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.

William Downie Gippsland Pinot Noir

Date: 15 July, 2011

What: 2010 William Downie Pinot Noir, Gippsland, Victoria

Purchased: City Wine Shop, around $65 

Food: home made pizza

Comments: so, really tough one to review.  Initial thoughts - closed, green/stemmy.  Not my bag really!  Quite a nice colour - vibrant light red.  Just felt hard to get into.  Nice mouth feel with fine tannins.  As it opens up, start to get a bit of rasberry on the nose and replace the green taste with some forest fruits and maybe plum as well as becoming a bit chewy.  I suggested it was a bit esoteric, but Ness responded that I was a bit of a wanker.  So I will settle on complex (the wine, that is).  I have kept some for tomorrow to see if it opens further.  The winemaker has a reputation as one of the young guns of pinot and is a real pinot specialist.  I am clearly not at that level yet!  Have got one of the stablemates lying down and will be interested to follow; time could be the key here.  For both me and the booze.

Craiglee Pinot Noir (different vintage)

Date: 9 July, 2011

What: 2008 Craiglee Pinot Noir, Sunbury, Victoria

Purchased: cellar door, around $30 (purchased last year on the back of excitement about the 06)

Food: roast pork belly

Comments: clearly younger.  Leans towards Mornington Peninsula (based on the last post's spectrum) with more red fruits (cherry especially).  Still some of the savouriness (more on the nose than the palette) but not nearly as much as the 06.  Light in colour, and not super bright.  I wonder if, in reviewing this one following hot on the heels of the 06 last night which I really enjoyed, if I am judging harshly?  To be honest, it is probably something I would have said is good without being great but just seems a touch disappointing in comparison.  I think that is indeed harsh.  It does reinforce how lucky we are with the number of quality pinots that dont cost a bomb.  Basically a solid pinot, good (red) fruits.  Quite drinkable.  Interested to watch development over the next few years - see if, in two years' time, it develops more of the savoury characters or if it is just a vintage thing.

Craiglee Pinot Noir

Date: 8 July, 2011

What: 2006 Craiglee Pinot Noir, Sunbury, Victoria

Purchased: cellar door, around $30 (purchased a couple of years ago: I recall tasting and it really grabbing me)

Food: deli food (chorizo, ham, cheeses, dips)

Comments: quite a light colour with some browns that you associate with ageing.  Had decanted.  First mouthful a bit flat, but that was atypical and have enjoyed this one.  Earthiness on bouquet - that classic "pinot stink" as my mate H likes to call it.  Lightness continues in the mouth but breaks out with a real savouriness.  Some background cherry fruits (and is there a touch of vanilla perhaps??) but this is all about the savoury side of pinot.  Finishes with good length.  Enjoying contemplating where this sits between say Mornington Peninsula and Central Otago; you can see the neighbourly links to Curly Flat down the road but less fruit driven.  Might have to do a side by side at some point.