Tag Archives: Grenache

Bitch 2005

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Immediately after pouring this in my glass, I thought that this wine smelled like just-fermented grape juice that someone had bunged in the bottle quickly and then shipped over to California. After a few minutes, though, it settled down into something a bit more recognizable as Barossa grenache: dusty, high alcohol dried cherries with a hint of spiciness. What’s really appealing here, though, is a distinct sourness that you don’t often find in wines at this price point or in this style; for every sickly sweet, tiring super-alocholized grenache out there, this wine makes a good counterpoint. Although it’s still huge, alcoholically speaking (15%), the sourness makes it all work. The overall rawness of the wine – even after fifteen minutes, it still tastes freshly made, somehow – is actually kind of fun and would make this a great match for tacos al pastor.Sure, there’s really not much here in the way of tannins, or structure, or complex aromas… but c’mon, the label is kind of awesome, it’s amazingly cheap, and it tastes pretty damn good.R WineryPrice: US $7.99Closure: StelvinDate tasted: March 2008

Château de Montfaucon Baron Louis Côtes du Rhône 2004

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I like a good Côtes du Rhône and, of all French wines, they are often the best QPR option if you are looking for something Old World to add variety to your choice of local quaffers. This one is an excellent example of the genre.Transparent ruby with purple edges, moderate density. The nose here is really interesting. It’s pretty but also rustic and savoury in character. Licorice allsorts, clean raspberry, dried herbs, pepper and earth wrapped in a subtle but enticing package. There’s a lot going on in here and it’s quite seamless and lightfooted. There’s good depth of flavour, which is increasing the longer the wine sits in glass, but it’s not a forbidding wine by any means. The other half suggested a bit of mould/wet hessian character that I wasn’t picking up. The entry has good impact, with flavour kicking in towards the front of the tongue and spreading sideways to coat generously. The mid-palate reveals a medium bodied wine of gentle acid and real generosity of flavour. Here’s a trick: the wine is full of flavour, yet balanced and easygoing too, with genuine complexity. Notes on the palate are very similar to the nose, with the red fruit asserting itself more prominently, and the pepper gaining impact via very fine yet drying tannins that kick in quite early on. There’s also a bit of coffee/vanilla oak that subtly supports the fruit flavour. The wine’s structure is nicely sorted, with the acid dovetailing into the tannins very elegantly and creating an excellent frame for the fruit. The after palate becomes progressively more spicy, and ends in a drying finish of good length. What a lovely wine. It’s exotic and reminds me of warm turned earth and flowers. We had this wine with barbecued meats and it was an excellent match. A very good value for what it is. It’s drinking well now but I’m going to leave the remaining bottles for a few years to see how the wine shows with softer, more integrated tannins.Château de MontfauconPrice: $A28Closure: CorkDate tasted: January 2008

Yalumba Bush Vine Grenache 2006

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Wines don’t have to be “super premium” to be worthwhile. If you’re like me, you’re always looking for wines to drink with dinner during the week, “everyday” wines in the best, most enjoyable sense of the word. I went hunting in the bottlo tonight for just such a wine to accompany gourmet pizza. I almost went for a Sangiovese, but this one pleaded with me to try it. I’m nothing if not attuned to the needs of others.


Fruit bomb, spice, a bit of oak. There you have it, that’s about as accurate a tasting note as one could write about this wine. Aromas are lovely and generous, with loads of raspberry jam type fruit, along with sweet spices (think cloves) and a hint of vanilla oak. It’s simple, but that’s ok because it’s a wine that knows what it is, and does it well.  The palate is a seamless continuation of the flavour profile discerned on the nose. Medium bodied, easygoing, well judged acidity to keep things peppy, but no significant tannins to speak of. The wine is really well constructed, texturally, and sits well in the mouth in this regard. With some time, the flavour developed a slightly medicinal, cough syrup note, that I rather liked. 

The pizza we had with this wine was strongly flavoured, plenty of pepperoni and so on. The wine stood up to this assault well due to the generosity of its fruit flavour, and counterbalanced the savoury pizza with sweet spicy fruit. Not a bad combination at all.

Price: $A17
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: December 2007

Panarroz 2005

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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

Wirra Wirra Mrs Wigley Rosé 2007

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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

La Ferme Julien Rosé 2006

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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

MonRedon Côtes du Rhône 2003

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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