps unfair, anticipation of flabby, sweet vulgarity that keeps me away; to my palate, there are few things as undrinkable as a low acid, high sugar, sweet white dessert wine. So, despite almost tasting this on several occasions, I’ve restricted myself to admiring its spectacularly pretty packaging and thinking about the various ways in which a cane cut Viognier might go off the rails. Not known for its subtlety, my greatest fear was too overt an expression of Viognier varietal character; I imagined great gobs of apricot flopping over yet more gobs of apricot, cloying its way along my palate, making me wish I’d stuck to admiring how well-judged the slightly blingy label is against the lovely hue of the wine.

The reality of this wine is diametrically opposed to my fears for it, and in fact shows an exceptionally well-judged sense of style in its making. It’s a light sticky, fleet in the mouth, with just enough fruit flavour to fill out its delicate vibe. In fact, the nose could be that of a rich dry table wine, showing apricot kernels, firm stonefruit flesh, light vanilla and heady florals. There’s an almost savoury tone to it that is a lovely counterpoint to the relative richness of the fruit character; certainly, everything seems in balance. Mostly, this aroma speaks simply of fresh fruit, picked and eaten at the point of early ripeness.

The palate shows great continuity of style, echoing the nose’s nimble aroma profile with a palate structure that is gentle but shapely, well matched to the wine’s moderate weight and body. It’s here the wine’s sugar content has an impact, creating good intensity of fruit flavour from entry onwards, and rounding out the mouthfeel. There could probably be a touch more acid, as the fruit just starts to cloy through the after palate. The whole is so light, though, that this isn’t a serious flaw.

Mostly, this is fun, delicious, and just sophisticated enough.

Dowie Doole
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Lake's Folly Chardonnay 2010

Posted on by
Reply

I’m a huge fan of Hunter Chardonnay, enjoying the warm climate vibe the style brings while perversely getting off on how old fashioned they often are. Lake’s Folly Chardonnay must surely represent, along with Tyrrell’s Vat 47, the pinnacle of the style, so it’s with great anticipation that I approach the nouveau Lake’s Folly each year. Today’s the day for this one. Onwards with the tasting.

White and yellow peaches on the nose, returning to fuller form after the lean profile of the 2009. Some struck match around the edges, some minerality, all of which frames a buxom core of stonefruit flavour. What’s interesting is that, despite the fruit’s profile, there’s nothing excessive about the wine’s aroma. Rather, the impression is of power and substance, and moreover of sophistication. It’s complex, this one, a range of nutty, savoury aromas swarming around all that fruit. This is a Chardonnay that is stylistically sure of itself, and which seeks to maximise the potential of the style rather than give up to its more obvious side.

In the mouth, the style of it is fully justified by a cascade of fruit, power and complexity, with as many savoury dimensions as there are sweet. Weight is the first thing to register, a pleasing mouthful of taut, quite muscular flavour moving into the mouth on entry and opening the middle palate right up. Structure is firm and fine, already well integrated and matched to the wine’s weighty dimensions. An intense hit of brown spice lands on the after palate, before a strikingly clean, fruit-driven finish brings lengthy satisfaction.

I love the style of this wine, and this is an especially fine example in the fuller mode.

Lake’s Folly
Price: $A55
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Clonakilla Riesling 2002

Posted on by
2

The observant amongst you will have realised that I’ve been tasting a fair few wines from my cellar of late. I retrieved four dozen wines a few weeks ago, mostly things that are either not worth cellaring or that are due to be retasted. As an aside, I do love getting wine out of storage. There’s a whole ritual to it: browsing my little collection, constructing a cart, waiting for the delivery to arrive. Good friends have told me I need to get out more.

I last tasted this in 2008 and found it interesting but somewhat incoherent, as if going through an unfortunate stage in its development. The bottle I’m tasting tonight, by contrast, is quite well developed, expressing what seems to be the full extent of its potential as an aged wine. I was a little worried on pulling the cork, as I’ve seen stoppers in better condition, but the nose doesn’t seem excessively oxidised or otherwise compromised. It does, however, show a wide range of aromas, from honey and grilled nuts to biscuit and a bit of lemon curd. A small kerosene note quickly blows off, leaving the residual aroma clean and correct.

The palate really shows how developed this wine is. At its core, a thrust of full throttle tertiary sweetness runs right down the line, colouring the entire flavour profile with fullness and attack. There’s a multitude of other notes, most centred on nuts, butter and sweet lemon curd components. Acid remains a tad coarse, something this wine may never escape, but the structure is well integrated and supportive of the wine’s flow, while being prominent enough to keep the whole fresh and lively.

This, for me, is drinking at an ideal point as far as aged Riesling is concerned. It is showing a full spectrum of aged notes while retaining a firmness of structure and significant primary fruit. Maximum complexity, good bones, lots going on. If this bottle is representative, I’d say this wine is right in the zone.

Clonakilla
Price: $A25
Closure: Cork
Source: Retail

Seppelt Jaluka Chardonnay 2005

Posted on by
1

Another chapter in my ongoing mini-fascination with this wine, which on release seemed so full of potential yet reluctant to convey pleasure. Two years ago, it had begun to show signs of relaxation, and in August 2011 it continues to slowly unwind, release its secrets and allow me in.

Tertiary characters haven’t advanced markedly in the intervening time, a light caramel note remaining the key indicator of age. What has changed, though, is the grip this wine exerts on its sensual dimensions. From an uncoercible stranglehold to more expressive muscularity, this is finally starting to celebrate its gorgeous primary fruit: grapefruit, white peach and fresh herbs.

The palate simply explodes with intense fruit flavour, remarkably fresh in character and precise in expression. It amazes me that a mid-priced Australian Chardonnay could taste so new at five years of age; this has a vibrancy many wines would covet on release. It’s the crispness of iced drinks in summer, cool beads of condensation on a glass, the tingle of salt and lime taken together. Indeed, it feels odd to be drinking this wine on a Saturday evening. In its current state, this would ideally be enjoyed well chilled in the pursuit of staying cool on a hot day. Except that framing it as pure refreshment is hopelessly reductive; it has qualities that point clearly towards the high end. The palate is now quite full without losing focus, oak is well integrated (though still abundant), the finish long and pure.

This is just getting started.

Seppelt
Price: $A30
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Hoddles Creek Chardonnay 2006

Posted on by
Reply

On release, I gave what now strikes me as a rather lukewarm impression of this wine in my original writeup. Its firm acid structure prompted me, at the time, to put a few in my cellar for a rest, and I’m now tasting this again for the first time in three or so years. Of all the wines one might age, an $18 Australian Chardonnay wouldn’t be considered a sure bet. Indeed, the question of whether any Australian Chardonnay can productively age still pops up now and then. I’ll leave that debate to those more patient; for now, I have this wine in front of me and I do believe it’s better than it was as a fresher, younger wine.

As with most things vinous, the point at which one prefers to drink a particular wine is very much a matter of taste. So, to help you decide whether your stash of 2006 Hoddles Creek Chardonnay is ready for you, I’ll observe that this wine is in the initial stages of becoming more complex and, at the same time, more relaxed. The acidic nervousness I originally noted has mellowed to allow a looser, more expansive movement over the tongue. Flavours, which at first seemed so citrus and oak dominant, now express more cohesively, are perhaps harder to separate from one another, are certainly more numerous. There’s an especially delicious honey note that is just starting to emerge on the after palate. This will never be a fat, old fashioned style, but it’s starting to inch towards a fullness of palate weight and flavour profile that, to be honest, pleases me a lot more than a simpler, tighter style, especially given the inherent power of the Yarra Chardonnay flavour profile.

More of everything except edginess and simplicity; I like.

Hoddles Creek
Price: $A18
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Domaine Alain Chavy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly 2007

Posted on by
Reply

I’m a fan of this label, having enjoyed recent vintages (2005, 2006) very much. Though Chavy allows a clear view into vintage conditions, there’s a delicate power that unites these wines; detail above impact, complexity above density. This 2007 is clearly the most forward of the last three vintages, a real surprise considering growing conditions, which generally led to whites rather higher in acidity than usual.

The nose retains En Remilly’s fundamentally minerally, high toned profile, with sparks of flint, wet wool and florals. Fruit, however, is broader than usual, showing hints of yellow peach where before there was only white. There’s less citrus than usual, and less talc, stonefruit flesh taking its place. To be clear, this remains a restrained, tight aroma profile, but certainly looser than in previous years.

The palate is far less tightly structured than the 2006 in particular, and even in its first year after retail release the peach is flowing freely. What’s wonderful about this wine, though, is the clash of site and vintage conditions, plus perhaps a touch more oxidative handling in the winery. This is what happens when a wine of fundamentally mineral character goes wild; it’s full of savoury fruit and sweet prickliness, of blunt faces and angular asides. Citrus, rather than invoking delicate grapefruit or lemon, tilts towards juicy orange. Do I prefer it in its more restrained, delicate guise? Perhaps, but this is fascinating too, in the same way a favourite artist’s least achieved work is still valuable for being an expression of something fundamentally worthy. And this is far from a bad wine; indeed, it’s constantly improving in the glass, gaining complexity and almost justifying its portly middle.

For enthusiasts (and the fools who love them).

Domaine Alain Chavy
Price: $A50
Closure: Cork
Source: Retail

Mistletoe Reserve Chardonnay 2009

Posted on by
Reply

A $A40 Hunter Valley Chardonnay seeks impressive company – the Lake’s Folly and Tyrrell’s Vat 47 for starters. This, in the context of a wine region that, although it can claim an important place in the history of Australian Chardonnay, is hardly at the vanguard of fashion with the variety. I shouldn’t worry about such things, of course, as it’s all about the juice, right? Sure, but expectations have nonetheless been set.

First impressions are striking in that the nose and, in particular, palate seem very Semillon-ish. I know Semillon has been added to Hunter Chardonnay in years past and one might consider it a legitimate component of the regional style. Whether or not it’s been done here, I don’t know, but there’s a racy streak of textural acidity and the kind of strident citrus that are typical of Hunter Semillon. Once past this, the nose settles to a typically rich, peachy expression of Chardonnay, focus very much on fruit rather than the sort of oaky butterscotch that destroyed Chardonnay’s reputation back in the day. Still, this is hardly a delicate aroma profile, all ripe fruit and pungent, fresh herbs.

The palate is, if anything, even more fruit forward, flopping a big bowl of tinned peaches onto the tongue with a nice dollop of vanilla cream, all supported by a strong streak of acid. This is all rather boisterous and rather less delicate, and may be as polarising to drinkers as the ultra lean, Chablis-esque wines being produced further South. It’s not purely a stylistic question, though; while this is full of flavour, it does lack the sort of cohesion and controlled expression that the aforementioned regional icons usually display. It bounces between its buxom components with a wildness that isn’t entirely convincing.

A very big mouthful of Hunter Chardonnay.

Mistletoe
Price: $A40
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Mud House The Woolshed Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2010

Posted on by
Reply

A single vineyard wine and, at $A29, occupying the upper end of the price range for this style. As single vineyard and smaller production Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs become more visible, it interests me to see what makers consider to be worth highlighting in terms of varietal character. Here, Mud House has gone for a fairly extreme end of the style, full of spiky passionfruit, nettles and aggression.

It’s not all harshness, though; far from it. The fruit character here is actually quite complex (once you get past the overt aromatics), with some nectarine flesh and citrus in amongst the more tropical notes. The edginess, too, is detailed and relatively complex, though one might argue these qualities don’t make up for what is a slightly unbalanced overall profile. There’s no mistaking this for any other style.

In the mouth, one’s first impression is of chalky, textured acid, rather breathtaking really, followed by a cascade of bright fruit notes and an edge of leaf. Interestingly, it’s not thin-tasting; there’s a bit of flesh to the flavours, round enough to combat the wine’s structural tendencies. Typically, it dies a bit on the after palate and finish. For my taste, this is de trop, pushing the harsher side of the style too far to the fore. Having said that, those looking for a vibrant, somewhat explosive wine will find it here in spades.

Mud House
Price: $A29
Closure: Cork
Source: Sample

2009 Scholium Project Midan al-Tahrir

Posted on by
2

Let’s start with the finish, shall we?

The thing is it has to be the truth to really go over, here. It can’t be a calculated crowd-pleaser, and it has to be the truth unslanted, unfortified. And maximally unironic.

– David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest

If the experience of drinking a sip of this wine somehow included an involuntary oblivion, slyly eliding the first four-fifths of the line, it would have been enough. Heck, it would have been more than enough; the final, sneaking outro, the slouching into the past on little cat feet, soft scratch of nails against slate and clay, that alone’s far more interesting than most wines manage.

Let’s start with what this wine is not: it’s not identifiably varietal, it’s not faithful to a style (and in that sense is assuredly not a vin d’effort, it’s immoderately alcoholic, and it may well be de trop in terms of food pairings (although it might work wonders where pale, cool sherries would).

In the glass, the color’s nothing; it’s undifferentiated white wine product, visually unexceptional… but don’t be fooled. The nose is as subtly differentiated as a Rothko painting; subtle variations unfold towards the margins. The effect is akin to watching an Apichatpong Weerasethakul movie: in the center of the frame, a water buffalo escapes its post, slowly, leaving you to experience the beauty of the moment. This wine requires patience.

There are peaches, simple canned peaches, with a hint of the fresh linens worn by the cafeteria ladies who served you those peaches when you were in fourth grade. There are spices, refreshing and clean. They smell like Mom. There’s a wonderful, nutty oxidation, like a steel-green Chardonnay. The closest thing I’ve ever smelled to this was a sparkling Scheurebe from Saxony, all fresh bright fruits with a subversive edge of fresh sugar snap peas. If you’ve ever taken the time to watch – and I do mean really watch – a simple Dan Flavin sculpture of fluorescent tubes shimmering bright white light against a smooth concrete wall, you might have experienced something like the calm, hazy torpor this wine induces.

Alcohol, of which there is plenty, lends a fat happiness here, but thankfully relatively little heat. Not sweet, you can choose your own adventure here if you’re so inclined: this could be slightly oxidized Chardonnay, this could be from Franconia, this could be very fresh and clean. Peaches and cream, spice and almonds seem to be the main themes here; however, it’s only when it goes quiet that it really sings.

After the wine is gone – and I have no idea how the gods have arranged this – there’s that final, languid pause before unseen pleasures surprise you. If you’ve ever heard Evelyn Glennie play a note that she didn’t actually play, it’s something like that. This wine tastes like memory feels.

Scholium Project
Price: $24
Closure: Cork
Source: Retail

Curly Flat Chardonnay 2008

Posted on by
Reply

The temptation here is to begin a long, intricate, stupefying rant about Chardonnay styles and how, arguably, some Chardonnays are more equal than others. In the interests of retaining at least some of my readership, though, I will simply comment that this wine gives ample ammunition to those Chardonnay enthusiasts who feel a worked, White Burgundy style may just be le dernier mot.

The nose is a little friend made of fruit, wrapped in a prickly, woolen jumper. Firm white peach and peach skin, mostly, with the faintest hint of rich, fine pineapple syrup. It’s all very expressive and striking, even before you really give it the time it deserves. Especially distinctive is a thread of light, powdery charcoal. There’s plenty going on, but it’s also poised, such that one has the impression of a calm, ripple-free surface under which currents flow and mix with slippery ease.

There’s a mix of plump stonefruit, caramel and rich pastry on the palate whose closest relation seems to be a particularly fine tarte tatin. Lest this suggest a cloying richness that isn’t there, I should add that a run of ultra-fine acid, gathering steam through the middle and after palates, ensures this is altogether fresher and livelier than a baked dessert. There are many other flavours — herbs, citrus peel, aniseed, flink, oak, orange juice — such that there’s plenty to see, taste and touch. Excellent continuity of line and briskness over the tongue. This will age a treat, I reckon, hopefully becoming a bit more relaxed and comfortable with its fundamentally warm, soft flavour profile.

Utterly delicious Chardonnay.

Curly Flat
Price: $A42
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Gift