Wine Australia Yarra Valley Tasting

Last night myself and a couple of likely lads had the pleasure of attending another one of John McDonnell's Ozzie tastings. This evening it was the turn of the Yarra Valley, a cool area just north of Melbourne. John was joined by Phil Sexton of Innocent Bystander/Giant Steps wines.

Phil gave us a potted history lesson on the Valley e.g.

• Viticulture only really started there in the 60's.
• The Wine output of the valley is tiny by Australian standards.
• There are approx 600 vineyards and about 120 producers.
• In terms of temperature the Yarra is warmer than Burgundy but cooler than Bordeaux
• Bushfires in 2009 nearly destroyed the entire crop.
  

We started with a glass of Domaine Chandon NV - I liked this a lot. It was toasty and creamy and I'd have been hard pushed to differentiate between this and Champagne in a blind tasting. Fool your friends for the modest price of €20

The main tasting was divide into the sections by varietal; Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz.

The Chardonnays

2009 Innocent Bystander Chardonnay (€14-99) - Big fruity nose, quite acidic and citrusy on the palate. Not subtle but tasty.

2009 PHI Chardonnay (€32-95) - Lovely, much more depth of flavour, less sharp and a bit minerally. Twice the price of the wine above though.

2008 De Bortoli Yarra Valley Chardonnay (€30-00 - pictured) - Best chardonnay of the night for me. Lots of fruit, big round flavours, smooth and a huge finish.

2006 Yering Station Chardonnay (€18-99) - Soft and creamy, again lots of acidity here.

The Pinot Noirs

An interesting tidbit from Phil - "Pinot Noir expresses its origin ruthlessly" i.e. you can't make Burgundy anywhere else. Terroir is King.

2009 Innocent Bystander Pinot Noir (€14-99) - Sweet on the nose, quite acidic with some nice berry fruit. Good value at this price.

2009 Shelmerdine Pinot Noir (€22-95) - We all loved this. With some gentle acidity, this was oaky, smokey and very long. Very good value for this complex wine.

2008 William Downie Yarra Valley Pinot Noir (€49-99 - pictured) The star of the night for me. This guy only makes Pinots, nothing else, and it shows. A supple perfumed nose, raspberry fruit and some gentle tannins made this one special. The most Burgundy like - and yes, also the most expensive, I'm not a cheap date.

2008 Yering Station Pinot Noir (€18-99) - Not bad, plummy and oaky. Perhaps suffered in the tasting from following the William Downie.

The Shiraz's

2008 Innocent Bystander Shiraz (€14-99 - pictured) - A gem, with 2% Viognier this was sweetish but not sickly, very tasty. Phil maintains this is the only Shiraz on the night to taste of Pink peppercorns, as opposed to white.

2007 De Bortoli Shiraz Viognier (€30-00) - A little bigger and rounder than the Innocent Bystander but not enough to justify doubling the price, in this blogger's opinion.

2006 Yering Station Shiraz Viognier (€18-99) - perfectly fine but I didn't think it was as special as the brochure made out. Tasty and rich though.

2004 Harry's Monster Giant Steps - (€18-00) - This is a very unusual blend of 25% of each of the following, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz and Petit Verdot (I think). This was fantastic; big, bold, fruity, tannic. I'd love to get more of this but I don't think it's imported to Ireland, boo!

Lastly we had a 2009 Innocent Bystander Pink Moscato, which I thought (sorry Phil), was vile. I do like me a sweet wine but I just couldn't get behind this highly original concoction. However I was definitely was in the minority, so what do I know.

We then had supper accompanied by a 2008 Innocent Bystander Pinot Gris and a 2006 Little Yering Shiraz Viognier. They were both fine, I wish I could tell you more about them but by this time I was famished so I concentrated more on the grub than the vino, apologies.

I did learn, however, than Pinot Gris (or Grigio) is a red grape. But when the juice is left in contact with the skins, the result is foul, hence Pinot Gris (or Grigio) grapes normally make white wines only.

Big thanks to John and Phil for a very enjoyable evening in the Yarra Valley.

**Update 1 - Kevin Ecock has posted this entry as a guestpost on his blog, thanks Kevin.

**Update 2 - Thanks to John McD for the images above.

The Teeth of the Lion*

Last night we tried my two new purchases from Dandelion Vineyards what I got in the SQ NewWorld wine sale, which started on Thursday. As you can see above I got a couple of the Shiraz Rieslings and a Pinot Grigio.

We had the Pinot Grigio with some alarmingly expensive Monkfish, also from SQ. €20 for enough fish for 2 adults and a child? And even BBQ'd we thought it wasn't great, although Little Bill (tm) loved it, from now on I'll stick with Hake. Herself didn't really care for the white, I rather liked it. It had lots of crisp acidity and some restrained fruit. I think she missed the Sauvignon Blancs of the couple of weeks.

The Shiraz Riesling was an interesting beast. I guess I wasn't expecting a fruit bomb, for some reason, but this wine was very jammy. Given that the Riesling represents only 5% of the total I supposed I shouldn't be surprised. It was certainly beyond the ability of my neophyte taste buds to discern any Riesling influence, but I did like it. As I am (obviously not - Ed.) tired of saying I like something else apart from bags of fruit in my Shiraz; some elegance, some structure, and this delivered. Not as big as a Bin 389 but with a hint of velvety tannins. I'll be curious to see what this will cost at full price. I will "cellar" the other bottle and see what happens, the label says it has the potential to age.

Lastly, we sampled some more NZ Sauvignon Blanc last night, a Rockpool 2009 from O'Briens. Not bad, another one from the Astrolabe stable, €11-95 reduced to €8-99. At full price I'd go for the Durvillea first, but as always, your mileage may vary.

* The word dandelion is a corruption of the French "dent de lion"

In the nick of time..

As I promised, I made my way down to the Superquinn New World wine sale today. As expected, most of it is cheap, fruity, lowest common denominator wine I wouldn't buy even heavily discounted, but I was intrigued by a new Aussie producer Dandelion Vineyards , who had a variety of wines on show including a very unusual grape pairing of Shiraz and Riesling.

When I got there, there didn't appear to be any of this left but after badgering the (helpful) staff I found a few bottles on a shelf. I guess I'm not the only one attracted to this unusual pairing. Given the 3 for €20 deal, I grabbed two of the Shiraz/Riesling and one Pinot Grigio from the same producer, which I have just sampled and its very pleasant and "Italian" in style as I was told in the shop.

More tomorrow on the unusual hybrid which I am decanting now.

Two Antipodean Aristocrats

Last Saturday, myself and Herself were treated to a delicious tasting dinner in Gordon Ramsay at the Ritz Carlton in Powerscourt. We had eaten here once before and had loved it, we were also looking forward to the fact that we would be dining at the Chef's table in the kitchen. If you are a foodie, and we are, you would be fascinated to see how a top class kitchen operates for an entire service. Gordon was not present and there was no shouting, no bad language, just order and control.

We had a tasting menu and in my humble and relatively inexperienced opinion, if you are going to go to a top class restaurant it's the only way to go (if you can afford it - and I can't). Our host had already chosen the wines and after some lovely champagne in the bar (Bruno Paillard Premiere Cuvee), we moved into the kitchen and onto the white a - Framingham Malborough Riesling. I liked this but I didn't love it, I'm sure it's an extremely well made wine but the style was not for me. I like my whites to be bigger and bolder, either fruity or austere and minerally but I think this was maybe too subtle for me. (Ed. - that wouldn't be the first time)

The red however, was something of a triumph although initially I blanched when I saw the label. It was a Mitolo Serpico Cabernet Sauvignon 2004. If you are a regular reader of this blog you'll know I have a somewhat fractious relationship with pure Aussie Cab Sav's. See here and here. What I didn't expect was a marvellously balanced, silky tannin'd, fruity gem. Blind, I would have said Bordeaux, but eyes wide open it was slightly more fruit forward that its old world cousins, but still with great length and complexity.

I'll have to relate that after dinner I also sampled some Chateau Art d'Guynaisse, which brought me right back down to earth, literally. Anyhoo, muchos gracias to our hosts again.

Into the West...

A couple of quick reviews of bottles bought in the last few days before we head off with Little Bill to the social event of the season "The Wedding"

Dino Sangiovese Di Romanga 2008 - €5-99. Rough, but we drank it (sigh). Not worth the money. Avoid.

Bethany Old Vine Grenache 2007 - Reduced from €14-45 to €9-95. Very jammy and much too sweet for me. Tasted more like a Shiraz to be honest and completely at odds with any Old World interpretation of this grape that you might be used to. The Label says "well textured palate and the long soft tannin finish". My foot. I couldn't find any tannins whatsoever. If you like this style of big unbalanced fruit bomb you'd probably be better off spending a couple of quid less (than the €14-95) on a proper Aussie Shiraz. I will admit, however, that their own G6 Shiraz while more expensive (€17-69), is a fine tipple and does indeed deliver a fruity red that has some lovely structure to counterbalance the jamminess.

Updates and some nice shiraz...

Hola amigos. Its been a while since I blogged at you, I don't have any excuse, I'm just lazy.

Anyhoo - I was in O'Briens on the weekend, I picked up a Protocolo for the happy couple to try but alas this was not a runner. I also picked up a delicious Chanson Macon Villages which went down better and is a frickin' steal on special at €9-99 (from €12-99).

Lastly, after a blind taste I was persuaded by my man Ramon to buy a bottle of the 2006 Bethany G6 Shiraz. As regular readers will know I have a curious and snobby relationship with Aussie Shiraz, I only like the expensive stuff. The cheap stuff I find too jammy and unrelenting.

I brought this home, we drank half on Saturday and I brought it down to the out-laws on Sunday and everyone loved it. Its big and fruity, yes, but complex, full bodied and wonderful. Its currently reduced from €17-39 to €12-95 so go try some.

Herself had a birthday also this weekend we ventured to Ananda in Dundrum with June, BigNose and BigHead. Haven't been for about a year but goddamn the food is good. Expensive but good. We necked some delicious Hugel Gewurztraminer with our food, which I think was a good match.

Next: I'm still trying to get to my nearest Aldi which I think is in Churchtown to see what it has to offer.

Variousity Blues

A few quick updates before Xmas.

As promised, I saved the Tappanappa for BE, himself and his lovely lady wife came over for a pre Holiday drink so I cracked it. I was expecting a lot from this. The winery is a joint venture between the Cazes family from Chateau Lynch Bages and the uh....Tappanappa people.

Anyhoo - another new world wine built on the concept of terroir. It is made up of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Shiraz and 10% Cabernet Franc. Unfortunately we again fell victim to the curse of the Aussie Cab Sav. While it was nice very well made, this style is just not my cup of meat - all oaky tannins and blackcurrant. This was not an unpleasant wine by any stretch, just not my style.

Lastly, I had to do an emergency Xmas shop last night in Dunnes Ballyogan, unfortunately I couldn't find the Black Treacle, but I did get the parsnips. I decided to pick up a couple of bottles for general consumption (see left). A Cecchi Natio organic Chianti which was lovely last time, a Laurent Miquel Nord Sud Syrah, always bigged up in the papers, which we drank last night after the Tappanappa and which was OK, probably needs another try under fairer conditions, and lastly a nondescript Crozes Hermitage which we are drinking now and is very pleasant, well balanced and reasonable value at about a tenner.

Xmas eve tomorrow and a big wine day for us. Our first Xmas eve in this house some years ago we had some bubbly (can't remember which) and a 1988 Lynch Bages, which was spectacular. I have a Bollinger Rosé in the fridge and after that my favourite, but never tasted wine, a 2000 Lynch Bages. I have built this wine up so I hope it delivers...

Merry Xmas to one and all.

John Wilson's Favourite Australians Report

Went to John Wilson's favourite Australians last night with BE as described here, organised by John McDonnell from Wine Australia. We had a fun time and managed to try 31 of the 70 wines which ranged in price from €7-99 for a Michelton Thomas Mitchel Marsanne to an eye watering €200 odd for a 2001 Penfold's Grange. The wines were divided up into sections (loosely) by grape and/or style as follows:

Note: All reviews are based on a few single words and underlinings scribbled on the program, and some of them are now wholly illegible/unintelligible.

"Serious Fizz" - Four sparklers, we tried all but the most expensive and as predicted (I am becoming a shocking champagne snob), they got better as the price increased with the most expensive we tried, the Green Point Sparkling NV being deliciously buttery and the most champagne-esque.

"Fresh and Zingy" - 8 wines, mostly Semillon , unf. this table was mobbed and the next table was empty (Rieslings) so we tried not a one of these and later on plum forgot to go back - oops.

"The World of Riesling" - After missing out on the zing we sampled three of these (of nine - when you have a potential 70 wines to taste, you start slow). All were decent. The Chalker's Crossing was light and dry (€12-95), the Wakefield Estate , bigger more upfront (€12-99), and lastly the most expensive, the Grosset Polish Hill Riesling (€32-99) a delicious minerally beast.

"Plump and Round" - not YHB but various odds and sods Whites. We were getting warmed up here and managed a creditable 5 out of 8. The cheapest wine of the night a Michelton Thomas Mitchel Marsanne, was perfectly pleasant, while the Tahbilk Marsanne was bigger and bolder and a snip at €11-95. After a sweet Yalumba Viognier (€13-99) and a sweeter d'Arenburg The Hermit Crab (€13-95) we sampled the most expensive wine of the section at €29-99, The Henschke Pinot Gris which a lightly fruited and very stylish finish to this part of the repast.

"Classic Chardonnay" - We tried the two very expensive chardonnays (out of three) and to be honest, while they were both very pleasant albeit New Worldy (IMHO) , I wouldn't lash out 50 notes on either the Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay (€49-99) or the Leewin Art Series Chardonnay (€54-00). John Wilson loves both and he's the professional but for this money I'd take a Montrachet. Here endeth the Whites.

"Pinot Corner" - Four Moderately priced Pinots and a dear one, we tried two moderate ones and, of course, the pricey one. The M&S tasmanin Pinot was OK, light but pleasant and priced well at (€12-49). The Yering Station, not so cheap at €18-50 but a decent step up from the M&S with a bit more depth of flavour. Lastly the De Bertoli, to be served chilled by all accounts, coming in at a cool €40-50. Very nice but good value?

"Glorious Grenache" - Again we had two of three here - the d'Arenberg Stump Jump, a delicious GSM and a steal at €11-95, followed by the St Hallett Gamekeeper's Reserve, very nice, very French and a bigger steal at €9-99.

"Cabernet and Bordeaux Blends" - some of these wines re-affimed by dislike for pure Oz Caberents. The style just isn't for me, too dry and tannic with wines such as the Grosset Gaia (€39-95) and the Parker Estate Cabernet (€28-00). The Clairaut Estate Cabernet Merlot (€31-00) however, was right up my street, "harmonious and fruity" according to my notes.

"Shiraz and Blends" - 21 wines here spread over two tables making this the biggest section on the night and perhaps a glimpse into Johns Wilson's personal preferences? We sampled 10 out of 21 which wasn't bad going . I have a confession to make at this point; the final 4 shiraz's tasted were tasted very early in the night. After the Rieslings, we noticed John Wilson and an attendee* having a crafty tipple of the Grange. Fearing that we might lose out on it if we kept moving around the tables in order, we shamelessly ran over to blag some of Australia's finest. The attendee turned out to be Lar from SourGrapes who was making a flying visit. It was nice to put a face to a name, cheers Lar.

Anyway, the wines. Tyrells Vat 9 Shiraz (€37-99) - not great, corked we reckoned. Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz (€23-99), lovely, subtle, scribble. Innocent Bystander Shiraz/Viognier (€14-99) - great value, very French. Mt Langi Ghiran Shiraz - too fruity for me and too dear at €50. Voyager Estate Shiraz (€27-50) - lovely, refined much better value than the Mt Langi. Tim Adams Shiraz, as recommended by our knowledgeable server, fantastic, balanced, super value.

The Last Four were - Glaetzer Bishop Shiraz, fine structure and body (€24), Henschke Mount Edelstone (€75) pricey but very nice. Penfolds St Henri (€56-49) - the new baby Grange, same grapes, different barrels, very refined and fine indeed. The Grange (drumroll), I have wanted to try this for years but have never had the spons. Firstly a big alcoholic wash and then a huge finish and lots of oak. An experience, but not worth €200 in my book.

"Sweet and Sticky" - We tried two out of four here on the way out the door, a little unsteadily if truth be told. Grant Burge 10 year old Tawny, very port-ish and BE loved it. Rutherglen Estates Muscat - Deliciously sweet dessert wine.

Many thanks to the Johns and to all concerned. The lesson to myself on the night is that on the white side my tastes tend to the Rieslings and the offbeat whites, Marsanne & Viognier. On the Red side I seem to favour medium priced reds (€15- €30), the cheaper reds I generally find too jammy and the more expensive reds seem not to be such good value, as there is plenty of quality in the mid-range.

Next up - either Birthday Wines II - The Stragglers or my reviews of the first two wines of Birthday Wines I - The Siblings which we have opened so far.

John Wilson's Favourite Australians

John Wilson's Favourite Australians

Tuesday 24th November

6.30pm - 8.30pm

The Function Room at Fallon and Byrne,

11-17 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2

John McDonnell from Wine Australia has asked me to give a shout about the above event which I hope to attend. John has invited me to many wine events and due to a variety of people letting me down 8-) I have been unable to go to any of these, d'oh. Either way here is the skinny from John Mc

"During the summer I gave John the task of pulling together his selection of Favourite Australian wines.

The task wasn't to draw up a list of Australia's best wines, but as John says,

"My first criteria for choosing these wines was very simple; would I be happy to share a bottle of any of them with my friends? The answer had to be yes. The list is certainly not a definitive gathering of the greatest wines of Australia, although I have included a fair number of these. It is my personal choice of the best Australian wines I have enjoyed over the last year."

The task is now complete (with a final count of 70 wines) which covers all styles, regions and prices.

John and myself will host a tasting of all these wines on the evening of Tuesday 24th November in Fallon and Byrne.

Places cost 20 Euro and are available from our office on ireland@wineaustralia.com or 065 7077264.

(This could be the event to take away all those Christmas buying and present selecting challenges.)"

Well there you have it, what are you still doing here? Go drink some wine or something.

O'Briens - Update

Well, we've drunk all three...

The Protocolo 2007, with much trepidation we started on this. Thank all the stars this is pretty damn special. It's got it all; fruit, acidity, tannins, balance and finish at a bargain price. If you paid €20 for this you would not be disappointed.

The Torbreck Old Vines Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre. While I appreciate that it is well made wine, this is not my cup of tea. Herself put it well when she said she found it "syrupy". It's a modern take on a Rhone wine but it hasn't enough structure, for me, to match up to the fruit. However, if you like Oz Shiraz then this is a step up from the standard fare (at the discount price).

Lastly, the Saumur-Champigny, La Bretonniere. While this was pleasant, we both found it a touch light. Again, well made, with nice acidity, typical French fruitiness but not enough body for my perhaps jaded palate.

Next: A small Hiatus while BE get hitched, I'll report on how the wine BE & GG chose goes down at the reception. Let the record show I recommended the Chateau Guillou but was overruled 8-).

Adelaide Hills Tasting September 3rd

John from Wine Australia, Ireland let me know about a tasting of Adelaide Hills wines on September 3rd in the Royal College of Physicians, Kildare St. I have to admit I'm not all that familiar with wines from here but I'm going to go and I'lll try to bring some of the other winebores along. Admission is €15.

Details of the evening are here

Wolf Blass Gold Label Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

June will be disappointed - I was. After my last post I expected this to be a big fruity monster, with a little bit of structure to offset the jamminess. What I got was oak, lots of oak and not much else. I though this might be the replacement for the Presidents selection but when I went to the website, and it appears that the Gold Label is the place where Wolfgang & co experiment. Kudos to them for trying but this one was not to my taste.

Name: Wolf Blass Gold Label Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon

Year: 2006
Price: ???
Notes: As I said above, lots of oak, not much fruit or anything else. This wine is undone by its lack of balance and reminded me of a lot of Chilean Cab Savs, all oaky and tannic. If you know that style and like it you should fill your boots.

Rating: 5/10 - I doubt this was cheap and not my cup of tea at all.

Wolfgang and I

My friend June called in the other night* with a bottle of Wolf Blass Gold Label Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon as a present for YHB. Me and Wolf Blass go back a long way.

When I first started buying wine as opposed to drinking it, I did as most people did and started with Australian reds. Particularly Wolf Blass reds. The yellow label Cab Sav, the red label Shiraz/Cab Sav and my personal favourite the green label Shiraz. There was also a "Presidents Selection" version of each of these, except possibly the red label, with the Shiraz version being the sine qua non of taste at the time.

The problem with the "Presidents Selection" wines was that they were nearly twice the price of the regular bottles (about 20 old pounds if I recall) and buying one in those days was reserved for special occasions, or if you were trying to get laid 8-)

I remember one evening on DNS with Herself and NOB, we opened a bottle of the red label and it was at that time one of the nicest bottles any of us had ever had. It was a big jammy monster but had an extra depth that we had never experienced from it before (or since). It was from the previous years vintage than that which was available in the shops at that time so maybe that was it, or else it was just a perfect storm of time and place.

There were many Aussie Shiraz and Shiraz/Cab Savs that we drank regularly at the time and most of them are still available; Wakefield, Wyndham Estate, Peter Lehman, Rosemount Estate etc. BE and I had a soft spot for Hardy's Nottage Hill, once making our housemate drive back to the off-licence to pick up another bottle, after we had enjoyed the first one so much. And yet these days I'd never in a million years buy a cheap new world Shiraz or Shiraz blend. How come?

My tastes have changed, simply, and the same for Herself. Given that I choose 95% of the wine that we drink this was probably inevitable. We simply find this style of wine too fruity, too jammy, too sweet. I now find this style of wine unbalanced, if you have that much fruit you have to have some structure to counterbalance it. As it happens, as you go up the price ladder the wines become much more palatable. Penfolds wines are a good example. At the cheap end of the range; the Rawsons Retreat, approx €12, another old favourite, is too jammy, but as you move upwards to the Koonunga Hill and thence into the BIN range the wines get much better. My current tipple is the BIN 389 (approx €30), expensive but big, bold, fruity and full bodied with a good balance of fruit, oak, acid and tannins.

There are some honourable exceptions, of course. D'Arenberg wines are almost universally delicious with The Laughing Magpie (approx €20), a Shiraz Viognier, standing out. I am not dissing all inexpensive New World wines, I'm sure most are made with care and attention and the style reflects what a large number of people want to drink: simple, fruity, easy drinking reds. They are just not for me...

As an exercise I may buy a couple of my old faves and see exactly how much my preferences have changed in the last few years. For now, I think I will open the Gold Label Cabernet Sauvignon tonight (a screw top btw) and I'll report back soon.

* She had an altercation with a cow after leaving us and lost a wing mirror, don't ask.

Saturday Night Tasting - Part 1 - The Wines.

JR came over last night and we heroically got through four bottles of red, all in the name of reviewing said wines of course. To accompany the wines we had a mystery stew, which had been lurking in the freezer, and which turned out to a delicious lamb tajine.

1) Las Casetta di Ettore Righetti - Valpolicella Ripasso - 2005.

We got this in a hamper from Sheridans Cheesemongers so I'm guessing you can get it there. This was universally acknowledged to be divine. A silky smooth velvety wine, with delicious fruits and a big chocolately* finish.

2) Penfolds Bin 389 - Cabernet Shiraz - 2005.

This wine is known as the mini Grange and I had wanted to try this for ages and about 6 months ago I finally stumped up the €30 in O'Briens. I was not disappointed. Big jammy fruits but some solid structure and a suggestion of tannins make this a winner. A perfect marriage of old and new world styles.

3) Tesco Chianti Classico - 2007.

Good solid Chianti from Tesco, ticks all the boxes and is perfect with any tomato based food.

4) Protocolo - 2006

Previously reviewed here. I'm still loving this wine.

*The ladies insisted that the wine was chocolatey - who am I to argue?

Nugan Durif (Que?)

Had this on Saturday night. It's from Nugan in Oz and the grape is called Durif here but is better known as Petite Syrah (or Sirah). Not sure if this really is an Oz Shiraz in disguise but damn, it was good. Like pretty much all New World wines that I like, the fruity, jammy notes were not overpowering and there was good structure and a hint of tannins.

Can't estimate a price as it was a present from our guests along with a lovely Coto De Imaz rioja. If you like Penfolds Bin 389, Ridge wines etc. then this is for you.