Clonakilla Murrumbateman Shiraz Viognier 2009

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”
― John Keats, Endymion: A Poetic Romance

Not knowing how long forever may be, the Clonakilla Murrumbateman Shiraz Viognier 2009 was, and will be no doubt, a thing of beauty. Opened and finished last Saturday night, all I could write was 'majestic'. You're a good egg Mr. Kirk. More beauty please.

Drink with something stonkingly good
Drink till 2025+
100/100
Screwcap 14%v/v $105 Seddon Wine Store

Clonakilla Canberra District Shiraz Viognier 2008

Its Australia Day. Happy Australia Day everyone, and to celebrate its going to be this real Aussie classic, not the formulaic Ben Folds wines; play on words if you know what I mean. The Clonakilla Canberra District Shiraz Viognier 2008 will be opened when I get home tonight, but lets re-visit from about three months ago.

Deep red in the glass. The nose is full of soft tart red fruit, red licorice and subtle dried herbs. The palate is a kaleidoscope of ink, violets, faint spice, milk chocolate, game; just keeps going - the sip that never quits! Almost Burgundian in finish. Remarkable wine!

Drink with Haute Aussie BBQ while listening to Cold Chisel
Drink till 2020+
99
Screwcap 14%v/v $$$$

I made it myself!

I love cooking. I also love plating up food the way it should look on a plate – simple and super gorgeous, and not just plating up since George and Gary and the hairy cravat said it was cool.

I love cooking and this is what I did when Henry was sleeping and Imogen was at Grandma and Papa’s house:

‘Twice cooked chicken on roasted lemon peepers with smoked garlic and chilli glaze’ - it needs another colour and bigger font because, as George would say, it was the hero of the blog!
So good Erin wanted it two nights in a row - so we did! Oh yeah, we also had a lovely bottle of Clonakilla Canberra Districts Riesling 2009, but I’m not going to talk about the wine because it will only steal the spotlight from my chicken dish, so tonight the wine is going off Broadway. That and it has been blogged by about 30 or so bloggers – no offence Mr. Kirk.

Spirituality and Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier

Spirituality is important in our busy modern world. With over 6 billion people crammed on to this rock, we all need to have our quiet time of peace and reflection. I take my lead from the Wino-sapien and share with you three items that are currently stabilising my inner peace.

How to see yourself as you really are – His Holiness, Dalai Lama; this is something I picked up last year when my career was heading south, with one passage having very real meaning:
‘A person whose mind is distracted dwells between the fangs of afflictive emotions.’

This is a nice segue for Hurry up and Meditate – David Michie; a very user friendly book to the art of blocking out all the shit and focusing on all that is good:
‘Once we accept that body and mind form a systemic whole, the idea of focusing all our attention on only one part of the system - the body – while excluding the other – the mind - seems more than just a little crazy.’

This leads us to my Clonakilla allocation that arrived yesterday – peace and harmony people!