The remains of 2012 - Bindi Macedon Ranges Cuvée V Chardonnay/Pinot Noir

I reckon later on today I will post my top picks for last year, even though it is this year today, the year after last that finished yesterday. You get that?

The Bindi Macedon Ranges Cuvée V Chardonnay/Pinot Noir, disgorged 2011, is just pure sexual liquid goodness. I know I bang on about Bindi wines pretty much all the time, but in all honesty, there is not really a wine where you would tie up like a piñata and go to it with a stick is there? So, the wine.

Still holding a straw/yellow colour in the glass with a supwer fine bead, the nose has an instant whack of gingerbread - very festive don't you think? The palate pleases as much as the nose with generous brioche and more gingerbread in there all neatly held together by subtle grapefruit acid.

I have still got about 3 bottles of this in my cellar and am convinced that this wine will still be singing when my boy Henry will be graduating from uni, give or take 20-25 years I reckon. I reckon well.

Drink with tuna sashimi
Drink till 2030
98
Diam cork 12%v/v $$$

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

Matariki Hawkes Bay Blanc de Blanc 2001

The Matariki Hawkes Bay Blanc de Blanc 2001. I’ve had this wine twice and twice I have loved it. This bottle is another treat I completely forgot about so when it turned up after a search through the cellar, well you know, woohoo! Heady of thick brioche and developed roasted nuts, this wine has still got a bone dry look about it in the glass and a delicious fine bead; a very well made wine indeed. This is not a wine that you will easily find at your local wine specialist and certainly not at Dan’s or VC’s, so if you are heading over the ditch, or are already over the ditch, search it out because it is a seriously great wine.

Drink with crumbed oysters
Drink till 2015
95
Quality cork and cage 13%v/v $$$?

Mothers Day 2011

Mothers Day 2011. The pancakes have been eaten, the tea has been drunk and the hand-made Mothers Day cards have been read – quite impressive I must say from child #1. So with some semblance being restored in down-town Brunswick we come to the important question that has yet to be answered; what champagne/sparkling to open today.

Now I am going to be controversial here and generalise sparkling wine as the drink du jour for Mothers Day. Generally speaking I would suggest that Shiraz, or Crown Lager – depends I guess, as the chosen tipple for Father’s Day, so sparkling to me is a no-brainer for today (you can drink Marlborough Savvy B any day of the week so let’s just not go there today OK!).

In being diplomatic and all, I have chosen one champagne and one Australian sparkling wine. Firstly champagne: the Heidsieck & Co Monopole NV Blue Top. Hailing from Eperenay, this wine is an assemblage of 70% pinot noir, 20% chardonnay and 20% pinot meunier, this champagne takes a different path than the clean and linear chardonnay dominant wines. Sitting in the glass, the colour is ever so slightly soft salmon pink. The aroma strays between subtle pink grapefruit with the slightest hint of cranberry – I reckon anyway. In the palate this wine becomes a bit larger or heavier in the mouth, but not sweeter; 9g/L residual sugar still puts it in the Brut category by some margin. The fullness or richness for me stems from the abundance of red fruit which impasses a greater impression of red fruit, but subtle all the same.

The second wine is the Bindi Macedon Ranges Chardonnay Pinot Noir Extended Lees Aged 2003 sparkling wine. Yes I can almost hear the exasperated sighs, ‘of you are such a Bindi slut Tim’. Well yes, I am, we know this so get over it ok! This wine is quite simply one of the best Australian sparkling wines you will see. Big call I know, and possibly slightly impartial, but by golly this wine is fantastic. A wonderful mix of brioche, preserved lemon and cashews with pitch-perfect acid, this wine is great now but definitely worth a look at over the next 10 years I’d say.

There you have it. Two wines worthy of any Mothers Day breakfast or lunch. Happy Mother’s Day ladies.

Heidsieck & Co Monopole NV
Drink with blueberry pancakes
Drink now
92
Cork 12%v/v $54 Vintage Cellars Richmond

Bindi Macedon Ranges Chardonnay Pinot Noir Extended Lees Aged 2003
Drink with seared scallops and marron
Drink till 2013
95
Diam cork 12%v/v $46 Rathdowne Cellars in Carlton and Steve’s Fine Wine and Foods in Nedlands

Bindi obsession?

Yes. I. Love. Bindi wines. Just cannot help myself. And this was no let down either. The Bindi Chardonnay Pinot Noir Extended Lees Aged sparkling 2003. That's all I got really; simply superb!

Drink with butter fried marron
Drink till 2020
97
Diam cork under cage 12%v/v www.bindiwines.com.au

Delamere Tasmanian Blanc de Blanc 2005

Sometimes when you pick something up from the wine shop, you just simply want what you pay for with no little surprises; a bit of common garden-variety I'd call it. So when I happened across the Delamere Tasmanian Blanc de Blanc 2005 I was hoping for a little bit of toasted nut and brioche to wash down some oysters and smoked salmon (just another day in down-town Brunswickistan).

Now lets get the checklist out; toasted nuts - check, brioche - check, fine bead - sort of check, brine - check. This is where Play School comes in to it. Which one does not fit! If you chose brine you'd be right. If you chose brioche you are probably wanting the Brunswick Sardine's webpage www.brunswick.ca/

Call me crazy, but the sexxy taste of brine from the Canadian coast is something I really wasn't expecting. And if you did check out the Brunswick Sardines web page, doesn't that Canadian family look so happy jogging along what is probably a freezing beach in Newfounland.

But back to the wine. Brine. Thats all I've got really.

Drink with Brunswick Sardine's
Drink now
82
Quality cork 13%v/v $30 Blackheart and Sparrows Brunswick

Seppelt Great Western Original Sparkling Shiraz 2006

Seriously, this is a no-brainer when it comes to XMAS day celerbrations this year, or any year for that matter; the Seppelt Great Western Sparkling Shiraz 2006 I couldn't wait two weeks so I guess I'll be grabbing some when I touch down in Perth in 10 days.

Drink with XMAS pud
Drink now-2016
94
Quality cork 13.5%v/v $22 Dan Murphy's Hawthorn East

wine and kitchen alert!!

Warning: sparkling blanc de blanc and homemade salami and cheese pizza is not a good wine/food match! Make sure you have a plan B.

Also, when leaning over to check the pizza in the oven, make sure your wife/husband/partner/whoever is not closing the dish-washer door - those corners really leave a big lump on your head and hurt like hell!

carry on!!

Brown Brothers Victorian Sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay Pinot Meunier NV

Quite simply the best domestic sparkling going around under $30 – and there are plenty let me just say. Displaying everything a great aperitif should, the Brown Brothers Victorian Sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay Pinot Meunier NV has plenty of soft, subtle citrus and green apples to think you were drinking something from the Macedon Ranges or Tasmania. An absolute delight and definitely worth grabbing next time you are out getting supplies.

Drink with anything early
Drink now
93
Cork 12.5%v/v $13.99-$18.99 from all good bottlo’s

A very clean weekend indeed

All and sundries were good; all really except for the mysteriously named 'Reserve' Pinot Noir Van des Pays from France.

Cleanskins sever a purpose, and this purpose was well and truly served. Thats all I've got to say really. That and I'd love to meet the person who is responsible for giving these wines names!

Chandon Yarra Valley ZD Blanc de Blanc 2005

Another hot one in Melbourne and another hot wine to drink when said day is, well, hot! The Chandon Yarra Valley ZD Blanc de Blanc 2005 has got hot weather written all over it with its clean bone dry feel making it a monty for your next aperitif.

Now ZD is an acronym for zero disgorged. This is when a sparkling wine has the crown seal – its initial closure – released to remove any dislodged yeast sediment. There is generally a little wine lost so a dosage (minus sugar in Australia) is added before it gets its cork and cage. This does not happen with the ZD, hence the crown seal. What you get is a very dry sparkling wine with clean acid, which as I said, is perfect for an aperitif.

The 2005 ZD is fantastic; pale straw in the glass with a very fine bead. The nose is all green apple – very Blanc de Blanc because of the low v/v and 100% Chardonnay; more malic acid than lactic acid. The palate has up-right acid with a lead pencil taste to it, for those who remember lead pencils that is. This is a great wine.

Drink with freshly shucked oysters, a fair dinkum Susan!
Drink till 2012
94
Crown seal 12.5%v/v $35 from Rathdowne Cellars, Carlton North

Melbourne Cup Carnival Champagne and Sparkling Wine

Tomorrow is the official start of the 2009 Melbourne Cup Carnival with the AJC Derby at Flemington. Tomorrow is also the start of my son Henry's sleep school - he still cannot sleep!! This will last for four days with Henry and me bunkered down in cosmopolitan Bundoora for four days. So seeing that this racing carnival is all about bubbles and fizz, here are four wines to spend your winning's - if there are any - on when you leave the track sober and head home to regale the days events.

Buxton Ridge 'Molly Jean' Upper Goulburn Valley Blanc de Noir NV - So nothing came home for you at the end of the day and you didn't think to put a 'place' bet on any of the seconds you got - doesn't matter! make sure you have about $50 left in the kitty so you can swing by Blackheart and Sparrows in Brunswick to pick up a couple of these; the 100% Pinot Noir in this wine gives it a great peach pink look to it with gorgeous savoury flavours flowing all the way through - lovely!

Croser Piccardilly Valley Sparkling 2006 - Nice work, you picked the winner in the jumps and got the office sweep and a voucher for $45 at Dan's. This will pick you up an easy Croser on the way home with change for a six pack of imported beer. Crisp, clean and to the point this one.

Krug NV, Reims Champagne - Getting the trifecta in any race is a big win, but when you have the winner in it that pays $101 and second paying $51, well you got a big payout. An NV will give you endless citrus and toast and nuts and deliciousness.Look for this at Vue de monde or Ezard for about $600.

Dom Perignon Œnoteque 1990, Epernay Champagne - So, you just got the running quadrella super whatchamacallit. A massive win like this justifies a massive Champagne and the Dom Perignon 1990 is all of that. This wine should be rich with real forest floor aromas and flavours of truffles yet still displaying the youthfullness of citrus and brioche. Expect to pay fork out at least $1,500 a bottle at Rockpool or Bistro Guilluame at Crown. Make sure you offer a glass to Bart Cummings if you see him, he probably trained the winner!

Boy, that was an expensive exercise! I do hope you have fun out there - good punting and wish Henry and me luck for our sleep school!!

Yarra Burn Yarra Valley Pinot Noir Chardonnay Rosé 2004

Spring Carnival is in the air here in Melbourne so it is the time of the year to think about accessories; comfy shoes for the girls so they are easy to carry at day’s end, new pick up lines for the boys and pink stuff in the way of refreshments. I know that Crown Lager is the preferred choice amongst most men, but Sparkling wine or Champagne is a dead-set must for this time of year, and the Yarra Burn Pinot Noir Chardonnay Rosé 2004 from the Yarra Valley is as good a wine for $20 you will get right now.

Combining two of my favourite things, Sparkling wine and Rosé, the 2004 Yarra Burn has a very peachy pink colour to it with not the best bead, but a bead that hangs in there for a while. There is strawberry straight away with a bit of funk the longer in the glass. In the mouth is very simple, strawberry up front and strawberry at the end, but hey, this wine is what it is, and at this time of the year will be a definite crowd pleaser.

Drink now
Drink with strawberries and cream and a form guide
86

Diam $20 (Dan’s) 12.5% a/v

Simonnet-Febvre Cremant de Bourgogne Brut Pinot Noir NV

As aperitifs go, the Simonnet-Febvre Cremant de Bourgogne Brut Pinot Noir NV is definitely a no brainer; it is light(12% a/v) and fresh and enjoyable and too easy to drink.

Cremant de Bourgogne is a generic term for all sparkling wines coming out of Burgundy and has been known as this since 1973, where all sparkling wines before this were referred to as Bourgogne Mousseux.

This wine is 100% Pinot Noir, but does not really give that impression. To look at it you would think it was a Chardonnay/Pinot Noir blend or even a blanc de blanc, with the colour being bone straw. The nose again is very leesy which also indicates that the wine may have some Chardonnay in it. But it is in the mouth that the Pinot Noir takes centre stage with a clean fresh mouth feel helped along by a very fine bead. Hints of strawberry and rhubarb are noticeable after about 5 minutes in the glass.

As I said, a really nice and enjoyable aperitif.

Drink now
Drink with canapés
16.9/20

'42° South' Chardonnay Pinot Noir Tasmanian Sparkling Wine

As aperitifs go, '42° South' Chardonnay Pinot Noir Sparkling by Frogmore Creek in Tasmania certainly does the trick. You see, I think any, and all by Jove, social gatherings should kick off with a sparkling wine. I guess that is just the prude in me.

The wine is bone straw with a slight pink hue about it and a fine bead. Toasty brioche and a faint hit of grapefruit. In the mouth there is a quick hit of granny smith apple and then the dullness of lead pencil, which is good. After a while as the wine comes down to room temp, semi ripe strawberry comes through. The acid held its length the whole way through the bottle – about 45 minutes.

Even balance, even length, simple complexity and subtle weight in the mouth - a nice wine I say.

Drink now
Drink with ceviche scallops or natural oysters.
16.5/20