François Villard Cornas L'appel des Sereines Syrah 2011

We have a new club house leader folks. The François Villard Cornas L'appel des Sereines Syrah 2011 is quite simply sexyasnuts!!!! Tart concentrated blackberry, grippy black olive tapanade and subtle salty soy sauce are all the hallmarks that make cool climate Syrah/Shiraz the sexiest beast around. If this wine was a rockstar it would be a combination of Jeff Buckley, Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix and Madonna; just oozing sex appeal. Thats it. Thats all I've got on this beast.

Drink with lust
Drink till empty, or 2016
98
Quality cork 13%v/v $28

Brumont Gascogne Gros Manseng-Sauvignon Sec 2011

As summer whites go, this is it. The Brumont Gascogne Gros Manseng-Sauvignon Sec 2011. And yes it has a lick of Sauvignon Blanc in it so those Savvy B poopooers stop reading here... ya flogs.

Smokin hot nose of dried grass clippings and tropical fruit - guava comes through. And once again, Savvy B is here and is all class giving the Gros Manseng bright acid and structure. This one is a winner.

Drink till 2016
Drink with mango chicken salad
95
Diam cork 12.5%v/v Seddon Wine Store $23

Lucien Muzard & Fils Bourgogne 2010

A very New World Old World this wine. The Lucien Muzard & Fils Bourgogne 2010 is one of the most generous Bourgogne's I have had ever I think with plenty of fruit forward red and black fruit aka Central Otago, and seamless earth and spice all held check by effortless acid balance. Geez, just got a bit glossy mag on you didn't I. In short (like me) a super impressive Pinot with all the bells and whistles for Burgundy's entry level tipple.

Drink with rare beef steak sanga
Drink till 2016
95
Screwcap - finally France, well done; 12.5%v/v $33 Seddon Wine Store

Château Bel Air Saint-Estéphe 2009

Saint-Estéphe. Think the kid at school who always got bullied. When they grew up they became people like Bill Gates, Quentin Bryce and Tim Winton. Saint-Estéphe. The sub-region on the Left Bank that always gets overlooked, but then, Schazamm!!! In your face Haut-Medoc and Paulliac.

Two days later. 

The Château Bel Air Saint-Estéphe 2009 is super sexy on day 1, getting spesh day 2 - just a wee sip though, and all baby-got-back on day 3. Today. Baby-got-back indeed.  The nose is all coco powder with a tinge of pepper corn - think the big tree on Barrow Street in Brunswick if you are in the area. More chocolate on the primary palate with achingly precise cassis and cedar pushing through. Seriously, a great wine now and plenty down the track and a possible new club house leader

Bullies out there, suck on this!!!

Drink with char grilled lamb
Drink till 2020+
98
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $58 Seddon Wine Store

Matthieu Barret Côtes du Rhône Petit Ours Gris 2010

Ever bet on a horse because of thew colours or the name? If you have you have also chosen your wine because of the label. This label is one of those labels.

Perched just out of reach of the kids at Seddon Wine Store, the Matthieu Barret Côtes du Rhône Petit Ours Gris (little grey bear) 2010 Syrah and Grenache blend is in prime view of us big kids and am happy to say is a constant mover. The nose is full of bright red fruit with sweet raspberry pronounced. The palate has an almost cooling feel about it with more fruit; raspberry, blackberry and licorice allsorts. The mid palate pushes most of the fruit aside with balanced acid and soft chewy tannins cleaning up all and sundry. A good wine and maybe just as fun as putting $2 each way on the jockey wearing the pretty silks.

Drink with lamb casserole
Drink till 2015
90
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $29 Seddon Wine Store

In a moment of time....

Poured to about two fingers, the glass that sat in front of me was to be just a moment in time. It was a strangers slight glance of the arm walking down the street which stays with you for 40 years and the idea and notion of just what if? To prolong it's existence was achingly difficult; every motion to my mouth was met with the anticipation of Jeff Buckley's haunting sigh at the start of Leonard Cohen's mesmerising 'Hallelujah'. The Chateau-Grillet 2009. Beautiful.

Yves Cuilleron à Chavanay Rhône Valley Les Vignes d'à Côté Roussanne 2011 and my French Onion Soup

Sometimes things just work together. Simple ideas that make it obvious. The Yves Cuilleron à Chavanay Rhône Valley Les Vignes d'à Côté Roussanne 2011 and French onion soup work together. Well. Simple. Not together and the Roussanne is just another aromatic wine and the French onion soup is just a viscous and winter warming soup. Together they shine with the wine full of rich honey suckle and soft candied peaches and pears on the nose, the palate continues on this way with touches of prickly stewed pineapple, ginger and plenty of finesse.

I think I have called the end of Summer at least a dozen times. I'm going to call it again because right now it is hailing and 13°C here in downtown Brunswickistan, so this wine and this soup need your attention people. Alone good, together stunning. Simple and delicious pleasures.

My French onion Soup

1 kg brown onions  - sliced

100 grams butter

1 tablespoon of flour

1 litre of water

200 grams Gruyere cheese

1 baguette

salt and pepper

Melt 150grams of butter in a big pot. Slice all onions and add to pot. This needs plenty of stirring and should take up to 20-30 minutes to colour. When you have a decent colour, add flour and continue to stir for a couple of minutes. Add water and 100 grams of Gruyere to melt in soup. Bring to the boil and and reduce to simmer for 30 minutes. Cut up baguette on an angle and lightly toast. Cover with grated Gruyere cheese and stick under grill and place on top off soup when cheese melted. Bon.

Drink with my French onion soup

Drink till 2015

96

Diam cork 13%v/v $30 Seddon Wine Store

 

Paul Blanck Pinot D'Alsace 2010

When you work in the wine retail game, you need to be open to all and sundry who want to show you wine or discuss potential opportunity to grab a cracking deal; unlike the restaurant trade, there is no such thing as being in a 'meeting', you are always available. This wine is proof of just such an example - Paul Blanck Pinot D'Alsace 2010

Now I have been familiar with the Paul Blanck wines for some time, but it has been actually that - some time since I have had a look at them, so when Jonathon mentioned that this wine was looking peachy, well that was enough for me and within a week Jeremy and I were going through samples and this one got a massive tick. The nose is all minerality and quinine - think tonic water. The palate is a gentle wave of stone fruit -  subtle white peach, more plentiful minerality in the form of river stone and lingering leesy goodness. Delicious.

So there you go. The next phone call may just be that something special, and instead of fobbing it off, take the time and be surprised to find that wine is there to enjoy, not to avoid.

Drink till 2015

Drink with veal marsala

94

Screwcap 12.5%v/v $19 Seddon Wine Store

Domaine Anne Gros Bourgogne 2010

Tantilsing. Textuaul. Beautiful.

The Domaine Anne Gros Bourgogne 2010. Based in Vosne Romanee, Domaine Anne Gros consistantly producers exquisite wines from Flagey-Echezeaux, Chambolle-Musigny, Clos Vougeot and as mentioned Vosne Romanee where she produces about three wines. This wine was a treat and I could not wait to get it home.

Being a Bourgogne, I was expecting something very entry level; not top be. What we got was a wonderfully crafted wine with power and effeminate beauty. Dark ared in the glass, the nose was full of dark cherries, earth and succulaent bacon fat. The mouth had an instant hit of acid and tartness coming through as soft cranberries. The mid palate went to a new level with full dark cherries followed by more tart expressions of raspberry and cranberry. Great finish indeed. I loved it.

Drink with crispy skinned duck breast - a Susan
Drink till 2018
96
Quality cork 12.5%v/v

Albert Mann Alsace Pinot Blanc Auxerrois 2011

Its getting to the pointy end of the year and the time where we need to grab some awesomely-awesome wine for Xmas. Its also the time I collate my top drops for the calender year; I think this one will get a mention. The Albert Mann Alsace Pinot Blanc Auxerrois 2011, whom I was informed recently was named Wine Spectator winery of the year 2012,  is quite simply the Bomb! A cute blend of Pinot's Blanc and Auxerrois, this wine has layer upon layer of fine nashi pear, wax, minerality and crisp fine acid; there's also a fine line of white phenolics right at the end which neatly balances out the tort acid.

Such a great wine and a monty in downtown Brunswick this Xmas.

Drink with grilled octopus
Drink till 2014
96
Screwcap 13.5%v/v $29 Seddon Wine Store

Domaine Anne Gros Bourgogne 2010

It was at a tasting earlier this year where a young sommelier, or that's what he was telling everyone he met and announcing it as his 'calling', made the comment that any French wine with the variety on it should be avoided at all cost. Fortunately a wine maker there reminded him that pretty much all Alsace wines come with variety stated as do with a lot of great champagnes. Score 1 to the wine maker!

It seems comments like the one from the sommelier are like hair cuts; everyone has a different one. My take on opinions should squarely be based on the finished product, not what the label says. But if on the label somewhere is the name Anne Gros, then yes, my opinion will be a resounding thumbs up. The Domaine Anne Gros Bourgogne 2010, with the variety fair-and-square for everyone to see, is easily one of the wines of the year for me so far.

A very dark red in the glass, the wine opens up with dark cherries, spice and earth, and the longer in the glass a very distinct bacon fat wafts up the olfactory in a most pleasurable manner. The palate is quite different from the nose with a very dry and grippy front that washes away with an almost syrupy cherry middle and then, just like that, a tart cherry and cranberry finish. Just delightful.

Drink with grilled quail with figs
Drink till 2016
96
Cork 12.5%v/v $45-$50

Domaine Maurice et Anne-Marie Chapuis Corton-Charlemagne 2004

in•dul•gence    [in-duhl-juhns] Show IPA noun, verb, in•dul•genced, in•dul•genc•ing. noun

1. the act or practice of indulging; gratification of desire.
2. the state of being indulgent.
3. indulgent allowance or tolerance.
4. a catering to someone's mood or whim; humoring: The sick man demanded indulgence as his due.
5. something indulged in: Her favourite indulgence was candy.

Courtesy of http://dictionary.reference.com/

Tick. Tick. Tick. A stunning wine. The Domaine Maurice et Anne-Marie Chapuis Corton-Charlemagne 2004. Hazelnut meal, citrus, white peach, lean minerality. Sexy as a nut. That's it really.

Château Léoville-Poyferré Saint-Julien 1996

This was quite special. The Château Léoville-Poyferré Saint-Julien 1996 was opened at about 9am, double decanted, and finally left to sit for about 6 hours before emptied and used to wash down a Côte du Boeuf. Intense is a word that can describe just about every facet of this wine, but i will just say that this wine has plenty left in the tank, something that Left Bank wines take from the 1996 vintage and Right Bank unfortunately do not. Super tort tannins are ever present, with the wine moving through a wave of flavour and aroma profiles; mocha, black and blue berries, leather, dry spice and plenty more but the cocktail napkin I wrote my notes on got a bit smudged so that's all there is. Super sexy it was.

Drank with Côte du Boeuf - medium rare
Drink till 2030+
98
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $$$

Sébastien Brunet Vouvray Arpent Sec 2010

So it's been, what, a week and a bit(stupid cookies disabled my blog posting) since the mighty Melbourne Storm beat the Canterbury Bulldogs. It was a great game. Beautiful weather. Great crowd. Beautiful break foot. I have just one more thing to say. SUFFER IN YA JOCKS GUS GOULD YA MISERABLE TWAT!!!!

There you go then. Where was I? Yes, the Sébastien Brunet Vouvray Arpent Sec 2010 is right now my favourite wine. This wine first came across my bow about 6 weeks ago when i had a tasting at Albert Street Food & Wine. it was a tasting I requested because I love Vouvray and needed a new one on the list (didn't get around to it I'm afraid). It was great. Still is.

Plenty going on in the nose with ripe locuts and creamy lees with a lick of mandarin peel. In the mouth there is more ripe locut dominant as well as more citrus at the end with mandarin and tangerine waxing the back palate. I love it.

It hasn't been mentioned for a while on this blog, but this wine gets a definite Susan with pork cutlets - fat on - with the Vouvray cutting through the fat and lifting and extending as well as Billy Slater did through the Bulldogs defence. In your face Gould you sucker of the sourest grapes; Chenin not one of those.

Drink with pork cutlets
Drink till 2018
98
Diam cork 12.33% v/v to be precise and $36 Blackheart & Sparrows, Brunswick

Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Les Vaucrains 2009

Lets paint the scene. Its Monday afternoon in Melbourne and the Indian summer we enjoyed paints a beautiful day. I am sitting at The City Wine Shop on Spring Street and enjoy the side walk banter of wine reps coming and going and sipping lattes at the bar. My lunch partner is the affable Sam Davies, head sommelier at the new Zuma in downtown Bangkok. He is in town for a few days to cool down from the 120% humidity that has become his life for the past 9 months. We lunch. We wine. We laugh. And we finish with the super sexy Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Vaucrains 2009. Perfect. Exit stage right! Drink with The City Wine Shops chicken snitz Drink till 2023 100/100 Quality cork 13%v/v $160ish The City Wine Shop

Top Six in 2011

It’s that time of the year again when we make resolutions and spend money on gym memberships that rarely get used. 2011 came and tomorrow its 2012’s time to shine. But 2011 year has been pretty huge for me, starting off still working in champagne and as agent for eight Australian and New Zealand producers to be now heavily involved in one of Melbourne’s newest, and biggest I think, restaurant – Albert Street Food & Wine. Yes, it has been positively Heaps Bunta (South Australian Oxford Dictionary meaning HUGE!).

This year has also been a great year for new and not so new wine, which I have come across. Even though there has only been just shy of 90 posts this calendar year, it’s been a year when so much has been awesome, and so little being crap; that a good thing! So here are my Top 6 (5 just couldn’t justify) wines of the year in no particular order. You will notice that there is a leaning towards whites. This is by no means a ‘White Power’ salute to white supremacy, just worked out that way I guess.

Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Fumé Sauvignon Blanc 2011 – a recent post on Cooked and Bottled, and a truly great wine. What I loved about this wine is the wonderful nose of dried white herbs of coriander, fennel seed and white pepper. Just love it.


A.Rodda Beechworth Chardonnay 2010 – the first wine produced by Adrian Rodda under his own label. I met and worked with Adrian in 2008 doing vintage at Oakridge in the Yarra Valley and hit off pretty quick with a shared passion for The World Game; I think he still follows Melbourne Victory, me Melbourne Heart. Anyhoo, I smashing debut up in Beechworth.


Bindi Macedon Ranges Original Vineyard Pinot Noir 2006 – What more can I say about Bindi that i haven’t already. This is Australia’s answer to Burgundy. That’s all I’ve got!


Vinteloper Clare Valley Watervale Riesling 2011 – made by possibly the tallest wine maker in Australia, David Bowley producers a beautiful wine loaded with never ending flint and river stone minerality without the predictable lime acid that is known from this part of SA.


Marcel Deiss Alsace Pinot D’Alsace 2010 – a blend of Pinot Gris, Blanc and Auxerre, this wine has beautiful floral notes on the nose and a seductive fullness in the palate that just makes me want more, more and more....


EKK Weissburgunder Südtiroler Pinot Bianco Alto Adige 2010 – a real wine out of left field when I first came across it. Rich and viscous with orange blossom and a tickle of honey, this wine has a real residual feel to it, but this is more from lees stirring that left over sugar. But eat it with rich fatty pork like i did last night. Delicious!!!!


There you have it. If there was a real favourite I think it would be the Mitchell Harris Sauvignon just because it made me fall in love with this much maligned variety all over again. So leave your preconceptions behind and do yourself a flavour favour and get some.

Thierry Violot-Guillemard Pommard Clos de Derriére Saint Jean 1er Cru 2006

A wine that was enjoyed with two good friends on a recent trip back to Perth for work. The Thierry Violot-Guillemard Pommard Clos de Derriére Saint Jean 1er Cru 2006 is all power and elegance or puissance et elegance as one of my friends kept saying. A wonderfully vinous nose and beautifully structured tannins with a very clear line of minerality, this wine just kept giving and giving, mostly thanks to our waiter who insisted on topping our glasses every 3 minutes! Tart cranberry with a lovely layer of earth and musk, the Clos de Derriére Saint Jean, or The back house of St. Jean, is the type of wine that is good to share with others, but a wine that you only want to give a thimble full to them while you greedily hog the rest. Yes I know - all class, and next time, all mine!

Drink with hare pie; a special that evening at Must Wine Bar & Restaurant, Beaufort St Highgate
Drink till 2018
97
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $$$$

Gérard Tremblay Chablis 2009

For anyone who has met me, one of the first things people notice is that I am not tall. I am short; 170cm in the vertical – I do hope my kids will be taller than me because I am sick of being the tallest Cohen in the family. I’m short and so is the Gérard Tremblay Chablis 2009 . Its a great little wine on the primary palate but then its gone. Its short, but unlike me its got lovely white flower aromas with a thin line of citrus, mainly grapefruit, holding it together; I don't smell nearly as good. If you are unsure about Chablis and get scared by some of the $$$, then grab a bottle of this; for $30 it’s a great introduction.

Drink till 2012
Drink with scallop ceveche
88
Screwcap 12.5%v/v $30 Blackheart & Sparrows, Brunswick

Victor Gontier Cidre Bouché

Here I am sitting at home with a sore throat, air cabin ears and Nirvana playing on the iPod – little bit of nostalgia; that makes me sound so old!. So it’s me, the throat and Kurt and I’m thinking what gnarly little delight I have lying around to sooth my whoa’s: the Victor Gontier Cidre Bouché; from France of course.

The mighty fine Stu from North Fitzroy Blackhearts & Sparrows put me onto this (he also got Nicholas Brown from Black Estate in Waipara hooked). It was while I was on a work call with Nicholas when said Nicholas questioned the little ’warning’ sign sticky taped on the fridge below this particular cider. Well the warning sign was there due to a few unsuspecting consumers thinking this badboy was going to be like Strongbow: Oh contraire my learned colleagues! Stu then went on to share with us some of the flavour descriptions some consumers had passed on to him, but it was the elephants piss one that made me want to look at this one. And look at the label, it looks so innocent and harmless; don't know why, but it reminds me of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Very cloudy in the glass with a very distinct ammonia smell about it; yes, that’s the funky shit. But wait, it was also in the mouth with an almost wash rind flavour, and dare I say, texture! But I loved it. Erin did not. I don’t know what it was about it but it was really, really good, and did I say I loved it!

Drink with cheese – seriously!
Drink now
$22 4.5%v/v 750mL with a whacky cork and cage closure

François Chidaine Les Argiles Vouvray 2008

Such a sexy wine. In an almost Mills & Boon way this wine grabbed me around the waist and drew me to its plump bosom in a fit of ecstasy! The François Chidaine Les Argiles Vouvray 2008 is quite easily my favourite white for 2011 for the simple reason that it has everything. Pale straw to look at, the wine offers up a hint of tropical fruit on the nose, but that was it. In to the decanter for you then my pretty! After a while a real whack of flint was followed by ripe pineapple and papaya – funky shit right. The palate was where it was for me with a great mix of minerality and sweetness, but it wasn’t like one followed the other. This dance ebbed and flowed between the both, sort of like dancing to The Chemical Brothers and Anne Murray both at the same time; told you it was the funky shit!

All in all, a brilliant Chenin Blanc!

Drink with crumbed lambs brains - an easy Susan!
Drink till 2015
97
Quality cork 13.5%v/v; didn’t put $$ on wine notes sorry, but got it from Blackheart & Sparrows in Brunswick