So... Some Wine?

Tallarook Shiraz Viognier 2004, Victoria

This producer is I fear defunct.  Rather a sad outcome as I reckon they made some nice wines, not for everyone, but a bit more than interesting and rather enjoyable.

The pliers add to the rustic nature of the photo,
just like my messy kitchen.

Fading ruby to look at, this smells like dried herbs and flowers, with, violet? over mineral earth. The palate follows through with more herb, leather and dry earth, but the fruit is suprising with it's bright rasberry lolly and cherry character. Open for an hour or so classic shiraz fruit and spice show through. From here stem and leaf chime in and this producer always builds over an acid/tannin backbone, oak is subtle but nicely present. This all carries the wine and imbues structure and length. 90.

A bit of an old world pretender, I'd be intrigued to see this next to a couple of examples from the Rhone. Overall this is tight, but opens with a bit of time, it may also be a bit over age, but again this is gracefully so and I really like the faded primary characters yielding to other funk and complexity.  Like many good wines, the fruit comes up once the bottle is open for a little while.  The other point to mention is the deft handling of the Viognier, some of the previous editions of the wine have used Marsanne to the same end; the element to like here is that it is intergrated with such class.  The only hint to it's presence is the slight floral edge and ephemeral dried apricot note.  So many of these wines are so overladen with the viognier that they taste like apricots and flowers, which if the shiraz is good does not compliment, but rather overtakes.  As they say less is more right? 

The Old And The New

Finally I got round to writing up a few wine notes, seriously you have to watch it, else you're surrounded by small scraps of paper with illegibly scrawled adjectives.  Happily for now crisis has been averted, or atleast stalled for a while.  I've popped these up together as one spurred me to tidy up the notes and both of these made me think about things a bit.  Anyhow make of it what you will and I hope it's slightly less bland than some esoteric naked tasting notes.

These two bottles are worlds apart, literally, but I think that's good in both the drinking and in terms of discussion.  Depending on what part of the world you source most of your wine familiarity with either locales will vary accordingly, though each region hardly needs an introduction.  The Gigondas appellation is in the southern Rhone region of France and the Tyrrell's comes from the Hunter Valley in Australia. 

Domaine De Longue Toque Gigondas 2008

Hailing from the Rhone, the wine is a GSM blend though I'm unsure of the exact breakdown of the various components.  Deep ruby purple hue.  Tight perfumed nose with hints of rose, spice, red fruit and meatiness, also a vegetal and flinty mineral note.  Firm in the mouth, but with some generosity, there’s red fruit and herbal note of rosemary to accompany the initial features.  A hint of violet, then flintiness comes through towards the back of the palate with firm but svelte tannins which frame the wine nicely.  Medium bodied, savoury with some persistence, interesting and structured.  89-90.

Tyrrell’s Vat 11 Shiraz  1995 Hunter Valley NSW

 On opening a little flat, smelt like old shiraz (well duh!) but it came alive after being open for an hour or so.  The intensity surprised me, lovely ripe fruit and strength came through over the elegant aged characteristics of dusty shiraz spice with straw, leather and earth.  The overwhelming thing in the mouth was how blended and harmonious all these features were along with the tannins, oak and acidity of the wine; the complexity was pleasantly challenging. To elaborate, all the features were nice, but you wouldn’t say for example there was a distinct red or dark fruit component such as blackberry and raspberry, rather they were there and so subtly integrated that you were grappling in your mind (in the best possible way, struggling!) to identify and separate different elements, rather like in a fine perfume.  Rich texture in the mouth and tasty savoury qualities with fine but present tannin and acidity driving the tremendous length.  Fine stuff in the bottle and pretty classic Hunter Valley.  I didn't want to score it. 

The exciting thing about a wine like the Tyrrell's is how ephemeral an experience it can be.  One moment not much is happening and then the wine blossoms, delivering a moment in time and beauty as a heady flash, but then gone just as rapidly.    



 These two wines also got me thinking about wine and the differences between places and approaches to vinification.  Both of these wines are pretty high quality, but I suppose my next point is looking at the lower end of the market for the obvious differences these days.  The Rhone wine, whilst still having fruit presence is enjoyable for it's secondary characteristics being more to the fore than similar Australian wines.  While I think there's a lot of cross pollination and changes in winemaking the world over, this is indicative of one of the main differences in appoach between Australian and Old world wines.  Many Australian wines are driven by primary fruit and often fresh and bright, but perhaps lacking the savoury quality aimed for in the french example.  Let me be clear I'm not saying one is inherently better than the other or that either place confound what I've just said and produce an opposite sort of wine to the stereotype I've mentioned.  If only it were that simple, but I do rather like the fact that there is this stylistic difference and obviously individuals enjoy different wines just as different occasions and situation demand diverse wine styles.  The contradictory factor to this as well is at the higher end of the market here in Australia, (I think) now having surpassed much of the world market in the way we have the complexity, but with the beautiful fruit quality integrated.  Simultaneously there has been a move to a less austere style from the French, so perhaps we're all learning from each other.

Of course I feel slightly silly writing all of that because to me it would seem pretty obvious that, stylistic considerations aside, you want both qualities of fruit and secondary characteristics in your wine.  The Tyrrell's really embodied that for me and set off that little rant... 

Pour Yourself A Glass

Lowe Reserve Shiraz 2006, Mudgee NSW



Pulled from an overnight holiday in the fridge



Interesting little wine this, and should develop over time.  It’s really the antithesis of the big aussie Shiraz that many may be familiar with, which is no bad thing.  In terms of the winemaking process, a third of the fruit was wild fermented; the rest was inoculated with a Rhone yeast and whole bunch fermented.  The wine was matured in both old and new French oak and is 100% organic.  Of course the main point here is how has this shaped the wine?  With some wines, for all the label babble you don’t really get much of it happening in the wine.  Happily this wine bucks that trend.

So a bit of a note…

Bright ruby red colour with a similarly bright nose, predominantly red fruit initially, then a hint of flowers and minerality, followed by a touch of violet and plum.  Palate has the red fruit along with some shiraz spice and funk, darker notes peek through temptingly.  Tannins provide shape and backbone, being firm but supple they finish this nicely.  Well structured.  90.

I tried this with food and then again the next day when I wrote an actual note about it.  Certainly this will age well and this would bring out further dimensions in the wine, perhaps along the” darker notes” which are hiding a little bit.  On opening it really is quite lean and bright, I‘d say you could mix this up with a Cotes du Rhone or similar GSM style wine if you tasted this blind.  The next day though the wine was overall darker and more “shiraz” if that makes sense; the floral had dissipated, more black fruit was present and there was more of a classic shiraz nose.  It suggests to me a wine which would really be great in five or even ten years.

***A little update, I left the wine in the fridge and tried it again 3-4 days after opening, only about a third left in the bottle.  Even better, and it made me think my 90 was stingy, seriously!  Thus I'm tempted to go 92+  Sometimes it's nice to be a little off the mark.  Comments are along the lines of the 2nd day tasting, things really opened up even more, multi dimensioned, depth and really integrated.

A high quality producer, well worth checking out so have a look Lowe Family Wine   

  

A Doubleheader, Cruickshank Cabernet Rosé 2011 & Shiraz 2007

I felt it only appropriate to complete the cycle of Cruickshank wines I have to hand in the current release.  We have already looked at the Cabernet and Chardonnay/Verdelho blend, but Cruickshank are well regarded for their rosé and indeed the Shiraz may be the best of their wines.

Rosé can often be a non event rather than the most beautiful of understatements.  They should not be in your face with acid, or overladen and sweet, but it's always such a plus when these wines whilst retaining delicacy and finesse, have depth and some complexity lurking. Here is one of those wines, there's something for all comers, meaning you could serve this to wine lover or casual friday night drinker alike and both would probably enjoy, if not demand another glass!

A beautiful pale red colour fading to rust at the edges. Smells of confectionary, strawberry and grassiness combined with lovely musk and perfume notes. Unlike some the wine has a nice fullness of body in the mouth, flavours of sweet fruit played off with sour cherry. My very minor quibble is that it could be a little tighter in the mid palate, but hey, very small complaint! Acidity and dryness really carries it through well anyway. Better wines of this style often improve with a bit of bottle time, obviously not really to age, but they settle down and integrate, so 6 months to a year and this might be even better. 89.

(As a postscript, I was tempted to up the score as time passed, pleasure impairing judgement in a good way I think. Also that the wine was indeed lovely the day after opening and probably more seamless.)

So to the Shiraz. I confess I was aware before tasting that this had received some pretty good reviews, but usually if anything I think this make me more sceptical. (Just to give you some background to tasting this, and how I see things generally I suppose). Getting to the point, this is a pretty good little wine.  It has style alongside varietal and regional character with full flavour and balance. It was even better a day after opening. I hope your getting the impression I really enjoyed it...

Bright fruit heads the lovely rich nose alongside oak and spice. When just opened, this shaded earth, straw and sweat notes which were peeking though, but came up more as the bottle was open. I still think the oak is too pressing, though not to the same extent as in the cabernet. Flavours of generous shiraz fruit and beautiful leather and earth, sweet but still savoury. Oak and white pepper also figure, whilst healthy tannins shape it nicely and the flavours persist nicely for a finish of some length. As mentioned it really came into it's own on the 2^nd day, so decanting may be helpful, as would stashing a bit away, if only for a year or two (that's also known as a clever move!).   92+.

d'Arenberg “The Stump Jump” GSM 2009

d'Arenberg are one of Australia's finest producers, Still, it's reassuring and pleasing to find nice wines like this at $10 or less. It's not a complicated, but that's a good thing, rather it's honest and tasty stuff. The most surprising thing I have to say prompted by this wine? Go buy a decanter if you don't possess one already! I say this because it all really opened out nicely after I got stuck on the phone, leaving the bottle open for a good hour or so.



Drinkability indicated by the amount already gone...





So...

Medium weight with red fruit and spice, this deepens to some darker notes, a flick of strawberry jam and cherry, backed with a nice savouriness and acidity. Good tannins. The purity of fruit is lovely and this is so drinkable without being boring. Really a good example of a GSM that puts many other pricier options in the shade, 88.

As I mentioned, a decant would do wonders. The wine is great with something to eat, and to this end I suspect very versatile, equally at home with lighter fare or something more hearty and protein based. Try it with the Sweet spiced chicken perhaps?

Botobolar “The King” 2006/07 Cabernet Shiraz

This is an interesting wine for a couple of reasons, not least that it represents a relatively uncommon example of a non vintage red wine, and a high quality one at that. Somewhat unfairly it seems that when NV is indicated (in a still wine) assumptions are made of an inferior kind, but, surely we should look at this sort of blending as just another tool or option at the winemakers disposal. It is also made from 100% organic fruit. Botobolar have been pioneers and long standing exponents in this regard, being the first certified organic vineyard in Australia, estblished back in 1971. Having made the wine for a while now this edition is as good an example as any of “The King”.

The wine has a lovely vibrant, deep ruby red colour. The nose is fragrant with red fruit, spice and earth, it invites you to drink. In the mouth the wine is a mouth filling chunk of red and black berry flavours, with a satisfying but not overpowering jamminess. This is all infused with lovely notes of spice, star anise and pepper. Further Complexity is given with straw and barnyard characteristics, even a hint of smoke. Firm tannins and judicious oak provide line and grip to balance the gutsy fruit honesty of this big but balanced wine.

I'd say if you gave it another couple of years the wine will integrate more and only get better. To 2016. 89+

As a side note the fruit for the wine is sourced from two vineyards, Shiraz coming from Rosnay 07 and Cabernet from Brombee 06. It is a 50/50 blend.