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This review is painful to write – I am sure I will be forgiven any offence caused in it’s posting, for in the wine world there is a chance that this is a one off event a bad bottle, some fluke cause by the handling, or it could be representative… so with apologies I pen the following:

B-o-r-i-n-g. This wine was utterly boring – it did not taste bad, it did not taste great, in fact it barely tasted at all. The notes on the nose were of faint, and I mean very faint white table grapes hiding a sliver of under-ripe pear (I like my pears crunchy so for me – under ripe means very very under ripe).

On the palate there was not much, barely any of the grape that was on the nose, although the acid was refreshing. It’s about all that can be said – practically tasteless – a white for wine haters everywhere. The one redeeming feature was that it was definitely a food enhancer. The Salmon that we had tonight went fantastic, no was actually enhanced by this wine, perhaps it was the searching of flavours that I was performing that made the Salmon, Capsicum, Celery, Carrot, Lime+Pepper spiced cous-cous that made up dinner taste so much better, but there was some enhancement.

I would recommend checking this out only for the weird taste?enhancement?and the?sure fire?ability to go with any food (barring dessert), but as a drinker this one needs some more experimentation!

This sparkling has been fermented in the bottle on the lees for 18 months.

The nose has subtle hint of creamy lemon zest with an odd smell of skinned carrots w/ freshly cut capsisum.

The tiny bubbles slowly come out of the wine as it hits the tongue, which is disappointing as something like this you’d hope for an explosion of tiny bubbles. Perhaps a little too much sour yellow citrus almost over preserved with SO2) too much acid here. I’ve had worse is about the best I can for this bottle.

This wine was past it’s peak with some bricking beginning to show in the colour.

I’d held on for just a little too long. The nose was all over the shop and after about 3 hours had pretty much blown off, however the palate was surprisingly resilient. The black fruit was there a sort of mulberry cross plum I supposed would be how I would describe it hints of leather, flowing to a liquorice whack on the end. A fantastic length of finish at the back end, but unfortunately this was a bit too bitter and only got worse as it aired. I have no idea what would have happened with a long decant time – it would have been phenomenal or empty and frankly not worth the risk. Surprisingly tasty with food (lamb chops).

The nose on this wine is pretty interesting, with the assistance of my pregnant supersniffer wife we’ve been able to get out of it the following smells leather (wet), vanilla, fresh (hot) bread, dark chocolate (lindt – 80%cocoa), coffee grounds, mulberry, (tiny teeny itty bitty vegemite), jersey caramel, hints of aniseed (going compared to when first popped) and a teensy bit of lemon (tail end of a long sniff), there was something else in there that neither of us could name.

Tasting this drop one was reminded of a Cabernet/Shiraz blend, a fairly decent one – in the sense of everything being integrated nicely together, however the wonderful scents on the nose did not all come across on the palate. There were still the dark fruits one would expect from a deep red wine and the complexity provided by the oak. The drying effect provided by the tannins in the mouth did not feel as silky smooth as a fantastic cab/shiraz blend. However in it’s price range, I don’t think you could go wrong with this one and the 2007 is drinking like you’d expect an 04/05 Cab Shiraz from Barossa to be drinking today.

Personally I susepct that this variety could be used to construct wines with a fantastic backbone with massive cellaring potential, I’m even tempted to buy a few more of this bottle and see how they go over the next five years (happily accepting funding for this research ;)).

ndlt

It’s the time of year when several of the wineries from McLaren Vale are dropping their 2006 vintage Shiraz’s and Cabernet Sauvignons.
Be on the look out for Wirra Wirra’s “RSW” Shiraz and “The Angelus” Cab Sauv.

Coriole have just dropped some vintages

as have Kay’s Amery the makers of the very fine Block 6 Shiraz (vines now in their 118th year)

Phwoar – this is a tasty Tawny. It’s got orange zezt combined with orange blossom honey as a primary flavour, with mocha and burnt toffee backing it up – these combine very nicely to form a full, mouth filling flavour that is not too intense. There seems to be a little fire/heat wilst in the mouth almost chilli like, but goes down the back of the throat smoothly, leaving a very nice feel in your mouth where the toffee and mocha come to the fore with a hint of sultana flavour.

I loved this one – so get yourselves down to the cellar door and grab this yummy fortified. (Don’t wait for the vintage fortified that is coming soon as I predict this will sell out – grab the Sparrows Lodge Cab Sauv too – as its fantastic).

nwld!