Allies Mornington Peninsula Tuerong Pinot Noir 2013

I think I have developed a new flavour sensory in wine. For me anyway. Masterstock. Chinese Masterstock. Spice. Soy sauce. Fish sauce. Spice; cinnamon, cardamon, cassia bark. Smokin hot awesomeness really. Take me down to Chinatown baby!!!

The Allies Mornington Peninsula Tuerong Pinot Noir 2013 is one of the best wines I've seen this year. Everything mentioned above plus a herbal and raspy dry mid palate. This is a real Pinot Noir drinkers Pinot Noir.

Drink with five spiced duck -  a Susan for sure
Drink till 2020
97
Screwcap 13%v/v $38 Brunswick East Wine Store

Montalto Mornington Peninsula Pennon Hill Chardonnay 2013

Its not exactly chardonnay weather, but hey, when in Rome whiz in the Trevie. The Montalto Mornington Peninsula Pennon Hill Chardonnay 2013 is everything I love about Oz chardonnay - lean grapefruit, integrated oak, tart white peach flesh and soft and subtle white licorice powder: I know I bang on about white licorice powder, but its there I tell ya. And the price? A bargain at sub $30.

Cannot wait for summer.This and my coal BBQ with some whiting and snapper. Yep, SOD-OFF winter.

Drink with chicken risotto now, the above when warmer.
Drink till 2018
96
Screwcap 13.5%v/v $27-$30

Cassanne Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir 2010

I feel quite lost in contemplative thought today; must be because the kids are both inside and I am hiding out the back. To dream, to dream....

Now on to the wine. This was quite close to my top 10 for 2012, an honorary I suppose. The  Cassanne Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir 2010. Quite dirty in the glass with a faint reddish hue, the wine comes alive on the nose with a gorgeous mix of tart cranberry and green leafy beetroot. The palate has a very earthy and dirty primary hit with brown spice and tart raspberry in the middle. It has a very long tail with more earth in the way of fried clay, think terracotta if you must, right at the back. A great finish to a great wine so one to look out for.

Drink with sticky beef short ribs
Drink till 2016
95
Screwcap 13.2%v/v $32 Gertrude Street Enoteca

Paradigm Hill Mornington Peninsula Col's Block Shiraz 2007

A truly captivating wine this one. The Paradigm Hill Mornington Peninsula Col's Block Shiraz 2007 is one of those new world wines that would fit very neatly alongside Northern Rhône gems; Ghislaine Fumat and Allemand Reynard from Cornas were two producers that spring to mind straight away.

One thing that always jumps out in this wine is the long and intense mineral line, once again drawing comparisons to Cornas with its ever present Massif granite that lies just below the top soil. The nose in this wine has certainly developed with a soft coffee note coming through as well as retrained black olive tapanade. The palate sits very cool in the mouth with the acid still holding court along with soft grainy tannins that are followed by even notes of black licorice and black olives. A wine that has got better with age and will again benefit with more cellaring to follow.

Seriously, this wine is so good, if Thom Yorke wanted to make wine he'd want to make this.

Drink with crusted slow roasted lamb
Drink till 2022
97
Screwcap 13.5%v/v $50ish if you can still find it

Paradigm Hill Mornington Peninsula Les Cinq Pinot Noir 2010

So it's over for another 12 months. The Melbourne Cup has been run-and-won and I can once again forget about a career as a professional punter after my worthless box trifecta I spent 2 hours on this morning; seems being smart at maths doesn't work here.

Green Moon. It was written off by the experts after the Caulfield Cup I think. Since a little after 3pm I have been humming a host of songs in my head with 'Green' in the title; 'Green Eyes' by Coldplay, 'Devil with the green eyes' and 'Evergreen' by Matthew Sweet, 'Everything's gone green' by New Order and most of the 'Green Album' by Weezer. But it has been 'Devil with the green eyes' by Matthew Sweet that has stuck. And this stuck too. The Paradigm Hill Mornington Peninsula Les Cinq Pinot Noir 2010 is not green, but it's a wine that if you didn't get any, you'd be green with envy.

This has got to be one of the best ever Pinot Noirs to come from the Peninsula. And I'm not just saying that because George Mihaly is like a defacto dad to me. Not at all. The nose is all seduction with a woven mix of brown spice, tart cranberry and gamey goodness. The palate is a class above anything I have had this year I'd say. Supple and generous acid and stunning tight tannins combine up front that open the way to brambly red fruit, earthy sweetness all flushed along by mouth watering minerality.

My notes got a bit blurred so I'll just leave you with this. Buy it. Drink it. But try sharing it.

Drink with as few people as possible

Drink till 2030

100/100

Screwcap 13.5%v/v $85-$90

PS. Good luck with the $100 million jackpot tonight

Forest Hill Mount Barker Block 5 Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

Just hear me out for a sec. Block 5. Block 5 wines are fast becoming a marketing tool to so many producers. Don't quote me on this, but I think the first Block 5 in Australia was from Bindi in 1997 - the Bindi Block 5 Pinot Noir 1997 I recall was listed at $400 not so long ago at The Lincoln in Carlton; not bad for a vineyard that was planted in 1992!

Anyway, the Block 5 tag seems to have that marketing 'midas touch'. Here's just a few that I can recall of the top:

• Bindi Block 5 Pinot Noir, Macedon Ranges
• Yabby Lake Block 5 Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula
• Felton Road Block 5 Pinot Noir, Central Otago
• Chalice Bridge Chapman Series Block 5 Shiraz/Cabernet, Margaret River
• Saint Clair Pioneer Block 5 Pinot Noir, Marlborough
• Forrest Estate Block 5 Cabernet Sauvignon, Marlborough 

Talk about doing your block!!

So it was about 2 weeks ago that I had a tasting of the new Forest Hill wines from Mount Barker with their very pregnant winemaker Clémence Haselgrove; for me the Springvale Estate Riesling is pound-for-pound one of the best in Australia, but thats for another post. The last wine in the bracket was, now wait for it, the Forest Hill Block 5 Cabernet Sauvignon 2008. Block 5's aside, this is truly a cracking wine.

Deep ox blood colour in the glass, the nose throws up aroma's of whispy mint and eucalypt with the smallest hint of dusty tannins to come. The palate is all Left Bank with subtle blueberry notes woven together with pitch perfect acid, tannins and dry dusty cocoa powder. This wine has all the hallmarks of spending another 20 years in the bottle for plenty of reward.

Drink with shephards pie - I did last night
Drink till 2025+
96
Screwcap 13.5%v/v $60ish

Mornington Peninsula Brown Ale and Sunday Night Blues

Its Sunday night and cold in downtown Brunswick. Henry is having a bath in an inch of water, with the remains on the bathroom floor. The heater down the back is on the fritz and the cold draft of wind is blowing right up my back. The only thing to cure my ales is this Mornington Peninsula Brown Ale and Eric Clapton singing the Blues.

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

For Nick - Scorpo Mornington Peninsula Noirien Pinot Noir 2010

In my last post I had a request for more dirty laundry and sub 80 wine scores. The dirty laundry bit I guess is something that needn't be aired; I'm trying to build a wine business, not torpedo it. The sub 80 wines; for me it’s, "if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all." But what I can do Nick is 'near sub 80' scores. And with that we have another tag line. Hooray!

So Nick, you’re in luck. In going through my ‘wine photos’ file this morning I have come across quite a few wines that fit in to the 'near sub 80', and here is where we kick it off. The Scorpo Mornington Peninsula Noirien Pinot Noir 2010. I reckon I have bypassed this wine at Dan’s a good dozen times; don’t know why, just never reached out for it I guess. So on the occasion I do grab it the realisation of why I didn’t grab it is there in spades.

In the glass the wine is almost rosé in appearance and the nose has an instant hit of strawberry. And that’s it. The palate mimics the nose with primary strawberry and what I believe is a relatively high residual sugar dose – very sweet. Once again I look at the wine and ask myself whether it’s supposed to be a rosé; dunno is all I’ve got.

There you have it Nick, one for you.

Drink with minute steak
Drink now
near sub 80
Screwcap (I think) 13.5%v/v $25 Dan Murphy’s Coburg

Paradigm Hill Mornington Peninsula L' ami Sage Pinot Noir 2008

'Well done is better than well said.’ Benjamin Franklin

Such a stonkingly good wine!

I could easily sit here in my sunny little home in Brunswick and pontificate about this wine but I shant. The Paradigm Hill Mornington Peninsula L’ami Sage Pinot Noir 2008 is such a good wine. Simple. So here is what I saw.

Great colour with virtually no translucency at all. Tight nose, so I decanted. After about 30 minutes the wine opened up to gorgeous tart red fruits of cranberry and brimming raspberry with brown spice’s the longer in the glass. Super clean acid held in check by the littlest of super fine tannins. Musk, tart red fruits again and just super gorgeous.

The wine I must say is at its peak three days later (I decanted about two glasses back into the bottle to see how it travelled). It is so Burgundy like, with descriptors I can’t give justice to. But I’ll have a stab anyway. Definite 5 spice aroma’s that meld deliciously into mushrooms, blackberry and more spice in the form of cinnamon. Mazel tov George and Ruth!

Drink with Asian style duck
Drink till 2018
98
Screwcap 13.5%v/v $55 Armadale Cellars

Garagiste Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir 2008

‘Mystery is at the heart of creativity: that, and surprise’ – Julian Cameron

Isn’t it nice when things are not what they seem? This is the case for the Garagiste Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir 2008.

For a while now, Pinot’s coming out of the Peninsula have pretty much followed the mantra of being sweet fruit driven with deep colour from heavy extraction of skins (I reckon a few wine makers are adding enzymes in the fermenting pots to get some of the colours I have seen lately); but not this bad-boy. Now, back to the wine at hand.

I would definitely give this sometime in the decanter before drinking; still a bit of SO2 hanging about as you can see in the picture below (the SO2 is the soapy looking film clinging to the perimeter of the wine). A good Pinot colour with the wine quite translucent. Right away on the nose there is a good whack of tart raspberry and what seems to be dry tea. More tart fruit in the way of cranberries and more raspberries are all kept in check by racy acid and tight soft tannins. A cracking wine from Barney and Dave from allies wines!


Drink with moules verde
Drink till 2016
95
Screwcap 13%v/v $40 from http://www.allies.com.au/

Kooyong Mornington Peninsula Clonale Chardonnay 2008

Sandro Mosele is a very busy man. Not only is he making wine for Kooyong, he is also making wine for Port Phillip Estate, Scorpo and some new wine starting with ‘B’ – that’s all I’ve got on a Saturday morning folks! At Kooyong, Sandro not only has the Estate wine, he also has several single vineyard wines and the very user friendly Clonale range, for what this post is based on – the Kooyong Mornington Peninsula Clonale Chardonnay 2008.

Coming in around $10 cheaper that the Estate and up to $40 cheaper than some of the single vineyard wines, the Clonale Chardonnay is a good example of a clean, fresh Chardonnay from the Peninsula. The wine has a very clear straw look to it in the glass with soft stonefruit and citrus coming through on the nose. It is very soft in the mouth with clean tight acid and, like I said, a good example of a Mornington Chardonnay with a nutty citrusy feel with an even an unobtrusive integration from the oak. It’s a nice wine.

Drink with BBQ prawns
Drink till 2011
86
Diam cork 13.5%v/v $25 Armadale Cellars, Armadale

Merry Christmas - a very long lunch in Brunswick

Well, another Christmas Day is done with! I was sheepishly greeted by my daughter Imogen this morning with, ‘...only 364 sleeps till Christmas dad’. I certainly hope that this countdown does not have legs; she already has one for when she starts prep and her birthday is in March so three countdowns before New Year would not bode well here in Brunswickistan.

Yes, yesterday here in Brunswickistan was a massive effort; presents, more presents, mud crabs, prawns, smoked salmon, Champagne and then Grandma and Papa arrived with Aunty Meaghan with even more presents for a sugar hyped 4 year old and more wrapping paper for Henry’s first Christmas Day

As usual, when there is a get together at my place, I do the cooking, so yesterday, bar the Christmas pudding and one massive ham was all up to me. The menu sort of read like this:

BBQ Tiger prawns with a fennel and Chinese salad like coleslaw (inspired by Andrew McConnell)
Grilled zucchini and asparagus with truss tomatoes and chevre goats cheese
Singapore chilli mud crab
6 kg Bertocchi ham!
Tasmanian Smoked Salmon
Home made ginger bread men - Henry's favourite as you can see below with Grandma
Christmas pudding with brandy jelly

The eating started at about 2.30pm and wound down by about 7pm I’d say (the obligatory picking ensued of course). Now for me, you cannot not have a Christmas Pud on Christmas day; it is by far my favourite plate. Yet yesterday my fancies were certainly with the smoked salmon and mud crab (that’s if you could get some from Mum’s plate!) The chilli was just right without offending more sensitive tummies.


There was no real thought to the wine yesterday, with some favourites and crowd-pleasers making up the numbers:

Heidsieck & Co Monopole NV Champagne from Epernay
Pommery Brut Royal NV Champagne from Reims
Swings and Roundabouts Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2008 from Margaret River
Shaw and Smith M3 Chardonnay 2008 from Adelaide Hills
Majella Sparkling Shiraz 2001 from Coonawarra – Wine of the day!
Willow Creek Tulum Pinot Noir 2008 from Mornington Peninsula
Buckleys dark Bock ale from Healesville in the Yarra Valley

As I said, the Majella Sparkling Shiraz was the wine of the day, but it was the Buckleys dark Bock ale that was the obvious Susan for the day with an abundance of rich malt, coffee and raisin chocolate.

I am not going to bang on about the wines from yesterday cos’ I did not sit there with pen and paper jotting down notes on colour, nose and palate. Instead I sat back with my family and enjoyed the smiling faces of my two kids – that’s what Christmas day is all about. Now it’s time for leftovers for lunch and the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Gluttony or Gourmand delight - a very busy week eating in Melbourne

“In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires.” Benjamin Franklin.

It is, I think, the last day of a very long and large week of eating out across Melbourne; by Monday I will presume that I will be linking my belt one hole back! And it is on this day that I sit here in my study sipping a glass of sparkling wine (I was supposed to go to the gym!) while thousands of service professionals snake their way through tightly set tables serving the corporate professionals lunch on the busiest service of the year. Please do not think I am making light of their endeavour, but I do not miss it one bit!

For far too long now I have been the one who has been doing the serving of wine and food to the endless conga line of Christmas lunch and dinners. Now that I am on the other side of the bookings book, it has been my great pleasure this week to find myself pondering over wine lists and menus, and apologising to the wait staff for taking my sweet precious time.

For me it started on Monday with a lunch that turns into an all nighter. It was the annual Australian Sommeliers Association Christmas lunch at Mahjong in St. Kilda. On arrival I was greeted with a crisp and cold flute of Pommery Brut Royal (a little donation of six bottles for the thirsty sommeliers) and a catch up with thirty or so wine professionals from some of Melbourne’s best restaurants. David and Quentin from Vue de Monde, Sally from Cutler & Co, Lincoln and Penny from Taxi and a smattering of wine reps from JHL Wines, Yabby Lake and Russel Gehring Wines there for the usual trade talk – me included now. It was a set course of plates being dropped off at the tables with dumplings, spring rolls and sticky rice making up some of the delicacies. The highlight for me however was the Peking duck pancakes; melt in the mouth perfection!

After many more bottles of Champagne and other wine blow ins, we headed off down Fitzroy Street and over The Esplanade to The Stoke House bar downstairs. Here we drank more Champagne, wine and beer (and yes, a little bit of water too) and continued on our general stream of bullshit for the day. It was getting a little busy and crowded so the decision was made to head up to Circa, The Prince bar – so off we headed again. More beers and wine and also a good catch up with Travis from Coda, who I never got too play pool with downstairs even though I said I was going to, and Virginia from Cumulus Inc. After far too many beverages it was time to close my account and head home – at 11.30pm!!

With a sore head the next morning (very sore!) I headed in to work to regale Cameron with all the witty anecdotes and try and remember who I spoke with; it took a while let me just say that. With not much on the horizon but a few calls and emails, Cameron and I headed up Burke Road in Camberwell and settled at The Tea House on Burke, a little Chinese place that needs a bit of work on the interior but definitely not in t he kitchen. Another serve of Peking duck and even better selection of dumplings was washed down by some Pinot Noir from Geelong and Mornington Peninsula. Can you believe I had to go back to the office and do some work after the bill – sheesh!!

Wednesday saw the arrival of Jon from Sydney who is the NSW Sales Manager for Vranken-Pommery, and it was at Rockpool Bar & Grill where I joined up with Jon and Cameron. Along the way I had a little catch up with David and also bumped in to Michael Dhillon of Bindi Wine Growers. After a couple of beers at the bar we headed to our table in the wine bar where there is only one thing to order – the Wagyu Burger and onion rings; three all round of course. This burger has got to be one of the best in Melbourne I tell ya! Another glass of Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir – The Oceans 8, and we were back to the office to discuss strategy over some more Champagne.

We were now in a taxi and headed for Matteo’s on Brunswick Street Fitzroy (the clean end) where we sat down with three bottles of Champagne – The Cuvée Louise Rosé 1999, Pommery Blanc de Blanc and Pommery Blanc de Noir. There was a little more wagyu beef as an appetiser - bresola air dried; I know it is supposed to be oysters with Champagne, but it is summer and you should never order an oyster if the month has an ‘r’ in it! All wines were fantastic, but the Louise 1999 dropped away pretty fast unfortunately – we picked the wrong bottle with that one, I guess.

These guys get two hats for a reason. The food was absolutely fantastic. It was just the two courses for me – I’m not really a dessert person I must say – with the Japanese plate of smoked eel, confit salmon and sashimi King Fish. BRILLIANT!! This was hard to match, but the suckling pig was just as good if not better!!! I rolled out of my chair (full, not drunk) at about 11pm and headed home to a very jealous Erin who wanted to know all about it; I just wanted to know all about my pillow.

The next morning I picked up Jon from his Hotel in Carlton and headed in to the CBD to give him a walking tour of some of our better restaurants. We started at Vue de monde where we had a coffee at the cafe and headed down over to Syracuse, Gills Diner and through to the coffee precinct around Degraves Lane. After another stop we headed up Flinders Lane past Mo Vida, Coda and yet another coffee, this time at Cumulus Inc before walking past Verge, Becco, Gingerboy, Bottega and Grossi Florentino and hopping in to the car for the short ride to Cutler & Co for a hello with Adam Cash and a super glass of Felton Road Central Otago Dry Riesling 2008.

We were again in the car out to Camberwell and in the office just before the heavens opened up. Some more strategising and it was time for lunch – again. With our walk cleverly timed between two rain periods, we headed up to Gohan-Ya Japanese Bento Cafe on Camberwell Road. With about 12 seats, this place is always full and if it had a few more seats and maybe a liquor license would be jamming every day. I once again gave in to my smoked eel addiction and the obligatory serve of gyoza dumplings; I was once again truly full!

The week duly finished today with a lovely impromptu lunch with my lovely Erin and the boy Henry as well at Gertrude Street Enoteca in Fitzroy. A serve of pork and duck terrine for me and a goat’s cheese and sorrel tart for Erin and all was well - they even struck a deal in Copenhagen I over-heard someone say there.

With all this done all I could do was to go and pick Imogen up from her very last day ever of daycare and whip down to get her favourite dinner – Fish and Chips! It’s always good.

With the children now asleep and Erin and me down here relaxing in the kitchen area, it was time to open something nice up to celebrate not only Imogen’s last ever day of daycare before she starts prep next month but also the fact that Erin secured some more consultancy work. So to wind up a massive week we sit here sipping the Pommery Cuvée Louise 1998 Grand Marque Champagne – absolutely gorgeous. Have I told you that I don’t miss the restaurant floor?

T’Gallant Mornington Peninsula ‘Juliet’ Pinot Grigio 2008

Looking out at the Brunswick skyline this morning, all I can see is an endless grey horizon with rain, rain and more rain. It is fair to say that today’s events are going to be in closed quarters, which is not pleasing a certain big four year old called Imogen I tell ya! It is rainy days like this in December that I turn my thoughts to those hot nights of October and November and remember the gorgeous and bright white wines that were going to be the toast of the 2009 summer – still a sceptic on climate change Abbott and Minchin?

Anyhoo, I was rambling on about crisp summer wines for this season before rambling on about dinosaur politicians, with one of those being the fantastic T’Gallant Mornington Peninsula ‘Juliet’ Pinot Grigio 2008. This is a wine that has probably been surpassed by the 2009 vintage by now, but a wine that should not be overlooked never the less. Bone straw in the glass with a positively water like hue to it. A faint nose of wax is evident up front with a very appealing palate of crisp acid and soft tropical fruit such as passionfruit and melon.

Side note to parents; could you imagine the school holidays being drowned out by six weeks of rain!

Great summer wine with a real easy drinkability about it.

Drink with asparagus and egg salad
Drink now
88
Screwcap 12%v/v $12 Psarakos Markets, Thornbury

Red Hill Estate Mornington Peninsula Botrytis 2000

When I was a wee lad growing up in the old port town of Fremantle, there was nothing better – I thought, anyway – than heading off to the Esplanade after a feed of Fish and Chips and rummaging through the flea market stalls. To me the two highlights were Lawson’s Castle (jumping castle) and the lucky dips. For 20 cents I got to stick my arm in to a box and pull out a magical delight; spinning top, paddle bat with ball, miniature Godzilla and numerous other titbits that would usually not see the day out.

Fast forward 30 odd years and the excitement of the lucky dip has somewhat faded with this joy now passed on to my daughter Imogen. Yet it was a dinner party Erin and I hosted a few weeks ago that the lucky dip concept was re-visited with the Red Hill Estate Mornington Peninsula Botrytis 2000. This is where it gets funky; Botrytis what I hear you ask, with the short answer being dunno (we will not bother with the long answer seeing that it would in fact be quite long indeed).

The colour was very orange with a very obvious brown sneaking in. This wine drew varying tasting notes so I will list them from who said what.

Pete – smells like cheddar cheese.
Tracey – far too sweet even for me!
Erin – what’s with all the toffee?
Tim – who wants to open up something else?

For the record this wine gave off quite a bit of marmalade and subtle saffron yet it all seemed to finish quite quickly with the nose becoming dull after about 10 minutes. Tracey and Erin were right; there was toffee and way too sweet! In my notes, I must add, is a comment about a blow up doll. This I think was the fifth bottle of wine opened that night so this remark could mean absolutely anything really.

Drink with crème brulee
Drink now
81
Cork 10.5%v/v $15 from Red Hill Estate Cellar door in 2002

Paringa Estate 'PE' Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir 2008

A very clean and expressive wine. The Paringa Estate 'PE' Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir 2008 has all the hallmarks of a Lindsay McCall wine - fresh, spotless and a cracker to drink now. This Pinot is from two vineyards in Red Hill coming in over a four week period from the very difficult 2008 vintage.

Very Pinot Noir in colour with a pink hue a clear translucency. Dark cherry and rhubarb on the nose is quickly followed by clean and quick acid on the palate held together with spicy oak at the end. This is going to be so easy to drink this summer!

Drink with roasted beetroot and lamb salad

Drink till 2012

89

Screwcap 14%v/v $24 from Dan Murphy's Preston

South Pack tasting @ Transit Lounge Fed Sqaure, August 2009

It has been four months since I finished up at ‘The Point’ restaurant in Albert Park as Head Sommelier and traded in my ‘Laguiole’ wine knife in for Huggies night time nappies and sterilising teats twice a day – oh the joys of parenthood I hear you sigh. One of the great perks of being a sommelier of a restaurant like The Point was the steady stream of invitations to what seemed to be daily wine tastings in and around Melbourne; and it is no exaggeration when I say daily!

With so many producers out there trying to sell you their product, these tastings were not only important for them, but also for the trade in knowing the product you were selling. But us sommeliers are a busy lot, so you sort of have to pick and choose the tastings that are not only going to interest you, but tastings of wines that have a realistic shot of getting on to your list.

But as I said, for four months now it has been nappies and walks and 3am feeds. So it was a quick yes that James and Claire Lance from ‘Punch’ wines got from an invite I received from them for a tasting at Transit Lounge in Federation Square put together by South Pack, a wine group repersenting new Victorian winemakers.

So on a rainy Monday afternoon I toddled off to Fed Square and to probably one of the best ‘independent’ tastings I have been to. ‘... a fiercely independent collection of likeminded souls.’, read the handout as I entered the room filled with sommeliers, restaurant managers, wine retailers and wine writers, and on show were some of the brightest and hippest producers from Victoria; Barney and David from Allies, Timo Mayer, Luke Lambert, Lincoln Riley and Adam Foster of Foster e Rocco and Syrahmi.

What made this group of winemakers ‘likeminded’, was that all of them were singing the praises of low alcohol wine. This is not to be mistaken with ‘low carb’ or ‘diet wine’, but wine that is driven by savoury tannins and piercing acid made for drinking with food, and wine not driven by massive oak, ripe fruit and seem splitting alcohol; I reckon the highest volume was about 13.5%v/v shared by a few of the bigger reds on show.

As I said, it had been a while since I have done something like this, so it was good to see my own likeminded people as well and swap the obligatory story of horror diners and more to the point, horror nappies. But back to the wine.

With glass in hand, I tried to start with whites first, but the first stop was Luke Lambert with some really sexy Nebbiolo, my favourite wine – a 2008 and 2007 release with the 2007 being the standout with great early characteristics of Nebbiolo coming through. On to Foster e Rocco and then to Punch for a catch up with Claire and James and a chat on how everything is going out at the property since the February 7 bushfires; and things are looking good with minimal damage to the vines, but not so lucky with the winery however.

On the other side of the room were Barney and David from Allies, two of the nicest blokes in the industry I reckon. On heading over there I was pleasantly greeted by David with a warm ‘Hello Tim’ – do I know this bloke from somewhere I thought, which was also very easy to read from my expression when he then politely said, ‘that’s what your name tag says’ – I told you it had been a while. So for the next 20 odd minutes I learnt a lot more about these two, and more particular their wines and vineyards, which were all dynamite and very affordable also.

From here I ventured over to ‘macforbes’ followed by Jamsheed and finally with the very affable German, Timo Mayer. Having made wine with Gembrook and now Tibooburra, Timo has firmly entrenched himself as one of the Valleys more astute, and busiest, winemakers. And his current selection under his very Chambertin label, together with Bloody Hill and Big Betty labels, puts Timo in almost every corner of the Yarra Valley.

After having a wee chat with Timo, it was time to go. A quick beer with Claire Lance and I was off to Rockpool where I was meeting some of the aforementioned likeminded heads for some ‘witty’ banter, burgers, wine and more beer as well as a debate that is still going on now – Is Twin Peaks a child of the 80’s or the 90’s? My money is in the 90’s.

Here are the highlights of a fantastic line up:

Foster e Rocco Sangiovese Rosé 2009 - a fantastic pink number for the upcoming Spring Carnival; soft in colour with fragrant palate that is both dry and refreshing.

Punch Berry’s Creek Vineyard 2008 Noble Riesling – low alcohol makes this wine not only a great drop with season tropical fruit, but also as an aperitif with heaps of zingy acid.

Luke Lambert Heathcote Reserve Nebbiolo 2007 – a super drop with gorgeous notes of Nebbiolo characteristics coming through and at Barolo alcohol levels – 13.5%v/v, not the Australian levels.

Luke Lambert Heathcote Reserve Syrah 2007 – layered with liquorice and super firm tannins, this wine will definitely demand time and a decanter when you open her up (12.5%v/v).

Syrahmi ‘Maelstrom’ Heathcote Shiraz 2008 – ripe red fruit alongside a whack of pepper and perfume; a great follow up to the 2007 ‘Don’.

Allies Tuerong Viognier Saone 2008 – a wine that is definitely a personal style rather than the big oily imitators of the Northern Rhone. There is still apricot, but with a more balanced palate with soft acid and lowish alcohol – 13.5%v/v.

Allies Heathcote Stone Axe Shiraz 2008 – an immense wine this, with deep garnet red and no over ripe fruit make this one of the standouts of the tasting. This spent 19 days on skin which ended up extracting a perfect amount of tannin to balance a very savoury palate.

Mayer Yarra Valley ‘The Doktor’ Pinot Noir 2008 – the standout wine for me; 100% whole bunch pressed wine displaying a very complex nose and palate with savoury spice and game already noticeable. And you know what Timo said about the wine, ‘...it works!!’ Yes it does!

Even Keel Canberra District Shiraz Viognier 2006

Sighhhh. That feels better.

With number one child about 70 km away with the grandees, number two child gradually getting used to falling asleep not in my arms, but in his cot, a glass of wine on the go and other stuff leisurely falling in to place I can sit down in our cluttered study and not be disturbed while writing this blog. Just listen to the peace.

Anyhoo, on with the wine. Now after such a rousing introduction it would be remiss off me to write about something that is just plain nice. So here is the Even Keel Canberra District Shiraz Viognier 2006. A belter it is!!

Based down in the Mornington Peninsula, Samuel Coverdale has got 4 hectares under vine on Red Hill, but it is not only from here where he gets his fruit. With a large net, Simon sources his fruit from all over the east coast; Orange, Clare Valley, Tumbarumba and of course the Canberra District.

The wine is a very dense red/purplish colour with a sort of crimsonish hue. The nose is a lovely marriage of savoury chocolate and apricot, with neither of them dominating the olfactory. In the mouth this wine has many identities with lovely grainy fine tannins up front and a great whack of acid which tells us that this wine will develop very nicely indeed. Once the acid blows off a bit, the apricot comes back in the guise of apricot crumble, very rich and very long – sexy stuff this one!!

Wonderful balance, huge length and a real complex hit of spices and perfume, this wine will please time and again for a few years to come. Mucho fantastico!!

Again, sexy stuff this one!!

Drink till 2018
Drink with Joue de bœuf
18.7/20
Screwcap $29

My Imogen.... and T'Gallant 'Imogen' Mornington Peninsula Pinot Gris 2008

My little girl Imogen has her first day at Prep tomorrow. It is only orientation and it is only for an hour, but geez she is growing up. So this one is for her.

The T’Gallant ‘Imogen’ Mornington Peninsula Pinot Gris 2008 is a lovely drink now with either food or just as a lazy Saturday arvo quaffer. The colour is a typical pinkish grey with a yellowish hue. The nose has a good whoft of wax and pear already with a big hit of acid coming through with the 14.5% a/v. The mouth has an instant hit of glycerol coating all corners (that’s if mouths had corners of course) with more honey and wax, and the warm alcohol feel; remember, it is 14.5% a.v., and that’s high for Pinot Gris, be it Australian or Alsacean.

Even balance, semi length and nice complexity. A nice wine it is.

So, my little girl is off to prep tomorrow – by gingoes! When do you think they will take Henry?

Drink till 2011
Drink with my Chilli Chickpea soup; Imogen’s BES (best ever soup)
16/20. But because it is an ‘Imogen’ 19.9/20 – mucho fantastico