Best's Great Western Young Vines Pinot Meunier 2010

This was a real head turner! The Best's Great Western Young Vines Pinot Meunier 2010 is one of the best wines tasted this week and a no-brainer for the new winelist at Albert Street Food & Wine. Gorgeous tart red fruit on the nose and also in the palate, with biting acidity and tame and polite tannins makes this wine a wonderful summer red as well as sticking away for a couple of years I reckon.

Drink with slow cooked kaiserfleisch
Drink till 2015
94
Screwcap 12%v/v about $25

Radford Eden Valley Menagerie 2009

It's been a while but I'm back.

For the last 2 weeks I have been toiling with constructing the wine list (not only restaurant but also wine retail) for the soon to be opened Albert St Food & Wine in downtown Brunswick. I reckon I have swilled and and garbled and spat out close to 1000 wines, with yesterday accounting for about 150; some crackers, some not so cracking. This one was is a cracker! The Radford Eden Valley Menagerie 2009.

As it says, this wine is a collective of Mataro, Grenache, Shiraz and the earthiness that is Alicante. Deep garnet in the glass with a wonderful smack of sweet morello cherry,spice and dried herbs on the nose, the Menagerie has a real velvet mouthfeel combined with a flavour I cannot quite pinpoint, suffice to say it felt quite meaty in a sweet way - that was a good thing, not bad.

This is such a great wine and pays respect to Southern Rhone with acid balance and spice all at the same time pitching the wild card Alicante in for good measure. A great outcome.

Drink with steak tartar
Drink till 2016
94
Screwcap 14%v/v about $32 at Albert St Food & Wine in 2 weeks

Tim made pork and pistachio sausages

My first batch of Brunswick-made sausages. And they tasted better than they look....

Pork and pistacio mix
1.5 kg pork neck
300 grams pork fat
80 grams pistachio's, blanched then skinned
20 grams salt
15 grams black pepper
pork casing
1/2 glass white wine

Wine Fact #4 - Temperature matters

Its too cold. Its too hot. Its too windy. Its too cold. Its too sunny. Yes, as you can see I am from Melbourne. One day its 32°C and the next its 15°C with rain coming in sideways; a temperate split personality you might say. This is typical of Melbourne. Something that is also typical is our wines are served either too cold, as in Riesling or Champagne, or too warm as in Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz. This my friends is a wine fact!

How many times have you been to a restaurant and have ordered, say a viognier, and have the waiter present the bottle for taste only to be met with an ice-cream headache instead of ginger or apricots. Most fridges these days are set between 2-4°C because of safety concerns with milk. This may be fine for milk, but it aint fine for viognier, or champagne, or chardonnay or anything wine for that matter. Same to goes with reds. Beaujolais is seen as a red wine – no arguments here. Problem is Beaujolais is best served slightly chilled, so therefore should be stored in an appropriate wine fridge. Same with Madeira. Just cos it’s a fortified doesn’t mean it should be drunk at 25°C – a temperature that a lot of people know as room temperature, which is true. Thing is, room temperature and wine temperature are two vastly different subjects. The average ‘room temp’ for whites is about 8-9°C and red about 15-17°C, not 4°C or 25°C, and that’s a wine fact!

Temp C
36.8° Body temperature
25° Laboratory room temperature
19° Vintage Port
18° Bordeaux, Shiraz
17° Cabernet Franc, Red Burgundy
16° Pinot Noir, Rioja
15° Chianti
14° NV Port/Tawny, Madeira*
13°
12° Rosé, Beaujolais
11° Viognier, Sauternes/Botrytis wine
10°
9° Chardonnay
8° Riesling/Bordeaux Blanc
7° Champagne
6° Ice Wine
5°
4°
3°
2° Fridge Temp
1°
0° Water freezes
-18° Freezer Temp

*Madeira can also be served slightly chilled

Trellis Heathcote Syrah 2009

Catchy label isn’t it. The Trellis Heathcote Syrah 2009 turns out to be all of that; a Heathcote Shiraz/Syrah with a catchy label. Its dark and peppery and its got dark fruit and there’s a little bit of eucalyptus and the alcohol is prominent and its got a catchy label. Don’t know about calling it Syrah though, because as I said, its very Heathcote. But if you are in Melbourne and are wondering what to drink today, cos its such a crap day and all, this wine will warm you up.

Drink with a steak sandwich and woolly socks
Drink till 2013
88
Screwcap 14%v/v sub $30 I think Blackheart & Sparrows Brunswick

Millton Gisborne Chenin Blanc 2009

Erin is watching ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ on the dots. This may be my last post ever, because the world must be ending for Erin to be watching such rubbish TV. Better make this one count then. The Millton Gisborne Chenin Blanc 2009. Can you believe it, ‘Celebrity fuckin Apprentice’!!!!! I love Chenin. Problem is that we in Australia tend to stuff it up, so I am usually drinking Vouvray. Not anymore, or not as often anyway. I’ve got Millton from Nelson – but I better hurry up because Arma-fuckin-geddon is around the corner. Closed and tight on the nose, the palate is awash with subtle sugar and perfectly pitched ginger. Do you hear that, sounds like the four horsemen. Just want more.

Drink with my green papaya and beef salad
Drink before the end of the world!!!!
96
Screwcap 13%v/v $26 Blackhearts & Sparrows Brunswick

Tarrington Vineyards Chardonnay 2009

I’ve been busy. Very busy. In this busy-ness its very easy to miss things, or simply lose track of something. There is one thing in particular that I have not seen, and also missed, and that is Tarrington Vineyards wines from Western Victoria. Its been a few years since Di has put out a wine but this one has been worth the wait. The 2009 Chardonnay is full of chardonnay goodness on the nose with purity of citrus, with grapefruit singing loud. The palate is wonderfully blessed with a squeaky clean minerality note commanding all other flavours – grapefruit and licorice powder the dominant. A great return Di, and to sound mushy, ‘…you were always on my mind.’ And I have no idea who sang that, but no one will miss that!

Drink with snapper cooked in banana leaf
Drink till 2015
96
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $35 Blackheart & Sparrows Fitzroy North