Month: December 2025

2022 Sylvain Pataille Bourgogne Aligoté

A first Aligoté review which means I’m finally catching up with trends in Burgundy. Apart from the de Villaine Bouzeron version, there wasn’t much sold as a stand alone quality bottle when I first got bitten by the Burgundy bug. Never really a fan of kir. As it’s become popular, perhaps due to extra ripening as the climate warms and lunatic prices for even basic Bourgogne Blanc, there’s been lots of comment about the clones of Aligoté. There’s two it seems, vert and doré, with the latter the more favourable for an interesting drink. Think this is doré as it tastes fairly golden in a way. Lots of rich yellow fruit, sort of plum, specifically maybe greengage, straw, sweet green herby touches and a satisfying almond meal thing. Both in smell and flavour. Oddly reminds me of some Mediterranean grapes like Grillo or Palomino which is good for me. The lovely acidity and phenolic pith is much more Burgundian in terms of a delicious glide and substantial texture. The sheer volume of flavour is impressive, albeit not as complicated or wide as Burgundian Chardonnay but there’s heaps of solid clean fun. The almond paste flavour is compelling. Not sure it warrants its recommended retail price of close to a hundred Australian dollars but that’s Burgundy and our stupid tax system.

12% alcohol I think, the weird coloured label is a bit easily scuffed. Cork. Part of some beautifully chosen bottles swapped for the yearly Wendouree share.

93 points.

Barbadillo Fino L25 – 169

A splendid and extremely good value apero for the odd warm day at the start of Melbourne’s fickle summer. I’m very happy the ethanol barn that’s Dan Murphy’s direct import this and Barbadillo’s Manzanilla Solear. Encouragingly the stock turns over quickly. Much less happy that Dan’s didn’t persist with Barbadillo’s great Pastora and Principe Amontillado which were to be had at good prices too. Only serves to keep Sherry as a cheap option for lots of alcohol perhaps. I’m also keen to carry on at length about how the quality of Sherry has improved so much over the last decade or so. Compared to some of the basic, big label Champagne at three to four times the price, this yeast affected gem is a screaming bargain. This saca as the bodegas call drawing a new batch of wine from the solera again shows how much better are the base wines and how much more care is obviously being exercised in keeping things fresh and clean. This bottling is delicious. Smells of fresh bread, quinine and chamomile build with a salty undercurrent. Large flavours of golden apples, almond, green olive and a touch of bread dough are twisted into shape by some flor driven quinine and a flow of sweet ripe acidity and a mouthwatering dryness. Suspend those prejudices about gran’s sweet flagons and indulge in one of the wine world’s great traditions, now better than ever.

I know it’s now a much more consistent product but hiding the bottling date code in a faint glass etching makes it difficult to check freshness. Not that a year of rest does no harm now it’s screw capped and clean. Maybe clearly explaining the process of criadera and solera bottling on the back label would educate the more sophisticated drinker the Sherry industry badly needs?

15% alcohol. Screw cap, hooray. $21.

93 points.

2022 San Giusto a Rentennano Chianti Classico

A favourite producer over the last twenty years or so that always seems to make beautifully clean Sangiovese from what are obviously great grapes. No difference here. Pure clean Tuscan Sangiovese full of savoury hedgerow berries, if they have hedgerows in Tuscany? There’s also more Italian cherries, the slightly sour sort and loads of almonds mixed with a handful of walnut. Sweet leather smells too. The structure is impeccable, firm ripe tannin that sweetens with food and the sort of blood orange acidity that points to perfect ripeness. Oak’s an afterthought and spotless. There’s a gentle aristocratic air about lots of Tuscan estates. This one makes wine to match that feeling. Can’t think of a Chianti I’ve enjoyed more.

14% alcohol. Diam. $35 at auction.

94 points.

Lustau Manzanilla En Rama Saca Spring 2023

According to Broadsheet, an on line review of the good and fashionable in Aussie food and drink, one of the booze trends of 2025 is the Sherry revival. Hadn’t really noticed there was such a thing but I do like to think I’ve contributed by downing my share. Not sure it’ll replace beer this summer but I’m convinced a bit more popularity wouldn’t hurt as there’s been such an improvement in quality in recent years. The base wines seem to so much better, the rules are slowly changing for the good and there’s much less dirty old oak flavour and bitter sulphide. I now frequently get the impression I’m primarily drinking a delicious glass of wine without the complications of flor and old barrels dominating, just a tasty seasoning. This is a lovely 500ml of Sanlúcar vineyard magic, well it could be from those great pagos facing the estuary or from just anywhere. The rules haven’t changed to the extent that Manzanilla has to be from grapes grown anywhere near Sanlúcar, just matured in barrels there. Lustau themselves are still wedded to the idea that where the barrels are kept is far more important than where the grapes are grown. Going to their website and clicking on the individual Manzanillas and all there is the frustrating 404 not found thing. Secret? Imagine the French allowing Montrachet to be made from anything, just so long as the barrels are in the Côte de Beaune. Err..maybe they did unofficially once? Enough of the grumpy, the revolution has a way to go and this is really delicious wine. Seaside and estuary breezes, bajomar or low tide as the locals say, golden apple flavours, chamomile and straw, fennel, sesame seeds and a touch of bread dough to finish as the quinine twist of flor begs another sip. There’s a serious swell of great fruit before those complexities of flor and barrel dry and savour. As this bottling or saca is now over two years old, there’s maybe some development away from the fresh and salty towards the golden and rich, perhaps for the better? One of the weird effects of flor aging is the way volatile acidity falls as the yeasty bits float and then drop to become nourishing cabezuelas at the bottom of the barrel. Seems to help these en rama Sherries drawn straight from the bota stay stable and just get tastier in the bottle without extra filtering. Doing less sometimes means more.

15% alcohol, the rules now say 14% and it can still be labelled Manzanilla or Fino. Cork. $45.

94 points.

2021 Monte Benardi Tzingarella Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT

A possible treat and maybe a risk as it’s from a natural leaning producer and who knows how it’s been looked after before putting up for auction. A blend of 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Colorino, I suppose it’s what we used to call Super Tuscan last century. From vineyards in Panzano’s famed Conca d’Oro I think, sort of Chianti grand cru? There’s some odd idioms in the English language, one of them about a curate’s egg which seems to have come from an old Punch cartoon and has stuck in usage for something that’s good in parts. This is indeed good in some ways and a bit off in others, but puzzlingly enjoyable. The dodgy things first, volatile even beyond my own inability to notice and a whiff of the old plastic smelling band aid. The good, extraordinarily tasty fruit, just ripe and of beautiful mineral crispness. The cool reserve of old style Bordeaux perhaps? Fresh juicy cherries, sweet but a little tart just like the beauties in season in southern Australia at the moment. Red currants and fresh blackcurrant too. No hint of jam or sugary over ripeness. Pleasing drag of dusty, in a good way, drying and very fine tannin, well meshed to fresh acidity that maybe just gets a touch too tangy to end. Somehow makes another sip inevitable to see if it’s too much, perhaps yes, maybe no. Wabi sabi as it’s so well put in Japan.

14% alcohol. Cork. $32 at auction, good hunting I think.

Barely a score in technical terms, 93 if you ignore the warts.