Chateau De Caraguilhes Corbières Languedoc Blanc 2009

So far the pick of my summer wines this year. The Chateau De Caraguilhes Languedoc Corbieres Blanc 2009 was realised this week after I had a hankering for Tahbilk Marsanne but unfortunately the good folk at BHS didn't have any. Instead they had this beauty. A blend of 80% Marsanne and 20% Grenache Blanc, in the glass the wine has a very young Riesling-like colour to it yet the nose is full of generous honey and burnt creme brulee. The palate also enjoys what the nose has to offer, but only after a while - this wine takes along time to get moving in the glass. But besides that it was just gorgeous.

Drink with veal schnitzel and almond, rocket and mustard dressing salad
Drink till 2013
96
Quality cork 13%v/v $24 Blackheart and Sparrows North Fitzroy

Australia Day 2011 and Donny Goodmac Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

I do love Australia Day. Lamb on the BBQ, good wine and most of all a day off – even though I’m on holidays anyway. One thing I did love about this one was the fact that my 5 year old daughter (almost 6 she will tell you) Imogen has recently fallen in love with cricket. More to the point, back yard cricket. So as well as a multitude of lamb, cider and wine, there was also back yard cricket, with the obligatory breaks to climb the fence and fetch the ‘6-and-out’ shot.

Like most of the posts, there is wine. There were a few bottles open, but the most enjoyable was the Donny Goodmac Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2008. I worked vintage in the valley in 2008 and it was a quick one, with most of the fruit being processed in about 6 weeks. That’s sparkling base wine to Merlot in 6 weeks. What I do remember however was that there wasn’t prolonged heat. It was hot, don’t get me wrong, but the heat didn’t hang around for the 4, 5, 6 or 7 day periods that you will have in SA.


So to the wine. Like I said, the 2008 vintage was one where they got the fruit of the vines in a quick time, so with this you are going to have your cool climate wines showing through. There is almost a coolness about the wine with blackcurrant and cassis very primary. A bit of greenness to the wine up front, but I like that.

It may sound like I am boganing it up for this post - not at all. Like I said, I love Australia Day, but I will not chant "oi, oi, oi', no-sir-ri-bob!

All in all, another bonza Australia Day.

Drink with BBQ lamb
Drink till 2015
90
Screwcap 13%v/v $32 Blackheart and Sparrows Brunswick

wild rocket

Found this growing near Merri Creek in Brunswick East. Quite simply the most intense rocket I have ever had with masses of pepper and citric acid - just perfect!

#unfake beer

It’s been a recent trend in the past few years for brewers in our neck of the woods to take out brewing licenses for such bevies like Stella Artois, Peroni, Asahi and Heineken. This is done to effectively cut the cost in shipping and also keep government subsidies for buying local hops and wheat; just to keep the stock holders happy supposedly. It has also been a trend of late that independent retailers and licensee’s to bring out the real stuff at a sometime inflated premium. And for this we thank them.

For example, Psarakos Markets in downtown Thornbury have real Stella for just $42.99 a case, whereas BWS – standing for bulls#&t wine sellers I can only assume – are currently selling said product brewed in Sydney Australia as opposed to Sydney in Belgium for a crazy $52.99; on sale as well.

So big brewers take note. As long as you intend to continually put stock holders interests in front of flavour, the good people at Blackheart & Sparrows, Psarakos Market and Anthony Danna from Bocacchio Cellars– who I am led to believe brings in his own Peroni – will sell us the ridgy didge stuff at a price more often than not cheaper than the stuff brewed here.

So, to keep up the appearances of a blog and not a soapbox, here is a non-fake tube of what was a lip-smacking Dutch brewed Heineken. After drinking 7 of them on Saturday night this post will not have any tasting notes other to say it was mucho fantastico and frightfully wet. Chips-ahoy to you all.

A few Semillons with Ferris

It’s been one of those weekends really; so much planned, so little achieved yet so much to look back on. A few bottles have been opened, a great curry was made and scoffed down, 'Ferris Buellers Day Off' was watched for the 166th time (really, I can almost do it word for word) and the Northcote pool was bursting at the seams. But it was the two Andrew Thomas semillons that stood out (saying that there is still two hours to go and I am still a bit thirsty).

So for this post it will be the Andrew Thomas Hunter Valley Individual Vineyard Braemore 2009 that will get the nod. Pure in clarity , the nose combines even citrus of lemon and lime which is backed up in the glass with piercing acidity but an almost lanolin-come-mascarpone feel about it; funky shit I know.

Either way you look at it, it’s a great wine and a lip smacker for this summer. And before I go, a little gem from my good friend Ferris,



“Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people”

Drink with shallow fried white bait
Drink till God knows – I never know how long to hold on to semillon
94
Screwcap 11.5%v/v $27 Blackheart and Sparrows Fitzroy North

I have been corrected

Some amendments if I may; the wine is in fact a Left Bank blend with Merlot, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot. Thanks to anon in Tasmania I now have my facts straight; and I still stick to my comment that Domaine A is the best Cabernet Sauvignon producer.

Cheerio

Tim

Wine Fact #2 - It's not broken glass!

Many years ago when I was working in an un-named three hat restaurant in Melbourne, I was confronted during service with what can only be described as one hysterical woman who single handedly brought service to a screeching halt! The problem you ask, and I quote, “Ohh my GGGGOOOODDD!! (God not good people) There are smashed shards of glass in my wine. Ohhhh GGGOOODDD, someone call an ambulance!!!”

A good 15 minutes later said woman had composed herself and had sheepishly decided not to sue ‘the pants’ off of said restaurant. What were initially thought to be shards of glass were merely soluble crystals of Potassium Bitartrate, or KOCO(CHOH)2COOH for all you science geeks out there. From here I’ll let Mr. Rankine take over from 'Making Good Wine',





“When the wine is cooled the solubility limit of potassium bitartrate is exceeded and some comes out of solution as a crystalline deposit. When this happens to white wine in the bottle the deposit is unsightly and may be mistaken by the uninitiated for broken glass .... Potassium bitartrate is present in the grapes, partially precipitates as argols during fermentation because of its low solubility in alcohol, and is present in the young wine as a saturated or even a super-saturated solution in excess of its normal solubility.”

The crystals are usually present on the under-side of corks and sometimes will settle at the bottom of the wine bottle.

So there you go. Doesn’t exactly say it’s not going to kill you, but when Rankine refers to it as “unsightly”, well “Sex in the City 2” was unsightly but that didn’t kill anyone – no-one we know of anyway. And that’s a wine fact.