By Farr Geelong Sangreal Pinot Noir 2009

I think the last time I blogged about a By Farr wine, Tout Pres I think, I likened it to a Pommard with the wine delivering a supurb mix of power and elegance. Well they have done it again down in Geelong with the By Farr Geelong Sangreal 2009 simply stunning. Enjoyed last month at Must Wine Bar in Perth on Bastille Day, the wine was simply stunning with prickly semi-ripe fruit woven delicioulsy with game, funk, bacon fat and earth, it has it all. Just stunning.

Drink till 2024
Drink with Beef Bourguignon
100/100
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $120 on wine list at Must Wine Bar, Perth

Belated Bastille Day 2010 - Jean Grivot Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2002

Yes, I know I am a couple of days late for my Bastille Day entry, but I gotta’ tell you, I have been flat chat busy with work, family and yes, a Bastille Day celebration on Tuesday night at the NGV.

So without further ado, here is my 2010 Bastille Day post; Jean Grivot Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2002. I picked this up a few years ago on www.langtons.com.au for a miserly $210 a bottle – just the one bottle I’m afraid – and sensibly put it aside in a dark place. And like so many things in life these days, I completely forgot I had it until about two months ago when I was searching for a bottle of Barolo and shabam, right before my eyes was this beauty (as to was the Barolo I was looking for).

To tell you the truth, I didn’t grab my note book and enter in my thoughts; instead I just savoured what an amazing wine this truly was. And that’s just it. I don’t remember it for being savoury or sappy or tart; I remember it just tasting absolutely gorgeous. That’s why this wine is the perfect example why people like you and me fork out handfuls of cash for single bottle treats. People find it hard to believe I would spend this much on a bottle of wine, but it was a bottle of wine like this that revealed its true power to a friend of mine about eight years ago.

The story was that this friend really did not like drinking sparkling wine – ergo champagne. He thought it was basically just soda water mixed with dry white wine. But it was the day he had a glass of Krug 1990, a truly magnificent wine that changed him forever. I still recall the look on his face when he sipped his first sip; his eyes widened, his jaw tensed and he was simply a changed man. Not 10 minutes after this experience, he turned to me and said, ‘You bastard. How can I go back and drink a beer or a shiraz now that I have had this’. And it’s true. Ever since then when I have gone over to his house, there in the fridge I will find a bottle of champagne; every time!

I do love my wine, and I do enjoy the good things in life, and the Jean Grivot Clos de Vougeot is one of those good things. So, a salute to you France for making such beautiful, beautiful wine. Bravo!

And.....



Oui, je sais que je suis à quelques jours de retard pour mon entrée de la fête nationale, mais je gotta ' vous dire, j'ai été occupé par le travail, la famille et Oui, une célébration de la fête nationale mardi soir à la GMV plat chat.

Sans plus attendre, voici mon 2010 post fête nationale ; Jean Grivot Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2002. J'ai ce capté quelques années sur www.langtons.com.au pour un avare de 210 $ par bouteille – juste une bouteille je crains – et judicieusement mettre de côté dans un endroit sombre. Et comme pour beaucoup de choses dans la vie de ces jours, j'ai complètement oublié je s'il avait jusqu'à environ deux mois lorsque j'étais recherche pour une bouteille de Barolo et shabam, droit devant mes yeux était cette beauté (qui était le Barolo je cherchais).

Pour vous dire la vérité, je n'a pas récupérer mon livre de note et entrez dans mes pensées ; je déguster plutôt juste quel un vin incroyable c'était vraiment. Et c'est juste. Je ne me souviens d'être savoureux ou sappy tart ; je me souviens il vient dégustation absolument magnifiques. C'est pourquoi ce vin est le parfait exemple, pourquoi les gens comme vous et moi, fourche hors handfuls de trésorerie pour seule bouteille traite. Gens du mal à croire je serait passer ce bien sur une bouteille de vin, mais il s'agissait d'une bouteille de vin comme cela qui a révélé son pouvoir de véritable à un ami à moi il y a environ huit ans.


L'histoire était que cet ami ne pas aime boire de vin mousseux – érgothérapie champagne. Il pensait que c'était fondamentalement juste soude eau mélangée avec un vin blanc sec. Mais c'était la journée qu'il avait un verre de 1990 Krug, un vin vraiment magnifique qui lui a changé pour toujours. Je me rappelle encore l'aspect sur son visage lorsqu'il sipped son premier sip ; ses yeux s'élargi, sa mâchoire tensed et c'était simplement un homme modifié. Pas de 10 minutes après cette expérience, il s'est tourné vers moi et dit, ' vous bâtard. Comment puis-je revenir en arrière et boire une bière ou un shiraz maintenant que j'ai eu cette '. Et c'est vrai. Depuis puis quand j'ai passée à sa maison, il dans le réfrigérateur va trouver une bouteille de champagne ; chaque fois !

J'aime la mon vin, je jouissent-ils les bonnes choses de la vie et le Jean Grivot Clos de Vougeot est l'un de ces bonnes choses. Donc, un hommage à France vous permettant de ces vins belle et magnifique. Bravo !

Domaine Etienne Sauzet 2005 Montrachet

I was just going over my blogs to date, and I know this is going to seem really naff, but when I posted the Bastille Day blog back on the 14th, I was going to make a week of French wine entries, but thanks to Perth and the bloody swine flu (don’t worry, you can’t catch it through cyber space, or....) that idea went south. So, my bright idea is to add one more blog for Bastille Day, but with a twist; it will be in French as well, or en anglais ainsi.

So here we go.

Domaine Etienne Sauzet 2005 Montrachet. If you are thinking,’ hmm, that sounds like a nice drop then.’, go to the kitchen sink, fill a glass of water to the top and throw it in your face (water, not the vessel people). Montrachet is where Chardonnay goes to heaven, it is when you have 17 holes in one in a row and when you withdraw $200 from an ATM and it gives you $2000!

The 2005 Etienne Sauzet is quite simply perfect. Perfect!!

The 2005 vintage in Burgundy was, yes I know I am repeating myself, perfect. In viticulture terms everything that happened, happened when it should have; it rained when it was supposed to rain, it was warm when it was supposed to be warm and it rained again when it was supposed to rain.

The colour is straw yellow with absolutely no dullness in sight. On the nose there is lemon, crushed gravel – something like river-bed pebbles – which is very minerally. After a while there comes granny smith apple telling you there is very little MLF. In the mouth there is an instant hit of soft spice, lemon tart and the one that makes it special, liquorice powder.

Wines like this are really once in a life time – truly. There is perfect balance, endless length and seem less complexity.

Drink till 2020
Drink with lobster
19.8/20

And...

Domaine Etienne Montrachet de Sauzet 2005. Si vous envisagez, ’ hmm, que des sons comme une goutte nice alors. ’, passez à l'évier de cuisine, remplir un verre d'eau vers le haut et jeter dans votre visage (eau, pas le peuple du navire). Montrachet est où Chardonnay va vers le ciel, c'est lorsque vous avez 17 trous dans un dans une ligne et quand vous retirer $200 un distributeur de billets et il vous offre $2000!

La 2005 Etienne Sauzet est tout simplement parfait. Parfait!!

Le millésime 2005 en Bourgogne a été, Oui je sais que je suis moi-même, répétant parfait. En viticulture termes tout ce qui est passé, est arrivé quand il devrait avoir ; il plu lorsqu'il était censé pluie, il était chaud quand il était censé pour être chaud et il plu à nouveau quand il était censé pluie.

La couleur est jaune paille avec absolument aucune dullness en vue. Sur le nez, il n'y est citron, gravier concassé – quelque chose comme lit du fleuve cailloux – qui est très minerally. Après un certain temps, il arrive granny smith pomme en vous disant qu'il y a très peu MLF. Dans la bouche, il existe un succès immédiat des épices douces, Tarte au citron et celui qui le rend spécial, poudre de réglisse.

Vins comme ceci sont vraiment une fois en un temps de vie – vraiment. Il est parfait équilibre, longueur interminable et semblent moins complexité.

Boisson jusqu'en 2020
Drink avec homard
19,8/20.

Bastille Day and Domaine-de-la-Romanee Conti 2005 La Tache

Bastille Day. The day when every non French person wants to be French and go, ‘haw haw haw’ in a French accent.; we’ve all done it and we will do it again.

To mark this day, I will blog about what I think is France's, and most certainly the worlds greatest wine house, and what has been my wine highlight for the last 12 months, the 2005 Domaine-de-la-Romanee Conti La Tache. That’s right, you read it correct. What a wine I tell ya!!

I got to taste this last year when a group came in to the restaurant with BYO; bloody BYO I thought. Then they showed me the wines. The entire DRC 2005 – all of them!! Richebourg, Romanee St. Vivant, Romanee Conti, Echezeaux, Grands Echezeaux and the Montrachet. Along with these were also Lamy-Piot Montrachet, Etienne Sauzet Le Montrachet and Bourchard et Fels Montrachet. Bloody Hell!!

As the Sommelier at The Point, I was charged with opening all of these wines to taste and test; this was a definite perk of the job. It was a blind taste so then I had to wrap all the bottles in foil and carefully, very carefully, pour the wines in the appropriate glassware.

At the end of the evening, the group graciously gave me a more than fair sample of each wine where they asked my opinion of each wine. It was a unanimous vote that the DRC Montrachet was the pick of the night – sexy stuff I tell ya! With this done, some of the guests made way with what was left. What happened next still puts a smile on my face. The host said that I could take home what was left – fair dinkum.

That night I took home about a third of a bottle of the La Tache, a quarter of the RSV, a couple of mouthfuls of Romanee Conti, a third of Lamy-Piot and a third of the Etienne Sauzet; that’s a fair wet dream in anyone’s language. The thing was that some of the wine had already been poured in to a glass for me, with the bottles being thrown way by the other staff. All I could do was decant what was left in to whatever I could find; this took all of my MacGyver skills I had.

They were all falafalling brilliant!!! But alas, they did not last too long.

Today I am in Perth with my family, and alas, there will be no La Tache, but I am sure there will be something decent from Baron’s on Beaufort Street, but back to the wine.


There is only one word to do the nose true justice and that is mucho fantastico as the aromatic breadth here is simply stunning with red and black cherry, cassis, plum and subtle earth notes replete with the same Asian spice array of aromas as the RSV displays but here the floral aspect, particularly rose petal, is much more pronounced. After 2 hours it was even more amazing; super ripe aromas of cherry, currant, tobacco and smoky, nutty oak, with traces of vanilla and sweet butter.

On the palate, a vivid freshness of fruit, pungency of spice and flowers, and melting away of what in point of analytical fact are abundant tannins, all engender an almost white wine dynamic of fruit-mineral call-and-response and clear, incisive penetration of flavours to every recess of the mouth. Finishes with wonderfully broad, ripe tannins.

To quote the great Sammy Hagar of Van Halen, ‘That’s what dreams are made of....’ There is nothing else to say but bisou bosou.

Drink with anything you bloody well like
Drink till it finished
20/20!!!!!