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

Chateau De Caraguilhes Corbières Languedoc Blanc 2009

So far the pick of my summer wines this year. The Chateau De Caraguilhes Languedoc Corbieres Blanc 2009 was realised this week after I had a hankering for Tahbilk Marsanne but unfortunately the good folk at BHS didn't have any. Instead they had this beauty. A blend of 80% Marsanne and 20% Grenache Blanc, in the glass the wine has a very young Riesling-like colour to it yet the nose is full of generous honey and burnt creme brulee. The palate also enjoys what the nose has to offer, but only after a while - this wine takes along time to get moving in the glass. But besides that it was just gorgeous.

Drink with veal schnitzel and almond, rocket and mustard dressing salad
Drink till 2013
96
Quality cork 13%v/v $24 Blackheart and Sparrows North Fitzroy

Listel Pink Flamingo ‘Gris de Gris’ Camargue Rosé 2008

If the Godfather of Kitsch was a wine it would be Pink Flamingo! A brand new arrival to our shores, the Listel Pink Flamingo ‘Gris de Gris’ Camargue Rosé 2008, is one of the many fine wines that I am representing through Vranken Pommery Australia (cha-ching plug!).

Now, for the record, ‘Gris de Gris’ is not a Pinot Gris or a grey wine, but a pink wine that is decidedly paler than most rosé wines because it is made exactly like a white wine where the fruit – all dark fruit – is pressed as soon as it gets to the winery and not bled or a saignee, which is I guess the traditional way to make rosé wine.

This wine is a blend of Grenache, Cinsault and Carignan and comes from some of the oldest vines in France due to they were not affected by phylloxera in the 1880’s because of the fine, almost beach like sand that they are planted in.

As said before, the wine is very pale in colour with an almost peach fuzz about it. A simple waft of delicate raspberry and musk precede the same in the mouth with a real slippery, vinous mouth feel not unlike a Marsanne or Roussanne.

This wine is very brand new here, and so far Mr. Wilkinson in Brunswick the only bar to have this listed, and they are pouring it for about $8 – top stuff I say!

Drink with charcuterie meats
Drink now
No rating – its part of my portfolio
Quality cork 12.5%v/v at Mr. Wilkinson, or if you are interested shoot me an email on tcohen@vrankenpommery.com.au

Top 10 Wines for 2009

Yes, it is the end of yet another year with 2009 over in a little over 48 hours; I think there is a definite correlation between how fast a year travels and how old you are. Anyway, with the end of my first year as a wine blogger, I thought it apt that I compile my ‘Top 10’ wines for this year. The judging of this is based on the ‘Decanter Top 100’ wines where it is not always the highest ranked wines that make No. 1 but the wines that have had the greatest impact. So without anymore dilly-dallying, here we have my Top 10 for 2009.

10. Pierro Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot ltCF 2005 – never been a big fan of this blend from Australia but this wine really stood up and slapped me bang on the nose; am now a convert and a fan. 96

9. M. Chapoutier ‘Deschants’ 1997 Saint-Joseph Marsanne – this was a wine that sort of got forgotten about in my cellar but turned out to be an absolute cracker. 95
8. Punt Road Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2006 – a surprise winner at The Bledisloe of Wine at The Point Albert Park this year during the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. And to think, the Kiwi winemakers thought it was one of theirs - silly buggers. 93
7. Oakridge Yarra Valley 864 Chardonney 2006 – probably one of the best Chardonnays I have had from the Valley and I got it for $30 a bottle when I did vintage there in 2008. 98

6. Merricks Creek Mornington Close Planted Pinot Noir 2006 - the best Pinot Noir ever from the Peninsula and proof that when you believe in something, you give it plenty of time to become something special. 95
5. Ngeringa Adelaide Hills Syrah 2006 – a relative new comer to me but by no means a wall flower wine; the only wine that I have not blogged on so here are my concise findings. Heavy and dense colour with a little touch of leather coming through early but definitely not hiding the licorice all-sorts. More licorice in the palate with mouth smacking tannins that would be lovingly soaked up by a juicy rare rum steak purchased from North Carlton Butchers on Nicholson St Carlton; I scored this 97.


4. By Farr Geelong Shiraz 2007 – I still standby my comment that this is the best Shiraz in Australia, simple! 98
3. Pio Cesare Piedmonte Barolo 1997 – The reason I fell in love with Nebbiolo and the reason why wines like this need plenty of time in the bottle. 99
2. Felton Road Central Otago Block 3 Pinot Noir 2006 – one of the most perfect New World Pinot Noirs I have ever had. If you see one out there, grab it! 99


1. M. Sorrel ‘La Grael’ Hermitage 2001 – an absolute pleasure to drink this one with real elegance and how a wine made with shiraz grapes should taste like. 96

So there you have it, my 2009 retrospective. Tomorrow night I will compile my Top 10 Naughty wines, or more general, Top 10 wine moments for the past 10 years.

Toodaloo!

M. Chapoutier ‘Deschants’ 1997 Saint-Joseph Marsanne

You know how sometimes you get in a rut and things just seem to go along grey. Right now there isn’t really that much happening over here in Brunswick - some street work happening outside and two people bickering about who knows what in an accent I cannot seem to pick. Apart from the skies opening up and Henry spending another night crying and wanting to play, nothing much is really happening.

I needed a buzz other than coffee. So as I was sneaking past Henry’s room so as not to wake him up, and still wearing my pj’s, the thought of posting something other than, 'this is nice, this goes with that' got me going, so off I went to my recent wine archives and pulled out this gem - to write about, not drink; it is only nine in the am right now.

So here goes. M. Chapoutier ‘Deschants’ 1997 Saint-Joseph from the Northern Rhone. This is a wine I paid about $10 for back in 2003 at The Wine Societies Xmas sale where they were flogging wine that people either did not want or did not know. Ten bucks is damn cheap so I took all three that were available.

Now the ‘Deschants’ is 100% Marsanne grown biodynamically in the Rhone, and a variety that is lost in the ocean of Savvy B and Chardonnay that is on the market today. It is also a variety that can be drunk young or cellared for 20+ years. Yet it is also a variety that demands a good growing season, with natural acidity being its hallmark to a great wine.

On a side note, M. Chapoutier has since 1996 transcribed Braille on to all of their labels. Far from being a gimmick, the symbol draws on the history of the Hermitage vineyard. Maurice Monier de la Sizeranne is the owner of the plot of the Hermitage, ‘la Sizeranne’, is also the inventor of the first version of abbreviated Braille.

So the wine.

Like I said, I got all three for $30 – a steal I thought. The first one was oxidised to the be-jesus, not a good start. The second was soaked in cork-taint and at this point I was thinking I had got jibbed. So the third bottle was neatly tucked away in my cellar until last week when I was doing a bit of inventory and happened to come across the forgotten third bottle.

Now it is fair to say that I was quite pessimistic about this one, with its two siblings failing to show the goods. There was promise on looking at the bottle, with no ullage noticeable. In the glass the wine had the appearance of Botrytis orange, and at only 12.7% a/v, I thought the horse, and the wine, had definitely bolted. But alas, this one was the gem! This nose is possibly one of the best I have come across for any wine, with very noticeable honeycomb coming through in the form of the crunchie bar chocolate. In the mouth was very viscous, with wax and more honey bobbing up. The real pleasure of this wine was that Erin did not like it. More, or actually all, for me – mucho fantastico!!

Great balance, wonderful length and real complexity. Just a shame that it was my last one.

Drink now
Drink with braised Rockling with a leek and butter sauce
19/20