Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Sangiovese 2010

As Sunday morning contemplations go, this is a ripper; do you think Huey Lewis and The News will ever get credit from the generation that are 'hip to be square'? Don't think so. Poor Huey.

Now that I have got that off my chest its on to the wine from last night. The wonderful Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Sangiovese 2010. Is there anything that Jonno Harris cannot make? As rhetorical questions go, that is a definitive no. Wonder what he is like at macrame? Anywhoo, the wine.

Quite a dense and heavy red in the glass, the nose takes a while to get free but when it does it is full of savoury tart cherries with a waft of chocolate after a little longer in the glass. The palate is a great blend of soft tannins, mouth watering acid and perfect fruit. Once again, after a while the wine delivered perfect and delicate bitter chocolate tannins. You're a good man Jonno Harris!!

Drink with chilli nacho's
Drink till 2018
95
Screwcap 13%v/v $32 Seddon Wine Store

Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Fumé Sauvignon Blanc 2012

Yes, I'm going to say it again. I am a Savvy B fan. This blog exists to write about worthwhile, and sometimes unworthwhile, wine. This blog does not suffer for sycophantic rock-stars who get frothy at the thought of having a thimble full of DRC La Tache. It exists for good wine. Sorry, but I sometimes have to stand up for the variety that is so often lambasted as undrinkable lighter fluid.

So now that we are once again reminded of my love for Savvy B, let me introduce Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Fumé Sauvignon Blanc 2012; my favourite Savvy producer. Packed full of cracked dried green herbs and spice on the nose with a lick of tropical fruit at the back. The palate is fresh with acidity keeping all in check. Last year I had the 2011 Fumé Sauvignon Blanc as my wine of the year. This may not scale those heights but it is still a cracking wine that should be sort out in retail land. And a bottle of this is better that a thimble of La Tache too; wonder if they'd drink 'drinkable' lighter fluid?

Drink with Thai fish cakes
Drink till 2015
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Screwcap 12.5%v/v $25ish at Albert Street Food & Wine, Brunswick

Mitchell Harris Macedon Ranges/Pyrenees Sabre Chardonnay/Pinot Noir 2008

To say that the Mitchell Harris star is on the rise is quite frankly beyond obvious! The Mitchell Harris Macedon Ranges/Pyrenees Sabre Chardonnay/Pinot Noir 2008 is a spankingly good wine that just kept giving. The colour certainly belies its three years on lees with a lovely off gold/bronze tinge and constant fine bead. The nose dance’s between brioche and tort grapefruit and then really comes alive in the palate with a combination of subtle red fruit followed by a great finish of gingerbread. With a pedigree from Chandon, Jonno Harris producers a wine that ticks all the right boxes with the first sparkling release under the Mitchell Harris label. And like the piggy, I just want more - cracking job mate!!

Drink with salmon gravlax
Drink till 2016
97
Diam cork 12.5%v/v www.mitchellharris.com.au

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.

Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Fumé Sauvignon Blanc 2011

This is close to the best wine of the year for me. The Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Fumé Sauvignon Blanc 2011. In past posts I have mentioned that I am an unabashed Sauvignon fan; done right that is and not to a regional formula. So the first thing to say is that I should not be confused with the ‘Savvy Bashes’ and secondly buy this wine. Full of cracked white pepper and fennel on the nose, the palate also too surprises with a crisp and, this next one I had difficulty with, unctuous and almost tangible herbal note to it. This persisted throughout the bottle. The only trouble with this wine was the glass and a bit I left in the bottle for the next day had no impact like the first three. So I went back to Albert Street Food & Wine the next day and picked anotherie up. A truly great Australian example of how to do this grape justice.

Drink with goat’s cheese
Drink till 2013
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Screwcap 12.5%v/v $24 Albert Street Food & Wine, Brunswick

Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Sangiovese 2010

This for mind is the perfect pizza wine. The Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Sangiovese 2010 contains all the elements of a Friday night footy wine with pizza - cherry ripe fruit without the ripeness, grainy chocolate and a hint of green vegetalness (yes, I made that word up)- a good thing I reckon, along with super chewy tannins which were, and are, perfect with a homemade prosciutto and mozzarella pizza. Cracking stuff Jonno!

Drink with pizza.... der!
Drink till 2015
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Screwcap 13%v/v http://www.mitchellharris.com.au/
NB not sure on the $$; wine obtained when I won a round through the 'Mitchell Harris' footy tipping comp. And it was when I was in Vietnam!!

Amherst Pyrenees Dunn’s Paddock Shiraz 2009

A much loved wine as you can see. The Amherst Pyrenees Dunn’s Paddock Shiraz 2009 was a trip down memory lane for me. Way back in 2000/01 I operated ‘Polly’ in Brunswick Street Fitzroy and had this on BTG for almost the entirety I was there. But it has taken 10 years before tasting again. An instant hit of white pepper on the nose followed red and black licorice and black olive tapenade. Very smooth in the mouth with tight and polite tannins and acid with a great mix of red and dark fruit; blackberries most obvious. I loved it, and it will not be 10 years before I have it again.

Drink with homemade pizza
Drink till 2014
93
Screwcap 13.6%v/v $30 Seddon Wine Store

Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Shiraz (little bit of viognier) 2008

... then there are things that are just really good. The Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Shiraz (little bit of viognier) 2008 is just plain and simple really bloody good. Sitting dark in the glass, really dark, the wine has an instant hit of white pepper, blackberries and my all time favourite, mulberries – I’ll tell you all about the massive mulberry tree in my back yard in South Fremantle another time. It took me a while to actually have a sip of this wine thanks to my little boy Henry refusing to go to sleep on his own, so I lay down with him and hey presto, I’m asleep as well. So then I wake up and yum; fine tannins, lip smacking minerality followed by more blackberries and mulberries. Super job Mr Harris – bravo!

Drink with rib eye roast – rare
Drink till 2018
97
Screwcap 13.5%v/v $30 take away from Wine Bank on View, Bendigo

Dalwhinnie Pyrenees Eagle Shiraz 2001

It was a big week. The Pommery and Heidsieck & Co. Monopole Champagnes are once again getting noticed, the back garden is green again and the cold I have dragged through the week is almost gone. Yet as the saying goes, 'There is no rest for the wicked', and even though I am (sort of) not wicked, it all starts again on Monday with the annual Australian Sommeliers Association XMAS Lunch at Mahjong in St. Kilda.

This will be a day when 50 or so sommeliers from mainly Victoria, with a few coming down from Sydney and Brisbane, get to sit around a big table and chew the fat over a busy 2009 with a cheeky glass of Pommery Brut Royal Champagne - an unashamedly promotion - and essentially sit back and let someone else serve really.

But it will not just be Pommery Brut Royal sipped over lunch. It is a lunch where all the diners are invited, nay encouraged, to bring something delish along for others to have a glass of. Decisions, decisions - what shall I take?

Yes, 2009 has been a big year for memorable wines. Pio Cesare Barolo, Lamy Pillot Montrachet, Etienne Sauzet Montrachet, Merricks Estate Close Planted Pinot Noir, Punch Close Planted Pinot Noir, Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir, Krug Grand Cru Champagne and on and on and on.........

I am not saying that my cellar is of slim pickings at the moment, but my choice of wine has been limited with plenty of corks being released this year. I will probably take a Bindi Original Vineyard Pinot Noir 1998 or 1999, but it is the wine that I would really love to take that got away earlier this year - The Dalwhinnie Pyrenees Eagle Shiraz 2001.

This was a wine that I had the pleasure of drinking at The Point Albert Park over a very impressive Chateaubriand. An almost ink tone to the wine, I found it near impossible to drag my nose away with plenty of cedar and mocha screaming up my nose. After about 45 minutes, a heavy spice layer of cinnamon and black pepper became the secondary wave on the nose. Plenty of ripe morello cherry on the initial palate, the wine once again changes in the decanter to a very earthy and savoury beast - an almost blend of Cote Rotie and Burgundy I would suggest. Throughout the life of this bottle, taught silky firm tannins were always present which were absolutely perfect with the Chateaubriand; a Susan this one!

Quite simply stunning!

Drink with Chateaubriand medium rare
Drink till 2020
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Quality cork 13.5%v/v $310 wine list at The Point Albert Park

Dalwhinnie Moonambel Pyrenees Chardonnay 2005

Just to let you know from the get go, I have always been a massive fan of Dalwhinnie, and this one is no exception. The Dalwhinnie Pyrenees Chardonnay 2005 is certainly a wine that is made in a style that Dalwhinnie have displayed for a long time; a seamless balance of oak, fruit and minerality.

This is not the current vintage for Chardonnay, but you would not guess it. If you had this at a blind tasting there is no way you would call this a 2005. It has so much youth about it up front, but as I said, the oak brings about a wonderful balance that that delivers layers of complexity. In the glass this wine has a yellowish straw appearance about it with citrus fruits like grapefruit smacking you in the olfactory. Quick acid up front with a prickly lick of minerality drive the wine with huge length that gives you fresh pear and liquorice powder right at the end. As I said before, this wine has incredibly balanced and integrated oak. Great stuff I say!

Wonderful balance, super length and fantastic complexity.

Drink till 2012
Drink with smoked eel and chicken pie
94

ProCork 13.5% $41