Mitchell Harris Macedon Ranges/Pyrenees Sabre Chardonnay/Pinot Noir 2008

To say that the Mitchell Harris star is on the rise is quite frankly beyond obvious! The Mitchell Harris Macedon Ranges/Pyrenees Sabre Chardonnay/Pinot Noir 2008 is a spankingly good wine that just kept giving. The colour certainly belies its three years on lees with a lovely off gold/bronze tinge and constant fine bead. The nose dance’s between brioche and tort grapefruit and then really comes alive in the palate with a combination of subtle red fruit followed by a great finish of gingerbread. With a pedigree from Chandon, Jonno Harris producers a wine that ticks all the right boxes with the first sparkling release under the Mitchell Harris label. And like the piggy, I just want more - cracking job mate!!

Drink with salmon gravlax
Drink till 2016
97
Diam cork 12.5%v/v www.mitchellharris.com.au

A summers day in Brunswick

“Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds to shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.”
“But the eternal summer shall not fade.”

William Shakespeare, Sonnets - 18, 19

Eldridge Estate Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay 2009

After a weird call to the wine store this morning I thought this was appropriate.

A beautifully crafted Chardonnay from the peninsula. The Eldridge Estate Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay 2009 is sort of a step back to the close past – you get that? What I mean is this a Chardonnay that isn’t made in the Chablis style of tort acid and citrus. This wine has the beautiful texture of Chassagne Montrachet with a burst of stone fruit, soft grapefruit and persistent licorice powder. This is a wine that was made 10 years ago, before the time when it was uber chic to make chardonnay with piercing acid and nothing else. (Don’t get me wrong. I like acid and grapefruit in Chardonnay, but I also like complexity and fullness too.) Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.

Drink with pork and pistachio sausage
Drink till 2016
97
Screwcap 13.7%v/v $47 Albert St Food & Wine, Brunswick

Wine popsicle anyone?

This is what happens when you have the best intentions in bringing home a bottle of wine for your better half after they have had a very big week back at work. So I pop it in the freezer whilst I try and make the house look pretty and all of that palavar, and then... No and then. It stayed in the freezer until this morning and what do I see? The perfect way to celebrate Australia Day 2012 - Wine popsicle! Sorry dear xxx

Beer and Bon Jovies

It’s simple really; confit onion jam with Bon Jovies (anchovies) and a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on a hot Sunday afternoon. Spot on Chicken Spot!

Vadiaperti Campania Falanghina IGT 2009

This is not for the faint of heart. The Vadiaperti Campania Falanghina IGT 2009 is a wine that cannot easily be pigeon-holed like a chardonnay, riesling or sauvignon, where all three in one way or another can be mistaken for the others. Very often with ‘exotic’ varieties you have people ask what other variety is it similar to; well this variety has a ‘hole’ all of its own! Captivating on the nose with a touch of candied grapefruit and dried herbs, the palate throws all manner of savoury notes of more dried herbs, acid and white phenolics. It is the mid palate where the dried herb aspect makes you stand to attention; its something that takes a while to put your finger on, but its there, trust me. A cracking wine and club house leader in my fridge right now.

Drink with risotto of goat’s cheese and asparagus
Drink till 2014
94
Natural cork 13%v/v $33 Albert St Food & Wine, Brunswick

The Brunswick Man Bag!

Beer. Love. Sexy as! You had me at hello.

The ultimate ‘man bag’. The Thunder Road Brewery ‘Brunswick Bitter’ Growler complete with its own carry strap and beer wetsuit. As Annie quite eloquently put it, ‘sweet dreams are made of these...’

Get it at Thunder Road Brewery in Brunswick. Drink NOW! 1.89L $25 first pour including membership and beer wetsuit.

Thunder Road Brewery, 130 Barkly Street Brunswick http://www.thunderroadbrewing.com

Spinifex Barossa Valley Lola 2011

Q: How many grape varieties does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They’re grapes!!

My point exactly. But it does raise the question of how many varieties can make up a wine before any of them deliver the ‘wow’ factor. Seems that it doesn’t matter, and that’s fine with me all in all – literally with this wine. The Spinifex Barossa Valley Lola 2011 is a blend of Ugni Blanc (or Trebbiano), Semillon, Marsanne and Viognier. Seriously, they must really have been thinking that day, ‘what the hell!’ Thing is though, they made a pretty schmick wine.

Very nectarine on the nose, the wine follows suit in the mouth with more stone fruit, this time in the guise of white peach and a tickle of glycerol. My only beef though is that it is rather quick, but on a hot day like today wines like this are not going to have a long life span once the seal is broken.

Drink till 2014
Drink with BBQ squid
92
Screwcap 11.5%v/v $26 Albert St Food & Wine

Giaconda Beechworth Chardonnay 2008 bottle # 01438

Start the new year with a bang I say. Quite simply our best chardonnay producer, the Giaconda Beechworth Chardonnay 2008 was simply stunning. Tight green hue in the glass, the aroma is full of grapefruit and peach with burnt match stick and licorice powder. The palate is full of melon and a creamy nuttiness that manoeuvres in to a stonefruit tail. Just brilliant!

Drink with grilled marron
Drink till 2018
98
Screwcap 13%v/v $88 mailing list 3 years ago www.giaconda.com.au