Category Archives: White

Bloodwood Chardonnay 2009

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Not a lot of tasting (as opposed to drinking) these last few days. Tonight, while dinner is cooking, I thought I’d give this wine a go. It arrived during the week from the indefatigable David Cumming, who does PR for many Central Ranges wineries. My experience of recent wines from this zone has been variable, but this bottle is getting more and more interesting as I swirl.

A strong element of minerality, aided perhaps by some sulfur, dominates the nose, followed closely by flowers and quite complex fruit notes. The fruit edges towards stonefruit, with some pithy grapefruit too. It’s quite a savoury aroma profile, challenging even, and evolves to show a hint of baked goods. The elements show a discordant relationship, never resolving cleanly, but constantly exchanging meaningful glances. 
The palate, initially, seemed simple and slippery, with straightforward white peach fruit. It has quickly become complex and savoury, though, and to me a lot more interesting. The entry is quite flavoursome yet gentle too; fruit flavours seem to glide towards the middle palate on satin sheets. And if that sounds a bit tacky, it is, or at least threatens to be, until one realises on the middle palate there is a range of quite adult flavours on offer, and the mouthfeel has become more textured too. Rocks get thrown together as the wine edges towards the back palate, where a floral lift takes flavours towards a subtle, glowing finish of good length. Oak seems subliminal, winemaking equally simple. I feel like I’m tasting the fruit, and I like it.

Bloodwood Wines
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

clos Clare Riesling 2002

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Interesting going back to a wine two years or so later on in its evolution; I last drank this in November 2007, and here we are again. This time around, the nose offers up a very spare emptiness, almost the idea of wine without characteristics. It’s an oddly Zen effect: a wine that is so quiet that concentrating on it leaves me very quiet indeed. There are notes of refrigerated butter, dried leaves, and wax paper on the nose; in the mouth, it’s surprisingly rich and full-bodied, with the expected shocking acidity having very much subsided over the last eight years or so in the bottle. On the finish, you get a 3D suggestion of Meyer lemon tart, all lemon rind and fresh pastry, before it slowly fades out.Again, absolutely lovely stuff here, and it doesn’t seem to have changed much over the last two years… and that’s a good thing because I think I still have a few more bottles. If all of the Australian rieslings I bought six years ago last this long under Stelvin, I’ll be very happy indeed as there’s no way I can drink most of them before they’re a quarter-century old.clos Clare
Price: US $14
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett 2007

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Tension is an underexplored dimension of wine that, in some respects, goes against the grain of conventional aesthetics. Balance, harmony and elegance are all buzzwords of significant currency, dictating a serene, classical conception of beauty that, I’ll admit, often holds a lot of appeal for me.

I also like Italian horror films from the 1970s. And Sandra Bernhard’s lips. And Michel Houellebecq’s politics. All angular, difficult things that, on some level, fill me with a sense of beauty. Lately, I find myself wondering on a regular basis whether a wine that is less than composed in its structure and flow can be equally, perhaps even more, beautiful than one which is perfectly built. I know the answer is “of course it can;” articulating why is more challenging.

In some respects, this wine is all over the place. Its flavour profile leaps from sulfur to rich, aromatic fruit to crystalline minerality. Its mouthfeel lurches from spritz to unctuousness to chiselled dryness. Yet, somehow, it all comes together in the most exciting, delicious way. The aroma shows slightly blunt sulfur, the dull ache of carbonated mineral water, tart marmalade and, strangely, the smell of white pepper. It’s a question mark of a nose, darting this way and that. It’s also subtly alluring, redolent of the smell of spice markets that I suspect have only ever existed in the pages of books.

The palate is a rollercoaster ride. Spritz registers on entry, cutting through what becomes a rich expression of Riesling fruit on the middle palate. Mango skins and lime juice, mostly. It’s delicious, if sweet, and begins to cloy just as a swell of minerality rises to temper any excess of residual sugar. I have been sipping this wine all evening, and have not remotely tired of the contrasting interplay between sweet fruit and dry flintiness. It’s one of the hardest things to get right with off-dry Riesling styles, and this wine makes it seem just effortful enough to help one appreciate the achievement. A lovely, long finish.

I see this wine as a contest of sorts, between elements that clash and come together not to cancel each other out, but to give rise through conflict to something quite lovely. It’s fabulous.

Willi Schaefer
Price: $A42
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Mike Press Chardonnay 2009

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Or: the art of the perfect quaffing wine.

At $8.33 per bottle, this wine positions itself squarely at the “everyday drinking” end of the market. This can be scary vinous territory, swinging unpredictably from surprisingly good to revoltingly cynical in the twist of a corkscrew. And it’s fair to ask: what ought a wine to be at this price? I don’t pretend to have an answer, but I know a good attempt when I taste one, and this certainly is a good attempt at the ideal quaffing white.
The nose shows alcohol and sweet basil, but mostly juicy white nectarine (including the skins). It’s all quite simple and fresh, with little in the way of confectionary overtones, nor worked characters that might suggest a sense of obesity. The palate adds to these simple, attractive flavours by delivering a slippery, borderline syrupy mouthfeel that speaks of cost-effective luxury.  Intensity is quite decent, and there’s a surprisingly sophisticated streak of minerality running underneath all that peachy goodness. Indeed, this is the Hyundai Sonata of quaffing wines; aiming above its station and, for the time it takes to smell and swallow, more or less delivering. That it evaporates from one’s memory almost as quickly as the dramatic impact of Avatar is quite beside the point. It’s awfully fun while it lasts.
And isn’t that what quaffing wines are all about?

Mike Press Wines
Price: $A8.33
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Gift

Climbing Sauvignon Blanc 2009

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Curious wine, this one. Without quite knowing why, I was anticipating a boring, commercial style and, insofar as this wine avoids insulting levels of residual sugar, I was pleasantly surprised.  But I’m still scratching my head in terms of what this wine is. 

What’s here is indeed dry — almost austere — in its flinty restraint. The nose shows wispy varietal character, far from the scream of Marlborough sauvignon blanc, just hinting at some grass and passionfruit. There’s a nice basil note too. Volume is turned way down, though. The palate is more textural than flavoursome, with a chiselled form that is two parts acidity and one part flavour profile. The latter shows similar restraint to the nose, with more grass and light passionfruit, plus a streak of flint that reminds me of some dry rieslings. It lacks outré impact, though there’s a nice intensity of flavour through the after palate, and the acid certainly creates an impression in the mouth. Unremarkable finish.
Neither here nor there, perhaps, but ironically may appeal to those who dislike Sauvignon Blanc. For me, I’m looking for something more to latch on to here, and I would be curious to see how far this style could move in a minerally direction. The flavour profile also suggests a bit of lees or barrel work might yield interesting results. Again, curious wine.

Cumulus Wines
Price: $A21.99
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Qupé Marsanne 2007

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It looks like I have Jancis Robinson to thank for one more thing: the third edition of the Oxford Companion to Wine has turned out to be not only an invaluable reference but also heavy enough to serve as a flat surface to park my wine while lounging on the sofa, MacBook at hand, to blog.My first, fleeting impression was of dried sugared pineapple, but that quickly dissipated in favor of something not unlike popcorn flavored jellybeans. In short, it smells strangely buttery, salty, mineral, sweet, tropical, nutty, and flowery all at the same time – overwhelming, almost, but of course charming as well.The palate is much more restrained than the aromatics; it tastes much more French than Californian, with firm structure and a mouthfeel reminiscent of beeswax. The finish is lovely, with hints of wildflower and length to spare; acidity is present, not unsettling; color is elegantly pale (think Tilda Swinton, perhaps).If this wine were French, it’d cost a hundred bucks; this wine isn’t, and I’m thinking I should lay some down for a good, long time. Just as Tahbilk marsanne lasts decades, I suspect this one would as well.Qupé
Price: $14
Closure: Cork
Source: Retail

Ökonomierat Rebholz Riesling Vom Buntsandstein Spätlese 2007

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I was a bit underwhelmed by this wine initially; it’s quite rich and I found it a little cloying. But extended tasting reveals a complex, delicate flavour profile. There’s a lot to enjoy here. Besides which, the label looks totally home made, which is fun in a low-tech way.

On the nose, slightly sulfurous with powerful fruit aromas and some floral delicacy. It has gained better balance with some air, so do let it breathe a bit or give it a good swirl, even if (like me) you’re feeling thirsty. Your reward will be good complexity and increased coherence. 
In the mouth, some air has again worked to its advantage, lightening the wine’s feel and allowing a wide range of flavours to express themselves. Entry is quite full and immediate, with fragrant mandarin and preserved citrus peel the dominant flavours. Sweetness peaks on the middle palate, before maximum complexity asserts itself through the quite wonderful after palate, with bitter orange flavours sitting alongside sweet, small stonefruit and a streak of savoury minerality.  A gentle, sweet finish of impressive length. There’s no doubt this is a richly flavoured wine, full of expressive, sweet fruit and, arguably, acidity that is too restrained. I’d still prefer a more nimble middle palate and slightly cleaner finish, but I can appreciate this wine’s silky, sophisticated mouthfeel — with just a hint of soft spritz — and overall generosity.
Not my ideal style, but a quality wine nonetheless.

Ökonomierat Rebholz
Price: $A70
Closure: Cork
Source: Retail

Tyrrell's Belford Semillon 2009

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I remember tasting a 1995 Mount Pleasant Lovedale years ago and, more than anything else, what struck me was its mouthfeel. The closest I can come to describing it is “waxy,” which doesn’t do it justice but nevertheless communicates some of the curiously slippery, yet finely textural, impression the wine made on my tongue. It was totally beguiling and has become something I look for in Hunter Semillon. 
And this wine has it, though embryonically. First to the nose, which is surprisingly open at the moment, showing citrus flowers and powdery perfume, high toned and with good detail. There’s also just a hint of something less straightforwardly fruity — minerally perhaps — adding darkness and some mystery to the aroma profile. 
The palate is, structurally, quite complex. Entry is flavoursome and lively, with a good dose of acidity and a squeeze of lemon juice. The wine then smoothes out a little, and that nascent waxy mouthfeel creeps in, helping the wine to relax and express itself with less edginess. It’s like a translucent sheen over the wine’s flavour and structure, perhaps robbing it of some detail but also cushioning its impact in a very sensual, attractive way. The after palate regains some more discernible texture before a reasonable finish exhibits one last, teasing flourish of softness.
What a pleasure.

Tyrrell’s
Price: $20.33
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Tyrrell's Johnno's Semillon 2009

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Tyrrell’s has long made a habit of highlighting single vineyards in its Semillon porfolio, and this label continues the tradition. Small batch (250 dozen), old vines (1908), sandy soils; it oozes cred simply for what it is. Tyrrell’s has gone a step further here and vinified the grapes in a deliberately old fashioned manner, sending things off the authenticity scale entirely. Indeed, it’s the kind of wine that is so tantalising on paper, one half suspects it will be a disappointment in the mouth.

In fact, it has quite exceeded my expectations. I’ve drunk this over two evenings and it has hardly moved, perhaps softening slightly on day two. The nose shows typically straightforward young Semillon citrus, in this case surrounded by a range of other flavours, from chalk to cheese, that add complexity. It’s still austere and quite etched, just with a wider range of aromas than usual. It’s also quite expressive, something one can’t take for granted with young Hunter Semillon.
The palate is a wonderfully textural experience. The entry is immediate and flavoursome, tight acidity helping pure citrus flavour to burst onto the tongue. Before long, a mouthfeel that is part chalk and part sandpaper begins to register, along with increasing complexity of flavour. The wine remains very focused and intense, as befits its status as a quality Semillon, but the textural influences create a feeling of generosity, if not downright drinkability, that makes the wine quite accessible as a youngster. The finish is extremely long and fine, with great delicacy to its gradual taper.
 
I’m quite excited about how this wine will age. I hope Tyrrell’s persists with the style.

Tyrrell’s
Price: $A33.33
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Angullong A Sauvignon Blanc 2009

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I gather the previous vintage was well rewarded at wine shows. Presuming the 09 is made in a similar style, I can see why. This is a generously flavoured wine, quite different in style from, say, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, despite a similarly vivid outlook. 

The nose is as cuddly as Sauvignon Blanc gets, with pungent yet soft aromas of unripe passionfruit, crushed leaf and gin. Somehow, it puts in me in mind of Smith’s Salt and Vinegar Chips, undoubtedly the best salt and vinegar crisp on the market. It’s not a seawater thing; rather it suggests the morish deliciousness of salt combined with the raw astringency of vinegar and the addictive sweetness of potato. 
The palate is quite gentle in the context of the style, though it takes until the middle palate for this to register. The attack is actually quite tight and crisp, acidity creating the greatest impression. Things broaden as the wine progresses, mouthfeel becoming thicker and flavour becoming sweeter. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a hint of well-judged residual sugar, though it could just be the fruit. The acid rises again through the after palate, bringing back some zing and whisking the wine away to a clean finish. No great length, but that’s not a surprise considering the variety. 
A really crowd-pleasing style at a good price. Not my style, mind, but that’s neither here nor there.

Angullong
Price: $A15
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample