Roederer Brut 2002, Champagne, France
Pear, biscuit - a definite baked quality (which I often find and enjoy in Roederer), and a lactic/creamy quality. An oxymoronic palate that’s creamy yet fresh (creamy-slides over the palate and then freshening up in finish), nutty unroasted cashew finish.
Fantastic.
Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling 2008, Clare Valley, Australia
Green fig, quince and the next day more apple. This had quite a lifted nose, with fruit blossom (probly apple). Quite a different nose from typical Clare lime-and-mineral Riesling. The integration on the palate was excellent, with seamless acidity, yet it’s seriously phenolically austere at this age. This baby is built to age! It’s an interesting Riesling too.
A bit of a waste to open it so young, but good to know it’s showing promise.
Knappstein Cabernet Merlot 2005, Clare Valley, Australia
Classic Clare Valley spearmint/menthol, a core of dark fruit that’s kind of elusive - dark cherry, some blackcurrant, strikes a balance between “fresh” fruit (that’s not precisely-bright) and ripeness (yet not overripe). Not herbaceous, yet there’s more than straight up fruit here. Just enough changing in the glass/elusiveness to keep it interesting.
I’ve been a fan of Knappstein wines for years – they’re good VFM IMO.
Agricola Allegrini Valpolicella Classico 2007, Veneto, Italy
A nose of cocoa-coated sweet/candied cherries, some forest/woodland, some wood.
Smooth yet present fine-grained tannins, good acidity, good refreshing light-meidum weight. Better with food of course, and quite moreish!
I feel that Italian reds focus on structure: the tannins and acid are very important, and a fundamental part of the style. That, I think, is why they can work so well with food. This isn't sophisticated, but it's solidly good with a mid-week dinner (I’d get it again).
De Bortoli Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Yarra Valley, Australia
It’s got that old-school inky old wood-in-a-tin-shed, the gentlestness of creamy vanilla swirled in the background, and some deep briary fresh fruit and spiced plum that sits underneath.
This is so different from other Aussie Cabs: it’s not blackcurranty, woody, herbaceous, dusty, pencil-shavingy or earthy, and it has a whiff of old-school (pre-1990) about it.
The palate starts out lush and drenched in dark briary fruit with those swirls of vanilla running along, then the acids come in and the tannins rough-up the sides of your tongue, a furriness on the surface of it. It ends a bit abruptly, with a squeek of acidity ripping around.
Almost a leathery nose with some more air and warmth, some smouldering coals. The palate is too thin for the amount of fruit that’s there, and there’s too much tacky-powdered tannins gripping the inside of your mouth.
Nice nose, but a shame about the palate. I really wonder how this would be in around 5 or 10 years time.
Lost Valley Thousand Hills Shiraz 2004, Upper Goulburn, Australia
Smells like plush ripe blackberries squashed and left on a warm summer’s day. Menthol/mothball/sage/damp mint, (reductive) clove/black pepper and smoke-toasty oak aromas (which becomes a bit too blatant with air). The palate is sweet and smooth, with full pillow-soft oak tannins and soft-yet-solid fruit. It could have more flavour on the palate, and the acids are (unfortunately) only present in the finish, and it ends with completely unsubtle heavily toasted oak. The oak just becomes too dominant and it feels a bit thin of flavour for the body.
The next day (i.e., after much air) the flavours seemed better integrated, showing spiced plum, blackcurrant, and obvious yet lovely vanilla bean. I still feel the same about the palate though. It’s a bit transparent and there’s no depth or captivation here.
It’s built OK, and it delivers a certain enjoyment, but ultimately it’s boring for me. Am I being to hard on it? Probably, because I’m kind of sick of this style of Shiraz at the moment, but it’s also because it’s the kind of wine which probably doesn’t reward too much thinking about, and that’s bothering me just now (it’s how too many an Aussie wine feels for me). I do think there are others that deliver more at this price tag though.
Conversely, the “fight” for lighter, less alcoholic wines with lower colour, and aromatic complexity that derives from reduction and microbial action, may be disregarding the enormous pioneering leaps made in understanding and crafting red wine structure and mouthfeel profile that’s occurred with over the last 10-15 years (and this wine does show that). I just want more funk, aromatic microbial remnants, interesting yet not over-done vegetal/herbaceous notes… more intrigue!
Paradise Estate Wines Decadence 2003 (a blend of banana, coconut, pineapple, mangosteen), Queensland, Australia
12.8% Kind of a fluoro gold. The nose shows truly tropical-summer-ripe bright pineapple and freshly cut coconut (you don’t see the banana, as is typical for banana wine). This is sweet, yet with that kind of spiky-acidity that pineapple has; it kept prickling my tongue, keeping it all zingy-fresh. Great fresh tropical fruit aromas. The finish is a tad heavy on the sugar, but otherwise this is quite enjoyable. I feared I might have left this too long before opening, but my fear was totally unwarranted: this has many years ahead of it.
Amongst the better commercial fruit wines I’ve had (even for a sweet wine).