Alvario Palacios Les Terrasses

Date: 29 March 2013
What: 2009 Alvario Palacios Les Terrasses, Priorat, Spain
Purchased: Langton's Wine Brokerage; retails for around $90-100
Food: nothing yet, but pasta with leftover peperonata and pancetta to follow and it should be a cracker with it!
Comments: Ripper gear.  It is a blend of garnacha (grenache), carinena, cabernet and shiraz and with all the depth and variety such a blend might suggest.  Spicy nose and deep, bright colour.  This is a great combination of textures and flavours - layers upon layers upon layers!  Quite the Sarah Lee cheesecake in that regard, but without the poxy 80's connotations.  Quite tannic (come hither, my inner cheeks!  They really get sucked in, which is something I associate with grenache and enjoy heaps when it is part of a package) but not so dominant that you miss the rest of the fun.  What I love most, I think, is the fact this is such a combination - spices, darker red fruits (so, to this point, we have the hallmarks of a great shiraz), cigar box/tobacco (thank you my Italian friends) and my favourite wanky term of all - sous bois*.  So you can see why this is such a ripper in my view....length, texture, spicy/fruity gear and the ability to reference old world wines and bullshit wine terms.  Giddy up!  Have grabbed half a dozen of the 08s to go to the cellar.  Interested to see the progress.

*Google it.  I am not going to do all the work for you!

Mac Forbes Yarra Junction Pinot Noir

Date: 16 October, 2012
What: 2010 Mac Forbes Yarra Junction Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley
Purchased: $46, cellar door
Food: pork and fennel sausages, summer coleslaw
Comments: Acquired last year at Mac's urban cellar door, along with all his other single vineyard pinots.  Beautiful, crisp colour is the first observation.  Neither dark nor light but with a clarity that makes it come alive.  Palate is equally crisp but also quite assertive in an elegant way.  This is not a muscular wine, rather it has a very determined sort of refinement.  Kind of like the quiet person in a meeting who says very little but nonetheless has everyones' attention, and they all wait for his lead.  Some cherries and a cranberry tartness to go alongside a hint of spice/herbs.  A bit of vanilla rounds it out.  Yeah, quite like this one.  I think it is a very confident expression of PN. 

Gapsted Saperavi

Date: 14 September, 2012
What: 2006 Gapsted Saperavi, Alpine Valleys, Victoria
Purchased: $25, cellar door
Food: after pizza
Comments: I bought this one a few years ago when we were on holiday in the area.  It wasn't available for tasting but I was intrigued about a grape I had never heard of (my knowledge of things vinuous in the former Soviet state of Georgia is scratchy to say the least).  It has been sitting there untouched as a quaffer that I nonetheless wanted to have a wine wank about but have never found the moment; I almost didn't go there tonight as for some reason I have had it in my mind as a lighter style - so there was some surprise when I poured it!  Nice dark colour but with a bit of vibrancy.  Savoury and foresty nose.  It drinks like a hybrid of a bigger Italian wine (nebbiolo, a solid Chianti perhaps) and a shiraz.  Dense, with dark fruits (plums, blackberries) and that leathery, tobacco thing that makes me think Italian (Italian wines; I don't mean to say that I start thinking in Italian).  And then there's a savoury, spicy bit alongside which is all cool climate shiraz.  Has a very grippy, softly tannic feel that adds an appealing chewiness.  It actually reflects the area it comes from pretty well - the Alpine and King Valleys are highlighted by Italian families and grape varieties, and next door is Beechworth which has some cracking shirazes.  Good gear.

Mount Mary Pinot Noir

Date: 4 August, 2012
What: 2008 Mount Mary Pinot Noir, Yarray Valley
Purchased: probably $85, I think
Food: Braised lamb, roast potatoes, sauteed cale
Comments: Two observations - plenty of structure, plenty of time required.  Quite concerned at the start - very flat.  Light colour but a bit murky.  Had little on the palate early and took a couple of hours to open up.  Nose is a bit spicy and has a hint of the tightly coiled anger that emerges later.  Gets a bit more friendly in the mouth, with an underlying smoothness with some fresh cherry and a sort of lighter version of forest fruits adding to the spice.  No shortage of length, and good structure with the underlying fruit that will provide some elegance with once the tannins that rattle around the gob grow up.  Just seems like an energetic, edgy young colt that catches the eye when running a maiden (starting in the city, of course, given good breeding, trainer and money spent on it) - might not be a cup runner just yet, but there is a significant future here, and you can see some of the class (great sectionals) but just needs a season or two to really hit its stride.  Pleasingly, I have a couple of these bad boys snoozing in the cellar.  See you in five (years), kids!

Sevenhill Cellars Inigo Grenache

Date: 13 July, 2012
What: 2010 Sevenhill Cellars Inigo Grenache, Clare Valley
Purchased: n/a; around $25 I think
Food: Chilli con carne (followed by chocolate)
Comments: I have had a mixed relationship with grenache - too often it seems sweet and cloying.  So it was with a bit of trepidation I hooked into this one, but need not have feared.  Just after pouring it is nice but without being special to look at.  Bit of mixed fruit and spice on the nose.  But this is all about the mouth.  Just really good quaffing gear.  Nice fruits (a bit darker than the red fruits and almost sweet plum thing I sometimes associate with grenache) and some good spice to balance it.  Sort of verges on the too sweet but those spices rein it in.  Probably has a couple of years left in it, but no need to wait.  Will go with a bunch of different foods - various meaty/tomato casseroles, roast lamb, good barbie stuff.  Put it on the midweek quaffer rotation and you won't be disappointed.

Box Stallion The Enclosure PInot Noir

Date: 23 June, 2012
What: 2008 Box Stallion Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula
Purchased: Cellar door, around $30, I think
Food: Shepherd's pie
Comments: "Be in the game, but not of the game."  This is tasty, knock it down gear.  Has a light colour, with the slightest brown tinge.  Goes savoury, fruity and then savoury - nose is savoury if non specific, then onto an initially classic (as I see it!) Peninsula flavour of stewed cherries and background red fruits but then gets quite savoury as it ends and finishes quite long.  It has a sort of refined muscularity.  Has some Central Otago qualities in that regard.  "From the Peninsula, but not of the Peninsula".  Ultimately, this a fun, quaffing pinot, not a wine wanker one (although far more than a bbq red, for sure).  I would happily tuck into this again.

Clonakila Hilltops Shiraz

Date: 1 June, 2012
What: 2010 Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz, Hilltops Region, NSW
Purchased: Gift (many thanks, A!)
Food: Chorizo, prawn, chilli and porcini pizza
Comments: Possible ripper.  Deep, dark colour.  Sort of tight nose although has a bit of spice to it; kind of there but not.  Enough of the preliminary garbage.  This announces itself in the mouth.  Dense, chewy tannins with a brambly, blackberry flavour with almost an deep, angry Christmas pudding thing.  Bit of spice to add depth.  Finish is interesting.  It is sort of like there is an aria being sung and then it drops an octave straight away.  That said, it continues to belt out solid tune, albeit slightly softer.  Think I need to put some of this in the cellar to have a snooze for say 3 years and it will be outstanding, although quite enjoying it now.  Good stuff.

Box Stallion Tempranillo

Date: 26 May, 2012
What: 2008 Box Stallion Tempranillo, Mornington Peninsula
Purchased: Cellar Door, around $40, I think
Food: Chilli con carne (but not a spicy one)
Comments: bright colour and spicy, assertive nose, albeit "lean" rather than fullsome.  This is all about tannins.  Soft, powdery, mouth coating ones.  Reminded me of a really high end Belgian milk chocolate that after two chews is just painting your mouth.  Bouncy red fruits (cherry, strawberry) as well.  Length is an interesting one.  Yes, it goes for a bit, but stays softly rather than strongly.  For the second glass, the tannins get slightly more assertive and suck the cheeks in a bit.  Goes well with food, with a bit of spice coming into play - much more assertive.  Would be fascinated to see a vertical of this.  Does it start out soft and powdery or does it evolve that way?  Either way, another winner from Box Stallion (I rate their shiraz and pinot).  Quite underrated, I think.
Postscript: have had another glass 24 hours later.  Tannins to the fore, a bit of darker fruit, but noticeable also is a bit of spice.  Clove? Allspice?  Mouthfeel still on the supple end but just a bit more assertive.  Suggests a good future lying down.  Wish I had some more to revisit in say 2015.

Garagiste Syrah

Date: 24 and 25 April, 2012
What: 2010 Garagiste Syrah, Heathcote
Purchased: Blackhearts & Sparrows, $46
Food: Chicken and leek pie (24/4), lamb and salad (25/4)
Comments: errrrmmm. Ok. Great colour - vibrant deep ruby.  A tasting in two parts. 
First night: what is this?  Little on the nose.  Perhaps some spice, and a bit of forest floor.  Weird melange of forest fruits and cloves, but nothing really consistent and more to the point, nothing particularly meaningful to taste.  Very tannic and had the cheeks being sucked well in.
Second night: has opened up, with spices coming a bit more to the fore, but still somewhat thin.  A touch flinty on the nose along with the spice.
So, what to make of it?  Would not pick it as Heathcote in a million years.  The first thing that popped into my head was an obscure arthouse movie.  You know the type - a black and white effort filmed on location in Albania by an "acclaimed" Estonian director, which tells the tale of a widowed goat herder and his struggles against globalism.  Why anyone would watch it over the many other films floating around is anyone's guess.  No doubt, a select few pseudo intellectuals will find my views that of a boorish fool who doesn't know a classic when he tastes one.  But what exactly have I tasted?  I am more sympathetic on the second night but this is not something to be trotted out in anything other than the most select of wine wank types.

Glaetzer-Dixon Mon Pere Shiraz

Date: 14 April, 2012
What: 2009 Glaetzer-Dixon Mon Pere Shiraz, Tasmania
Purchased: Blackhearts & Sparrows, $40
Food: Home made pizza
Comments: lot of wraps on this, so I was keen to try - but always presents a difficulty in reviewing as wanting to be unbiased.  Nice clean, bright colour - lighter side of things.  Closed on the nose early.  Into the gob and...pepper, anyone?  White and black, both at once, and dominating.  I love pepper in my cool climate shirazes, but this is almost taking the piss.  Cool climate shiraz as an extreme sport.  After a while the nose starts to open, with some berry fruits/plum, forest floor and perhaps a bit of porcini mushroom popping in to say hello.  Palate also starts to open up and the pepper softens (although much in the same way a Mike Tyson's punch softens after 10 rounds - it's still a punch) and makes way for plums and some nice soft tannins; a bit more rounded, and stylish, almost some Frenchiness creeping in.  Will be interested to drink more tomorrow and see how it progresses.  Worth the hype?  Not quite, but a handy drop.
Post script: had another glass today, the day after.  Much more going on - fuller in the mouth and a lot more fruit working with the pepper.  Good length.  Shall decant the next bottle for a couple of hours before drinking as it really needs the time!

Omaha Bay Vineyard Malbec

Date: 30 March, 2012
What: 2010 Omaha Bay Vineyard Malbec, Matakana, New Zealand
Purchased: Cellar door, around NZD$30, I think
Food: Pizza
Comments: not a grape I have had much of as a straight varietal, but they were everywhere in NZ!  This is on the more linear end (c.f. Kidnapper Cliffs, a more round and filling wine that I am keen to hunt down and blog about).  In a blind tasting you might go with a cool climate shiraz - spicy, peppery and a bit of dark fruit, both in the shozz and in the gob.  Something else, too...licorice?  Not in a sharp aniseed sense, but a more general, Darrel Lea soft licorice thing.  Background only, so let's not get too carried away.  Enjoyable drop without being a blockbuster.  Friday night pizza is indeed the slot for it, but would be an interesting thing to sneak into a cool climate shiraz line up.

Curly Flat Pinot Noir

Date: 11 February, 2012
What: 2005 Curly Flat Pinot Noir, Macedon Ranges
Purchased: Dan's, I think.  Dont recall price but current vintage $48 on website
Food: Rabbit and mushroom pie, green beans
Comments: wow.  Just travelling beautifully.  Nice and crisp look.  Earthy, spare nose early doors but opens up after a glass.  Forest floor.  Mushrooms - but am I just thinking of what was on the menu?  No, it is in fact a good match.  Pine nuts.  Very Burgundian, or at least what I think of as Burgundian.  Nice stink.  Keep coming back to forest floor.  Keep coming back to swirling and sniffing, for that matter.  Loving it.  Some slight red fruits but a bit of spice with more mushrooms; soft but defined tannins.  Good length.  Linear although in a positive structural sense - no lack of flesh here.  Quite tasty indeed.

Savaterre Chardonnay

Date: 4 February, 2012
What: 2008 Savaterre Chardonnay, Beechworth
Purchased: cellar door, about $70
Food: BBQ honey prawns, Thai-inspired mango and bean shoot salad
Comments: last one we spoke about balance.  This is more about being on the precipice of what I like without going over the edge.  I prefer my chardonnays more linear and minerally, rather than the oaky/buttery end.  This peers into the buttery abyss but stays just outside.  Just.  Bright straw yellow colour.  Classic argument in favour of drinking whites above fridge temperature.  Opens up and delivers more (albeit closer to the edge per above) when a touch warmer.  Apricot, lychee flavours; a bit chewy and coats the mouth nicely but with enough acid to cut through.  Kind of hangs around for a chat after the fact, too.  I suspect those more in favour of chardonnay will be all over it.  I like it but partly driven by the wine wank side of things as much as general drinking enjoyment.

Pyramid Valley Pinot Noir

Date: 27 January, 2011 (I'm back!)
What: 2007 Pyramid Valley Growers Collection Eaton Family Vineyard Pinot Noir, Marlborough
Purchased: by a Freo supporter who lost this in a bet (go Tigers!) but I suspect not on the budget end of proceedings
Food: Eye fillet (lighter one!), couple of excellent summery salads
Comments: lovely open.  No need to spend too much time waiting for it to wake up.  Darker colour with a bit of the browny/aged colour on the edges; quite vibrant given unfiltered.  Balance is the word here.  Excellent balance between (red) fruity flavours, tannins (smooth, nice mouth feel) and a sharper version of the forest floor nose.  Also strikes a nice balance between chunky/solid Otago pinot and the stewed cherry end of Marlborough.  Finishes with a vaguely chocolate (milk) and vanilla flavour mixing in with the more classic PN.  Cinnamon?  Very enjoyable and a much more grown-up version of the Marlborough standard.

Mac Forbes Gruyere Syrah

Date: 22 October, 2011
What: 2009 Mac Forbes Gruyere Syrah, Yarra Valley
Purchased: cellar door, $36
Food: Welsh rarebit
Comments: bought this one this arvo at Mac Forbe's "urban cellar door" in Collingwood.  Good not to have to travel far for cellar door-style tastings!  The syrah struck me as a bit fleshier then compared to now.  Why is it that tastings are always different to the bottle at home?  It has a really funky, earthy, rustic nose.  Gets a touch of spice as it opens up, but still more of a (bullish) pinot stink rather than what I might expect from syrah.  Bit of a linear mouthfeel.  Has some damp wood, forest floor gear in the mouth with a hint of chocolate to go with some more spices (think cloves etc) but interestingly for a cool climate shiraz/syrah there is no pepper to speak of.  Finishes with some length although still in the linear mould - not a fleshy finish.  These wines are not quaffers in my world.  This is one the wine wank, thought provoking end of the spectrum.  Provoked thoughts might include "what food would I have with this next time"?  And answers might be lamb (roasted), or perhaps an aged cheddar.

Foster e Rocco Rose

Date: 24 September, 2011

What: 2011 Foster e Rocco Rose (Sangiovese), Heathcote, Victoria

Purchased: website, $25

Food: bbq fish, blood orange and asparagus salad, roast potatoes

Comments: roses rank alongside sparkling reds as things I like but without taking seriously - fun quaffers and nothing more.  Time to get a bit more thoughtful.  Have had the previous two vintages of this one, oddly enough on the same night at MsG's in Sydney.  Quite different with the '10 being the more linear and acidic, the '09 being slightly sweeter.  This takes it a step further than the '10 -  but does it have enough flesh?  Was better with food rather than now, post food.  What is that on the nose?  Can't place it but perhaps is the start of the rasberry background that appears on the palette.  Have picked up a case for summer and will be interested to see my thoughts evolve as the wine gets a few more months into it and I try it with different food.  Definitely a food wine.

Domaine Taupenot - Merme Morey Saint Denis

Date: 23 September, 2011
What: 2006 Domaine Taupenot-Merme Morey Saint Denis, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy
Purchased: Dan's, $100
Food: pizza
Comments: so, a bit of a challenge - a type of wine I've not had a lot of and outside my usual ones.  Lighter colour - clearly pinot.  Had to wait for it to open up to give something interesting on the nose.  Bit of a damp, forest floor thing, perhaps a touch of pine forest and wood.  A bit of chocolate (milk) somewhere.  In the mouth has a sort of bouncy, green vibrancy that settles a bit in second glass after some time. Flavours?  Hmmmm.  There is a sort of dark fruits thing but it is in the background if that makes sense.  Background spices - cloves.  This is interesting in a wine wank way.  Good structure - you can almost feel and taste four walls.  Tannins are fine but certainly make themselves known - grippy after the fact but very much part of the structure on the way through.  You sort of start to understand where the bullshit about Burgundy comes from.  There's a lot to wank on about!  More enjoyable if you want to spend some time thinking about it rather than quaffing down a couple of glasses whilst your head is elsewhere.

Best's Pinot Noir

Date: 27 August, 2011

What: 2009 Bes'ts Great Western Pinot Noir, Great Western, Victoria

Purchased: Dan's (I think), low $20's

Food: duck breast

Comments: it's a really robust, almost aggressive pinot this one - in the right way.  Barry Hall on a good day.  Anyone who is a francophile, Burgundy/old world-is-the-only-pinot wanker type will hate this!  I had a French (Alsace, not Burgundy) pinot at a restaurant last weekend and this couldn't be a bigger contrast.  Big, full mouthfeel - announces itself early doors.  Nice touch of earth/dirty pinot thing on the nose initially which firmly says "pinot" but then the mouth is bouncy and a bit chunky rather compared to Frenchy light and ephemeral.  Distance is not the only thing that separates it from Mornington Peninsula.  None of that cherry/red fruits bizzo - real earthy, dark fruits pinot.  Interesting to consider on the pinot spectrum - not often you get a pinot that in the mouth might give you pause to think it was something other than a pinot. 

Craiglee Shiraz

Date: 12 August, 2011

What: 2008 Craiglee Shiraz, Sunbury, Victoria

Purchased: Cellar door, $45 

Food: pizza

Comments: Craiglee shiraz is a wine of different personalities and I think that is part of the appeal.  I am hooking into my second glass and swapping between enjoying some nice linear, peppery, sort of blueberry and background dark choc flavours in a sort of wine wanker mode, and then having a couple of big slurps because it's juicy and yummy and you can drink it now quite easily.  It works on both levels.  I love the vintage variations.  This wine is a great example of the fun of letting terroir and vintage find expression in the wine.  The 08 is in the middle of the Craiglee range power-wise, with a bigger body than its predecessor but with the classic white pepper lurking, and beautiful forest fruits - so typical and individual at the same time.  A bit of a grippy tannic thing at the end (which I have a soft spot for).  It would be remiss not to mention a really bright, bouncy colour that gives the same feeling as when you see a beautifully plated dish at a restaurant and your eyes have already decided you like it.

Bress Gold Chook Shiraz

Date: 21 July, 2011

What: 2006 Bress Gold Chook Shiraz, Heathcote, Victoria

Purchased: Wine Bank on View, around $35 (three years ago) 

Food: moussaka

Comments: hhhhmmmm.  Has a couple of layers.  Goes in a bit closed but opens up at the end.  Perhaps atypical for Heathcote - none of the big mouthfeel and no chocolate (more's the pity!) and low in alcohol.  It is good fun gear for now but not really for the long haul.  Got a bit of a plum thing and some background spice and then opens into more of a forest fruits thing (kind of sweet) that reminds me of a grenache more than a shiraz.  This one is more about a juicy, fruity shiraz than a tannic, age for twenty years thing.  Time to rip into the rest of the bottles and enjoy over the next year or so.