De Bortoli Yarra Valley Gulf Station Pinot Grigio 2009

Bloody hell!! When is this weather gunna change?

I really do not like hot weather. I don't like hot weather in December, and I certainly don't like the hot weather that comes with January and February, but hot weather in April - c'mon!

So with all this hot weather - the in car temp reader said it was 34 at 3.30pm in down town Coburgaria - it was time for a clean summer wine, the De Bortoli Yarra Valley Gulf Station Pinot Grigio 2009. Simple, fresh and swimming with clean acid and subtle white pear, this wine is literally gone in 30 minutes because it is just so easy to drink.


Drink now
Drink with the thought that winter is almost upon us
88
Screwcap 12%v/v $12 from most good wine shops

Mt Beautiful North Canterbury Pinot Noir 2007

The guys from over the ditch really do make great wine! Without thinking about it, I have been finding my purchases leaning to the New Zealand isle in my local wine outlet. The Mt Beautiful North Canterbury Pinot Noir 2007 is such a super easy wine to drink. Plenty of dried spice and bramble fruit on the nose; this wine really hits its straps in the mouth with a gorgeous blend of spice, tart cranberry and lip smacking acid, but to get the most out of this wine, it really needs a good decanting – double decanter if you can. Two hours later the wine is totally unrecognisable with dense earthy aromas and dried tea on the nose with Burgundian funk flowing in layers in the mouth. If you see this wine, buy it! Mucho Fantastico

Drink with beef and Guinness pie
Drink till 2014
97
Screwcap 13.5%v/v NZ$40 http://www.mtbeautiful.co.nz/

Hidden Bird Martinborough Pinot Noir 2008

A newcomer from Martinborough, the Hidden Bird Pinot Noir 2008 turns out to be a very smart wine. Full of savoury tannins and black fruit, this wine delivers a lot more than the poultry $23 I paid for it in Hawthorn last week. Very Pinot in colour with a light translucency in the glass. Red licorice, spice and black fruit full the nose. There is plenty going on in the mouth also with sharp, clean acid mingled with brown spice, tart cranberry all woven together nicely with even oak integration.

A really good wine, and at the price a dead-set no-brainer for an easy drink with food or just for the hell of it!

Drink with charcuteire plate an easy Susan
Drink till 2012
91
Screwcap 13%v/v $23 at Red White and Amber, Glenferrie Rd Hawthorn

Collingwood Children's Farm - Grandpa's Tomatoes

‘If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavour’ Eleanor Roosevelt.

Flavour, what an imaginative concept!

When was the last time you really tasted food the way it is actually supposed to taste? Don't know? Then head down to the Collingwood Children’s Farm and get a real bite of life.





These tomatoes, Grandpa's tomatoes to be precise, in the frame are absolutely gorgeous; GORGEOUS!!!! With a bit of balsamic and some salt flakes, these tomatoes turn in to possibly the tastiest snack you could imagine. Just super I tell ya!

The Collingwood Children’s farm is on the 2nd Saturday of the month and going this time of the year, for me anyway, is the best – the cooler the better.

Pikes Clare Valley Riesling 2009

A nice riesling, a tad boring actually, with the nose and mouth bringing the usual suspects along for a mundane walk to the cornershop - citrus, acid and a hint of white pear. I really do think that Australian Riesling has become a little bit humdrum!

Drink till 2012
Drink with chicken and two veg
82
Screwcap 12%v/v $22 at Kooyong Cellars

Mayer Yarra Valley Dr Mayer Pinot Noir 2008

After the fourth ‘paddy’ of the morning from my eldest – way too many Easter eggs I’m afraid, and the departure of Erin soon to her ‘12 Ladies are Lunching’ day (sounds all very festive doesn’t it?) I sneakily sneak away to the study to talk about a wonderful, wonderful wine; the Mayer Yarra Valley Dr. Mayer Pinot Noir 2008.

I would hazard at a guess that the Mayer Pinot Noir 08 found its way to my recycling bin on at least 10 occasions in the last 12 months – such a good wine. But it is Timo Mayer’s ‘Dr’ Pinot Noir that massively hits the high note, yet a note only hit twice due to its limited production.

Before I had drunk this wine I would have probably said that only about three or four Australian Pinot Noirs could stand up to wines from Burgundy; Bindi Block 5, By Farr Serre and Bass Phillip Reserve. Throw in The Doctor to that list!

The colour easily translates the unfiltered product with a hazy dark raspberry that almost turns purple in natural light. The nose is very tight at first, but after sometime in a decanter a very pronounced tart cranberry and beetroot aroma fill the glass and my olfactory. Layers of red licorice, more beetroot and cranberry with a wonderful dirty fungal bight to it (I’m not going to say forest floor because as Stuart Anderson told me there are many forest floors in the world as too are there many types of meat!). An amazing wine with so much more time left in the bottle. Mucho Fantastico!!Drink with cassoulet.

Drink till 2019
98
Diam 13% cannot remember how much it was, so go to www.timomayer.com.au

Laurenz V Austrian Friendly Grüner Veltliner 2008

I had a friendly chat with my neighbour; I enjoyed a friendly kick to kick in the park with Pat; she has a friendly demeanour; my mum is not so friendly with my dad anymore.

These are some examples of the word ‘friendly’ you may come across if you are emigrating to Australia and cannot speak a lick of English – grammar 101 you might say. There are many uses for the word friendly, but the most intriguing one came from a recent purchase down at Blackhearts and Sparrows in Brunswick; the Laurenz V Austrian Friendly Grüner Veltliner 2008. It reminds me of bad English/Cantonese translations on Cantonese food products!

A curious wine with elegant white pear and clean acid fill the nose with a little hint of white flowers – oleander I’d say after about 30 minutes. The palate is similar to the nose with citrus dominating the white pear. A nice wine, even for a GV, as one of the new cultural elite Melbourne sommeliers now refers to Grüner Veltliner.

Drink with smoked chicken cold cuts
Drink till 2011
89
Screwcap 12.5%v/v $29 Blackhearts and Sparrows, Lygon Street Brunswick