Month: August 2020

2010 Pikes The Merle Riesling

Pikes’ premium Riesling with some age. Still a bright young thing to look at, reserved aromas of turpentine, lime and some more lime and vanilla pod. With time and who doesn’t have plenty of that now, the lime seems more concentrated, then brown toast, and some Meyer lemon slide on through. The acidity’s a bit grapefruit mouth drying but it just gets over the ripeness line. Despite the initial intensity, the flavours flatten out a little towards the end perhaps. Lovely to drink but not quite up with their best. Considering the price point where some great Germans start their climb up the scale, it’s amazing value. So reliable the one with the fish on the label.

12.5% alcohol. Screw cap. $37 at auction, current release not much more.

93 points.

2018 Bodegas Más Que Vinos Tempranillo Joven

From near the beautiful city of Toledo, Tempranillo vineyards found on La Mesa de Ocaña at some altitude. I must admit to most liking Grenache and Mencía in things Español but it would be impossible to love Spain and not indulge in the reliably sturdy Tempranillo. So many interpretations, some overwrought, the unoaked young one is a great place to start. It’s oft said there’s one flavour in Tempranillo that gives it away, cola. Having avoided Atlanta’s favourite sweet fizzy drink for more than thirty years, its main flavour lurks here maybe? Without the nose tingling fizz or sugar. Slabs of cherry and strawberry, drizzled with dark burnt caramel. Large grains of sweet ripe tannin dragged along on settled firm acidity. Didn’t budge over a couple of days. Brawny, perhaps a bit chunky, but satisfying. As an introduction to Spanish wine, Tempranillo is the place to start for sure.

13.5% alcohol. Diam. $21.

90 solid points.

2017 Aldi S and R Douro

It’s not all Grand Cru Burgundy around here, sadly. This $10 from Portugal was about the only thing to tweak some interest on Aldi’s shelves. From the very ambitious Duorum project investment, this is a blend of Tourigas, both Franca and Nacional, and Tinta Roriz aka Tempranillo. A spectacular train journey up the rugged Douro from old Porto in 2017 reinforced the idea that some grape varieties are well suited to their traditional homes. By the 20th September it hadn’t rained for three months said the locals and the temperature was still 30 degrees. Nonetheless the vines, especially Touriga Nacional, were still green and the grapes coming in had a reasonable amount of juice. Incredible resilience. The season shows even in this humble offering. Opening reduction clears to thick blackberry jam fruit, dark licorice, dry dusty roads and a touch of blue steel, no, not Zoolander but like hot rail lines and ballast on a warm afternoon. Over time the dense dry grape skin tannins start to take over, saved by a tug of nicely tucked in acidity. More than a hint of the dry extract scaffolding that makes Vintage Port so long lived, though with this cheapie the frame will be there long after the fruit has faded. Nonetheless, well made and a real sense of place for not much. Carry on up the Douro.

13.5% alcohol. Screw cap. $9.99.

88 points.

2018 Adelina Shiraz Mataro

Proper Australian names for a Syrah Mourvèdre blend. Smells of old linseed oiled cricket bats, that’s also something the French might not recognise, polished walnut and leather in an old Rover motor, blackberry and damson preserves. Old England without the airfare. Second day, there’s some nougat oak which sinks into bright nutty cherry red fruit bowled up on a good length. Background notes of darker fruit, licorice and dried woody bush land. Typical firm Clare acidity and furry ripe tannin close the deal. It’s that full whack shiny, almost honeyed, red fruit that proves its value. Pretty label, real wine.

13.5% alcohol. Screw cap. $26 at Langton’s on line store, good value.

93 points.

1999 Domaine Perrot Minot Charmes Chambertin

There’s not many 1999s left now in the cellar. This one from the shelves of Lavinia on Boulevard Madeleine. Happy days. Still red in colour and oaky in smell. Lots of new oak does seem to lead to strong colours and a sanitary outcome, lots of furry tannin disrupting the finish too. As well as the oak which it must be admitted is very good, those Burgundians know how to choose being so close to the best coopers, there’s loads of other evocative smells and flavours. Something like an old English pub, worn leather, a smoky open fire and a background of warm alcoholic haze. Buried under the oak and extraction are deeply meaningful notes of kirsch, strawberry liqueur, dark blood orange juice, cocoa powder and an indescribable essence of a fine autumn evening. So pure, dense and achingly sweet. Amazing fruit from a vineyard a road width’s away from Chambertin itself. The nineties were a time when maximum extraction seemed the goal all the way from Central Otago to the Côte d’Or. Some grapes survived the thrashing better than others.

13% alcohol. Cork which broke and crumbled of course. Need more practice with old Burgundy! Memory fails about price but I can remember a €100 limit.

95 points.

2016 Veronica Ortega Quite Bierzo Mencía

Perhaps the best red grape revival from Spain in recents decades? From the apparently tiny village of Valtuille comes a fresh, clean, deliciously red fruited version. Opens with a quick to evaporate touch of green tinged reduction. Then red currants and raspberries morph to mulberries with an almost incense like lift, brisk and crisp, nice and clean. Second day, the glistening fruit gets redder than red with a chew of toffee. Oddly the texture made me think of a lean and sinewy cyclist ripping along a bitumen path cut through shining granite. Weird mind, graceful wine. Quite nice.

13% alcohol. Cork. $30.

92 points.

2017 Patrick Piuze Chablis Les Séchets 1er Cru

Maybe complexity in wine can be good or not so good? Under and over ripeness, obvious oak or plain faults could all bring complexity, this has none of those things but it does have a kaleidoscopic range of beautiful flavours. From a vineyard in the larger premier cru of Vaillons noted for its floral perfume, you’d barely need a sense of smell to agree. My scribbled notes, flowers! Wattle in bloom, waxy honey, muddy chalk. Precise and powerful laser beam of ripe citrus, perfume and drive, perfect ripeness just floats off into the distance. Dense and compact too. That was just the first day. After twenty four hours, it gets even more florid….more sea salty, candied Meyer lemon, almost bergamot builds in the mouth, perfect seasoning of oak caramel and a great sweep of pebbly, dry, ripe acidity sweeps through leaving the perfume of a perfect spring day in a flower and honey strewn meadow. Notwithstanding the fanciful nonsense, this is a brilliant drink.

12.5% alcohol. Cork, groan, a screw cap and ten years on, I wish. $110 rrp.

95 points, more to come.

2018 Tandem Inmune Navarra Garnacha and 2018 Bodegas Frontonio El Casetero Campo de Borja Garnacha

Two new direct imports from Dan Murphy’s booze barn. Yet more evidence of the value Spain and Grenache offer to the discerning drinker, and this blog as well. Ripe, buoyant and cheerful, Grenache that is.

First the Navarra version from an area just to the north of the dry plains of Aragón. Cool valleys maybe but still warm enough to ripen heat loving Garnacha. Just ripe red berries pumped up by some whole berry ferment. Soft, sweet green herbs. Spice and a ferrous, earthy bloody cut to reign in the boisterous berries. Light body but plenty of good clean flavour fun. Mouthwatering acidity finishes off.

14% alcohol. Screw cap. $13.99.

90 points.

Something from the sun bleached plain of the Campo de Borja made by the intriguing Bodegas Frontonio run by a very smart MW. How I managed to miss them despite spending two weeks hanging around Zaragoza is annoying and through no lack of enthusiasm for the local wine bars. Warm lift of perfumed roses, musk, raspberry and sweet brown spices, so fragrant, not sure it shouldn’t be dabbed behind the ears. Whole berry fermented again, must be, it’s so smelly. Calms down in the mouth with those red fruits floating on toffee soft tannin and acidity. Again that bloody, ferric savouriness stops the sweet fruit getting out of hand. Olé.

13.5% alcohol. Cork. $13.90.

90 points.

2013 Cantina Terre del Barolo Undici Comuni Arnaldo Rivera Barolo

A treat for a winter weekend from Castiglione Falleto’s cooperative, named after its instigator. A blend of all the eleven Barolo communes. It’s interesting that in a time of revered single vineyard bottling, some of the great old timers thought their blends to be more than the sum of their parts. Opens clean and dark fruited with a poker face. Time lightens the fruit to bright red and brings a smile. Aniseed gob stoppers, old pot pourri, muddy rocks. Creeps up on you sotto voce and then plonks a great big blob of tart cherries in the middle of the tongue. Leaves with a wave of pure Piemontese perfume. Great Barolo mash up.

14% alcohol. Cork. $60 from auction.

94 points but probably biased.

2018 St Hubert’s Chardonnay

Another from the mystery TWE Cellardoor.co $75 six pack. Started nicely pitched between the green, spent match end and the peachy sunshine limit of the swinging pendulum of Chardonnay fashion. Ripe citrus, sort of Meyer lemon and grapefruit, a slice of peach, all generous and glossy. All roped together by ripe acidity, oak spice grip and a touch of tangy yoghurt. Really good winemaking. Restraint and craft. To misquote Scott from marketing, How good’s Aussie Chardy?

13.5% alcohol I think, forgot to note, tut. Screw cap. $12.50 of mysterious value.

92 points.