I reviewed this nearly a year ago, and after opening a bottle last night I was so impressed I thought I'd check what I thought and give an update on how it's travelling.
Before reading my old review, my impression is this is a very classy wine, excellent complexity, and lacks nothing. It's only flaw is I've drained the glass without even getting two paragraphs done!
So how does it compare to my review a year back?
Well, the colour is a bit more crimson now, which you'd expect. It's still got that something dark and wicked, but now it seems a little more savoury with Christmas ham and a lovely aromatic sweetness that reminds me of Roquefort cheese.
The biggest change is the tannins which have that brilliant blend of firm and soft, giving mouthfeel without dryness. Another 2 years won't hurt, but you can safely crack one now, though it is better after 24 hours so still I reckon I'm right about it's potential long life.
Surprisingly it's still apparently available. It would have to be my favourite 2009 Shiraz and a bargain for this quality really.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Whistler Hubert Irving (Red Blend) 2010
This wine exudes quaff, and I don't mean that in a negative way. This is a wine that goes with everything a red wine goes with; food, fireplaces, friends and footy on the TV. By the way, I didn't have any trouble coming up with four F words, I had more problem in limiting to 4 clean ones.
Possibly, probably even, the reason this wine goes with everything is it's a blend. In Australia we seem to be fixated on single variety, but how many of us are aware that most of the single variety stuff is a blend of vineyards, sometimes a blend of regions, and occasionally a blend of States. It can even be a blend of vintages, but it's rare to get an admission of that.
I have nothing against single variety, and indeed single vineyard is pretty hard to beat when it's a good 'un, but I reckon there should be a lot more labelled blends out there. And a bit more willingness to experiment beyond GSM, Cab-Merlot and Cab-Shiraz.
This one is somewhat unusual, with 30% Mourvedre, 30% Merlot, 25% Grenache, 8% Shiraz and 7% Cab Sav, and they go so well together. Mostly red fruit on the nose with a touch of rosemary and oregano, reasonably full body and chewy tannins give longevity to red and black fruits on the palate, and there's just enough quality acid to keep it all in balance. I reckon this would be a cracker if it had been made with their premium fruit.
Very good value at $16-$19, ready to 'quaff' now and good drinking for the next 5 years.
Recommended.
Possibly, probably even, the reason this wine goes with everything is it's a blend. In Australia we seem to be fixated on single variety, but how many of us are aware that most of the single variety stuff is a blend of vineyards, sometimes a blend of regions, and occasionally a blend of States. It can even be a blend of vintages, but it's rare to get an admission of that.
I have nothing against single variety, and indeed single vineyard is pretty hard to beat when it's a good 'un, but I reckon there should be a lot more labelled blends out there. And a bit more willingness to experiment beyond GSM, Cab-Merlot and Cab-Shiraz.
This one is somewhat unusual, with 30% Mourvedre, 30% Merlot, 25% Grenache, 8% Shiraz and 7% Cab Sav, and they go so well together. Mostly red fruit on the nose with a touch of rosemary and oregano, reasonably full body and chewy tannins give longevity to red and black fruits on the palate, and there's just enough quality acid to keep it all in balance. I reckon this would be a cracker if it had been made with their premium fruit.
Very good value at $16-$19, ready to 'quaff' now and good drinking for the next 5 years.
Recommended.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Sieber Rd Shiraz Mataro 2008
The deer have gotten into the vineyard again.
You'd think they would be still full after gorging themselves on the half fermented raspberries and blackberries from the bushes that line the north paddock. The buggers had even been eating the wild black olives.
So in the immortal words of Ugluk, looks like meat's back on the menu boys, and it's venison.
To the self marinaded vension, we've added a sprinke of black pepper, a dash of garam masala and given it a rub with thyme and lemon peel.
Juicy, tender and gum lickingly good. Probably should have aged it a bit more, and it got a tad charred on one edge when we had the BBQ too hot, but the charcoal aids digestion they say.
Recommended++, but not easy to find outside cellar door and not even on the website, so you might want to email them and ask.
You'd think they would be still full after gorging themselves on the half fermented raspberries and blackberries from the bushes that line the north paddock. The buggers had even been eating the wild black olives.
So in the immortal words of Ugluk, looks like meat's back on the menu boys, and it's venison.
To the self marinaded vension, we've added a sprinke of black pepper, a dash of garam masala and given it a rub with thyme and lemon peel.
Juicy, tender and gum lickingly good. Probably should have aged it a bit more, and it got a tad charred on one edge when we had the BBQ too hot, but the charcoal aids digestion they say.
Recommended++, but not easy to find outside cellar door and not even on the website, so you might want to email them and ask.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Pyramids Road Mourvedre 2011
I was pretty excited to try this as it would be my first Granite Belt wine. In an attempt to be unbiased I decided to have a pseudo blind tasting with friends prior to dinner, and then try the wine again with food. Only I knew what the wine was and where it came from.
The blind tasters had a variety of aroma descriptors; raspberry, lime, chocolate, old leather, rain on hay. The concensus was the nose was very complex with the fruit being somewhat in the background. Everyone agreed the palate was quite peppery with probably the best descriptor being 'like rocket'. Overall it was felt the palate was not yet living up to the nose and that the acid was currently too obvious - "I can smell the wine that this will become, but I am not tasting it tonight".
My notes were that it had a nice beefy aroma, some cocoa powder, fruit blend of cranberry, raspberry and blackcurrent, with fine dusty tannins. I did not find the acid to be as noticable as my friends, but not being a fruit driven wine I can see why it was comparitively sticking out.
We went back to it a few hours later with dinner, which was BBQ chicken thighs with a Thai green curry dipping sauce - I got the idea from a Jamie Oliver recipe and it worked extremely well. The best thing was the wine absolutely melded perfectly with this dish, and if I do say so myself one of the best meals I've had for a while.
I really enjoyed it, particularly with the food, and I rate it Highly Recommended as a dinner wine.
The blind tasters had a variety of aroma descriptors; raspberry, lime, chocolate, old leather, rain on hay. The concensus was the nose was very complex with the fruit being somewhat in the background. Everyone agreed the palate was quite peppery with probably the best descriptor being 'like rocket'. Overall it was felt the palate was not yet living up to the nose and that the acid was currently too obvious - "I can smell the wine that this will become, but I am not tasting it tonight".
My notes were that it had a nice beefy aroma, some cocoa powder, fruit blend of cranberry, raspberry and blackcurrent, with fine dusty tannins. I did not find the acid to be as noticable as my friends, but not being a fruit driven wine I can see why it was comparitively sticking out.
We went back to it a few hours later with dinner, which was BBQ chicken thighs with a Thai green curry dipping sauce - I got the idea from a Jamie Oliver recipe and it worked extremely well. The best thing was the wine absolutely melded perfectly with this dish, and if I do say so myself one of the best meals I've had for a while.
I really enjoyed it, particularly with the food, and I rate it Highly Recommended as a dinner wine.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Longwood 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon
Dark and sultry, lithe and muscular, intensity and complexity, balanced and finished impressively.
You thought I was describing the wine, yeah? Actually I was watching the Olympic women's artistic gymnastics floor exercises and that would be my description of the Romanian competitor, Catalina Ponor. Eventually she would win the silver medal ahead of our own superb Lauren Mitchell. I thought Catalina the most impressive of them all, but the American was good enough in the end to win the gold.
Let's face it though, all those gymnasts are better than 7 billion other people at what they do, regardless of the medals, and the beauty of their skill brings us to tears at times. Beats me how the judges come up with the points at this level, all of the girls are clearly champions.
I'll avoid saying anything about the comparison with assigning points to wine.
At the risk of sounding like a marketing writer, I rather amused myself by comparing Catalina to this Longwood. Keeping in mind I have no commission to be made, and as tacky as it is to compare wine to an Olympic athlete, the description above is, in my opinion, very accurate.
It is of course a McLaren Vale Cab, so lovers of Coonawarra or cooler climate Cabs need to consider that this is more about blackberries, licorice, and dark chocolate, rather than earthy, mint and herbal characters.
I left half the wine a day to breathe some more and, as expected from Phil Christansen, it's even better today. He's got a real knack of making wines that age wonderfully. There's a bit of sediment suggesting perhaps no fining was done, and I love that. This wine can't have been too long bottled, as it saw 20 months in French oak.
It's hard to talk about the price of this wine without sounding like a bad wine retailer ad, but it's price has no relationship I can see with it's quality. This is not remotely a quaffer despite being $10 a bottle! It is a high quality limited production wine.
It's also not close to it's peak, which is at least 5 years away, and more likely 10. In all honesty it could do with a year to meld before drinking, but that intensity of flavour is so hard to resist drinking now, just give it a long airing before you do, and please put a number away for future years.
Highly Recommended+++ and the value excellent.
You thought I was describing the wine, yeah? Actually I was watching the Olympic women's artistic gymnastics floor exercises and that would be my description of the Romanian competitor, Catalina Ponor. Eventually she would win the silver medal ahead of our own superb Lauren Mitchell. I thought Catalina the most impressive of them all, but the American was good enough in the end to win the gold.
Let's face it though, all those gymnasts are better than 7 billion other people at what they do, regardless of the medals, and the beauty of their skill brings us to tears at times. Beats me how the judges come up with the points at this level, all of the girls are clearly champions.
I'll avoid saying anything about the comparison with assigning points to wine.
At the risk of sounding like a marketing writer, I rather amused myself by comparing Catalina to this Longwood. Keeping in mind I have no commission to be made, and as tacky as it is to compare wine to an Olympic athlete, the description above is, in my opinion, very accurate.
It is of course a McLaren Vale Cab, so lovers of Coonawarra or cooler climate Cabs need to consider that this is more about blackberries, licorice, and dark chocolate, rather than earthy, mint and herbal characters.
I left half the wine a day to breathe some more and, as expected from Phil Christansen, it's even better today. He's got a real knack of making wines that age wonderfully. There's a bit of sediment suggesting perhaps no fining was done, and I love that. This wine can't have been too long bottled, as it saw 20 months in French oak.
It's hard to talk about the price of this wine without sounding like a bad wine retailer ad, but it's price has no relationship I can see with it's quality. This is not remotely a quaffer despite being $10 a bottle! It is a high quality limited production wine.
It's also not close to it's peak, which is at least 5 years away, and more likely 10. In all honesty it could do with a year to meld before drinking, but that intensity of flavour is so hard to resist drinking now, just give it a long airing before you do, and please put a number away for future years.
Highly Recommended+++ and the value excellent.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Whistler Mourvedre 2009
My nose told me this would be good. My nose got it right!
If I might digress a moment, I've mentioned before the acrid bitterness of sulphur dioxide on some freshly opened wines. The thing is many well made wines, even those designed to live for decades, don't always have it. So I can't help thinking perhaps some winemakers are dosing SO2 as though they are putting their wines under cork. Certainly breathing a wine is almost always a very good idea, but if I was having this in your average restaurant that wouldn't know what a decanter was, then I'd be swirling my glass vigorously, trying to cope with the aforementioned bitterness. I don't see the reason for it in the era of the screwcap.
Wine whine aside, this one just confirms to me that Mourv is something we should see more of, perhaps it will be mostly in blends, but it really does stand up up well on it's own. BTW, I think blends are 'the next big thing', but only if the industry does it right and not just blend for the sake of it.
Savoury, sweet, spicy, meaty, lush, and yet focused. Big nose as I said before, and that's not a line from Brian's Life, full body, very fine tannins, lovely acid, and long length. Very enjoyable indeed as a sipper but even better as a food wine.
Rating: Highly Recommended
If I might digress a moment, I've mentioned before the acrid bitterness of sulphur dioxide on some freshly opened wines. The thing is many well made wines, even those designed to live for decades, don't always have it. So I can't help thinking perhaps some winemakers are dosing SO2 as though they are putting their wines under cork. Certainly breathing a wine is almost always a very good idea, but if I was having this in your average restaurant that wouldn't know what a decanter was, then I'd be swirling my glass vigorously, trying to cope with the aforementioned bitterness. I don't see the reason for it in the era of the screwcap.
Wine whine aside, this one just confirms to me that Mourv is something we should see more of, perhaps it will be mostly in blends, but it really does stand up up well on it's own. BTW, I think blends are 'the next big thing', but only if the industry does it right and not just blend for the sake of it.
Savoury, sweet, spicy, meaty, lush, and yet focused. Big nose as I said before, and that's not a line from Brian's Life, full body, very fine tannins, lovely acid, and long length. Very enjoyable indeed as a sipper but even better as a food wine.
Rating: Highly Recommended
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Neil Hahn Yanyarrie Shiraz 2010
I picked this one up at Melbourne St Cellars on special and had no idea what I was buying. If you were to buy it direct from Hahn Barossa Vineyards - which might be tricky as they are listing the 2009 still - it would cost $17.95.
It's rather a shame many smaller wineries can't keep their websites updated, and given the extortionate prices some web developers charge for minor changes, I am not surprised they don't. If I could give some advice here to wineries, make sure your web developer gives you full access to all passwords and hosting information, that way you can shop around if they start being silly with pricing for updates.
This is day 2 for the Shiraz, and it's held up pretty well for what is not a premium priced wine, and is in fact better tonight than last night, which is always a good sign of a well made wine.
The only fault with this wine is also why I am blog reviewing it. Since I review for fun, and all of my reviews are of wines paid for by me, I'm finding reviewing anything that isn't inspiring to be a chore. This wine interests me because it's pretty much one dimensional in flavour, but it's a flavour that is not as common as I'd personally like. Black cherries.
There may be some other hidden flavours but black cherries dominate strongly for me. They are on the nose and the palate, and giving the glass a swirl even the colour is black cherry.
My daughter has had a laugh at me for slurping air through the wine looking for something more, she probably think's I'm a wine ponce. But I laugh at her taste in music, so we're even. Plus I did find a little spice, so the noise was worth it.
Right, so if you like black cherries, with a little bit of spice, then this might suit you.
Recommended+.
It's rather a shame many smaller wineries can't keep their websites updated, and given the extortionate prices some web developers charge for minor changes, I am not surprised they don't. If I could give some advice here to wineries, make sure your web developer gives you full access to all passwords and hosting information, that way you can shop around if they start being silly with pricing for updates.
This is day 2 for the Shiraz, and it's held up pretty well for what is not a premium priced wine, and is in fact better tonight than last night, which is always a good sign of a well made wine.
The only fault with this wine is also why I am blog reviewing it. Since I review for fun, and all of my reviews are of wines paid for by me, I'm finding reviewing anything that isn't inspiring to be a chore. This wine interests me because it's pretty much one dimensional in flavour, but it's a flavour that is not as common as I'd personally like. Black cherries.
There may be some other hidden flavours but black cherries dominate strongly for me. They are on the nose and the palate, and giving the glass a swirl even the colour is black cherry.
My daughter has had a laugh at me for slurping air through the wine looking for something more, she probably think's I'm a wine ponce. But I laugh at her taste in music, so we're even. Plus I did find a little spice, so the noise was worth it.
Right, so if you like black cherries, with a little bit of spice, then this might suit you.
Recommended+.
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