100/100 for post 100 - Lamy Pillot Le Montrachet Grand Cru 2005

‘Finality is death. Perfection is finality. Nothing is perfect. There are lumps in it.’ James Stephens, Irish poet and writer – 1882-1950

Arrghh, poets, what more can you say about those troubled and tortured souls whose career choice will always haunt them. ‘There are lumps in it’ – yes there are, in the label that is. There are also lumps in Gisele Bundchan and people have said she is perfect! The Lamy Pillot Le Montrachet Grand Cru 2005 is perfect, lumps and all, and for my 100th post it is fitting that I write about a perfect wine, 100/100!

Montrachet is certainly the Holy Grail when it comes to Chardonnay. Consisting of just 7.68 hectares (18.9 acres), the Montrachet vineyard producers on average just 4,500 cases a year, which makes tastings like this very rare and very expensive. It is suggested that these wines in good years, and 2005 was good if a little warm at times, be cellared for about eight years before tackling. Well, if your maths is as good as mine I have failed in the game of patience.

The wine in the glass is a very straw yellow with a greening hue about it. The nose is just gorgeous with the oak marrying perfectly with citrus, apricot and liquorice – there is a power here that has you fair-dinkum salivating for what it is going to taste like, yet you find yourself unable to get your nose out of the glass; I did anyway! The mouth, oh wow! Incredibly complex with so much happening, yet there is absolutely no confusion of flavour with grapefruit, mascarpone cheese, liquorice powder and oak that seems to hold everything in its place. The acid also is quite restrained. On first opening the wine at about 5°C, the acid was very much poised at the front, yet it was by no means over powering the other characteristics in the mouth. After about an hour at room temp, the wine I reckon got to about 11°C, which some may say is the desired temp for a wine like this (me included), the acid was more of a presence in the mouth rather than a sensation, and it was this presence that held – and developed – all of the complex flavours that were in the mouth.

Perfect, Perfect, Perfect!

Drink till 2019
Drink with fillet of Turbot in flaky pastry
100/100

Quality cork 14%v/v $ 490

Oakridge 864 Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2006

In 2008 I did vintage at Oakridge in the Yarra Valley. Quite possibly the most physically and mentally challenging two months I have experienced. The thing with 2008 in the Valley was that a lot of the fruit, red and white, ripened pretty much at the same time. Add to this that Oakridge were also functioning as a ‘gun for hire’ due to the Phylloxera zone that had been set up; this meant the winery at Oakridge was processing not only its own fruit, but fruit for people such as Hardy’s, Casella and Yarraloch. All in all just over 900 tonne of fruit was processed in eight weeks; six day weeks, 16 hour days, Subaru Outback left hand panel totalled by two kangaroo’s and a serious bout of gastro (no fruit was harmed during this time) are some of the fond memories I have of that time.

But the most endearing is the wine I was able to purchase at the cellar door for half price! Quite a lot let me just say and the standout was definitely the Oakridge 864 Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2006.

The wine is still quite tight with a straw colour about it. The nose has a wicked hit of grapefruit and white flower, with the grapefruit really the big factor here. The wine really hits its stride in the mouth with more lip smacking citrus, with grapefruit and lemon tart the two prominent flavours; this is backed up with striking acid which gives this wine massive length which marries together the oak and fruit. Sexy stuff this one - mucho fantastico.

Incredible balance and length with all the hallmarks of a Premier Cru Burgundy.

Drink till 2014
Drink with Blue swimmer crab and Angel hair pasta
98
Screwcap 13.5%v/v $60 (sold out)

The Ned Marlborough Pinot Gris 2008

Very easy to drink and a deadest bargain is The Ned Marlborough Pinot Gris 2008! Peachy pink in appearance with similar on the nose; peach kernel and rose petals being very distinct. The palate is very Pinot Gris with a very slippery mouth feel up front with the acid being more pronounced rather than just a presence. The longer in the glass sherbet is also evident.

Lovely balance and complexity to this wine.

Drink till 2011
Drink with Thai chilli prawns
90
Screwcap 13.5%v/v $16

Say it aint so George!

Before April this year I was neither here nor there when it came to bloggers and their lot. Bloggers on food and wine for me were effectively curious people with creative nous who considered sharing their thoughts on a bottle of this or a plate of that as a kind random act, because let’s face it, bloggers do not write with an acerbic pen.

This week the wunderkind George Calombaris in the HUN on Tuesday said “Bloggers have no idea about restaurants. They’ve got no idea how they run.” I certainly hope he has been taken out of context here! If not, then this is a very naive and generalist statement, George.

George continues with, “These are trained professionals. These critics know what they’re talking about.” These people you speak of George are trained journalists, like your co-host Matt Preston who before writing about food, covered TV show’s such as ‘Neighbours’ and ‘Home and Away’ (‘Life Magazine’, The Sunday Age October 4, 2009); they are not trained chefs, sommeliers or front of house managers. In almost 15 years of working in the restaurant/wine industry I have been a part of critically acclaimed restaurants in New York, London and Melbourne, and can honestly say that I have far greater knowledge of the happenings of restaurant service. In these 15 years, George, I have also eaten at some of Australia’s most well known restaurants where I have found it almost impossible not to observe the operations of the service in terms of fluidity, waiter awareness and customer satisfaction; something I have done with experience, George.

When a critic eats out, more often than not they are recognised by the front of house who then alert the chef that the ‘make or break’ service is now upon them. With the order taken by either the front of house manager or the most competent waiter, the chef will then sweat over probably three or four plates of each dish that has been requested by said critic and their guests. This means that the rest of the paying guest’s meals are prepared by second or third year apprentices who are more used to plating salads and burning crème brulee’s.

Today, restaurants are likely to have a carefully constructed PR machine driving the restaurateurs’ ambitions of critically acclaimed success, hats and appearances on reality TV shows; it is not the best restaurant that gets the gongs, but the restaurant that knows how the greater machine works.

Being a local Brunswickistanian, I have visited George’s ‘Hellenic Republic’ on at least six occasions, and have even posted a glowing blog on their weekend mezze menu. This is where you think I am going to take the sour grapes road and have a go at the venue – not true. I will keep on going there and tell my friends to also go when they ask me if it is worth a visit, because George I am a paying customer who just happens to blog about food and wine because I can and have, dare I say, expertise in both fields; I also have a Bachelor of Viticulture/Wine Science which is also pretty good training I reckon George!

Philip Lobley Upper Goulburn Reserve Pinot Noir 2007

When you see the moniker ‘Reserve’ on any product, the first thought is that you have something pretty good. Bass Phillip uses it, Paringa Estate use it, Moss Wood used to use it and more recently Luke Lambert uses it – very well I must say. So when I sore the Phillip Lobley Reserve Pinot Noir 2007 for $37 at Rathdowne Cellars a month ago I thought, ‘beauty’. Even Eddy, the owner of Rathdowne said he was very impressed with it; sweet as a nut then!

Expectations can be dangerous, and in this case expectations were high but unfortunately were not met. In the glass the wine looked a quite dirty red that was very translucent. Macerated sweet strawberries and a bit of earth were all I got on the nose with the mouth offering up very little – maybe a bit young. However, the next day the wine did not yield much in the way of development with the palate quite dry and flat with a little astringency at the back.

No real balance or length; maybe this wine will be better in a few years perhaps.

Drink till 2013
Drink with cold leftovers – seriously!
80

Screwcap 12.8%v/v $37

Dalwhinnie Moonambel Pyrenees Chardonnay 2005

Just to let you know from the get go, I have always been a massive fan of Dalwhinnie, and this one is no exception. The Dalwhinnie Pyrenees Chardonnay 2005 is certainly a wine that is made in a style that Dalwhinnie have displayed for a long time; a seamless balance of oak, fruit and minerality.

This is not the current vintage for Chardonnay, but you would not guess it. If you had this at a blind tasting there is no way you would call this a 2005. It has so much youth about it up front, but as I said, the oak brings about a wonderful balance that that delivers layers of complexity. In the glass this wine has a yellowish straw appearance about it with citrus fruits like grapefruit smacking you in the olfactory. Quick acid up front with a prickly lick of minerality drive the wine with huge length that gives you fresh pear and liquorice powder right at the end. As I said before, this wine has incredibly balanced and integrated oak. Great stuff I say!

Wonderful balance, super length and fantastic complexity.

Drink till 2012
Drink with smoked eel and chicken pie
94

ProCork 13.5% $41

Duck Pie @ La Parisienne Patés, Carlton

This is the duck pie from La Parisienne Patés I was talking about that will go with the 2003 Sergio Bi-O Pinot Noir. Sooo Goood, and at $6, a fair-dinkum no-brainer!!!