The label looks…er…familiar, a homage perhaps? Pine, herbs, cactus sap and sweet stewed raspberries and wild strawberries. Nice balance of fruit, drying stalk and a drag of slate acidity. Rounding out well with some time in the bottle. Some of that autumnal smoke and leaf litter emerging. Medium bodied, proper Pinot with fragrance, detail and enough fruit to carry the stalks which in turn prevent it being too sweetly fruited, ist gut!
13% alcohol. Diam. $55
93 points.
Another Woolworth’s direct import from a bit of Spain probably growing the world’s best value Grenache. A small amount of Tempranillo and Shiraz in this too it seems, Clinically clean red musky perfume and well extracted, perhaps a touch too much. Some herbs and a crisp end weigh well against simple rich sweet raspberries and rhubarb. The vibrancy faded by day three. Perhaps no risks in the making or complexity but for so little money a tasty mid week money saver. Doubt the supermarket behemoth is making its shareholders a fortune from a bottle of this.
14.50% alcohol. Screwcap. $11.99.
88 points.
Starting to lose its yeasty first year awkwardness. Some limey fruit finding an equilibrium with modulated fine acidity. Maybe a touch of fruity residual but with a green veggie Thai curry it just helped things along. The fruit has enough class to lend a little peachy waxiness to the finale, lifting it from the mundane. Like the best Eden Valley Rieslings, this has poise and a quiet depth. Great to see one of the fine old labels back on form.
12% alcohol. Screwcap. $23.
93 points.
Chenin Blanc with a lot of spit and polish. Opens with a bit of spritzy CO2 reduction and noticeable oak. A quick double decant accidentally losing a mouthful down the sink, careful, and the fruit came swimming to the surface as the finest bubbles faded. None of those broad, brassy sulphide yellow flavours of careless Loire Chenin but delicious apples, yellow stone fruit and gin and tonic freshness. Extremely classy fruit, perfect high level acidity and a touch of oak savouriness are so poised it’s almost impossible to say if it’s dry or there’s a touch of residual. Really, who cares, it counterpointed sushi and sashimi so well. Oishhhiii…..hai.
13.50%. Cork. About $100, alas, could drink this more often.
96 points.
A lot of spicy, peppery and richly fruited wine from Langi Ghiran has flowed under my bridge since a first 1986 vintage from the long gone and still missed Richmond Hill Cellars. This seems like some of those earlier harvests before vintage dates started sliding forward with more precocious ripeness. Lovely soft just ripe red fruit, pepper and some old style Grampians’ bush scents. Just medium weight and not quite the power of recent hotter years. Perhaps just needs a touch more umphh for the longer term but a lovely taste of place and a bit of misty nostalgia.
13.80% alcohol. Screwcap. $27.
92 points.
A favourite and very informed importer of some extraordinary Champagne mentioned one of the characteristics he loves in good wine is tension. Not so much anxiety but more a tasty paradox perhaps. Some fruit richness but lightness of structure. Fresh raspberries and strawberries pushed forward by some whole berry ferment but a darker earthy grip. So it went with this Pinot Noir over three days. No loss of interest, just a delicious balance of immediately drinkable sweet fruit and an earthy cut of savoury structure with a tiny tweak of sulphide. A calming tension.
13% alcohol. Screwcap. $30.
92 points.
Cognitive Bottle Therapy 