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.