cognitivebottletherapy

2016 Pont de Gassac

From a Languedoc original, Mas de Daumas Gassac, now run by the second generation Guibert family who have expanded the range to include lower prices and the immediately approachable. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and a little bit of Syrah and it’s the Cabernet that shows. Chewy, generous and blackcurrant flavoured with a note of almost Bordelaise gravel. Not complex but holds out all the way through with a ripe chunk of tannin and acid. A level of fruit quality above some large production Southern French stuff with a some phrygana notes. Valid synonym for garrigue or scrubby shrubbery it seems.

13.50% alcohol. Screwcap. $22, shame was about $18.

90 points

Two years later and it’s an even worse review. Inversely the wine itself has settled into a round, satisfying mouthful. The quality of the fruit shines. In an imaginary French bistro, you wouldn’t be allowed your steak frites or confit without a glass of this. More a hedonistic 91 points now.

Three years on and the last of a couple bought when Dan’s cleared the range. Starting to show some dusty bottle age but the fruits still nice and sweet and round in the middle. All the qualities above, just smoothed not wrinkled by age, I wish. 91 points it is.

2017 Gravity Syrah

From the Metcalfe region of southern Heathcote this Syrah opens with clean smoky raspberries and a touch of minty bush flavour. Quite savoury whole bunch woody spice too. All repeated on a medium bodied palate that just balances the fruit and earthy bits. Perhaps most enjoyable on day one. A touch more fruit power and riper acidity would complement the sensitive and detailed wine making. This will especially appeal to Northern Rhone aficionados. Good expression of place and vintage and far away from the over ripe and oak laden, hooray.

12.90% alcohol. Screwcap. About $25.

91 points.

2017 Heroes Pinot Noir

Over three evenings this evolved well. The colour deepened and the flavours unfurled. Fine boned and perfumed delicacy to much fuller on day three without oxidising or sacrificing any of its superb structure. Complex in the best sense, there’s some obvious stems and regional minty Aussie bush scents verging on sandalwood. We talk of terroir and Pinot and here the sense of place is well pitched and quietly spoken. Emerging from the depths to control the wine on day two and three, really fine red fruit fills the picture. After twenty four hours perfuming the finish and carrying long on chiseled stoney acidity, stalk tannin and a touch of oak. Perfect for the Pinot tragic with revolving smells, tastes and a fruit driven backbone of supple grace. If you fancy low alcohol, fine structure and perfumed depth in Pinot then here you go. This is going to age too.

12.90% alcohol! Screwcap. $40.

95+ points.

2017 Massena The Moonlight Run Mataro Grenache Shiraz

Crikey, if you told me 15 or so years ago I’d actually be enjoying the Barossa so much I would have worried my taste was due a serious swerve or I’d like coconuts as much as Python’s Holy Grail. This is a dark, mysterious and proper dry red wine not liquid fruitcake. Great to see the local Mataro on the label. Dark but still alive fruit to smell and taste. In particular Sunday roast, road tar followed by sweeter red fruits and some dark delicious mystery. Tastes great as a piece and tricky to unpick. The acid and tannin are both ripe, bring freshness and are melded well into the whole mouthful. No confection here just vinosity. Eeow..that’s a bit wordy.

14.00% alcohol. Screwcap. $27 ish.

94 points.

2017 St. John’s Road The Resilient Barossa Valley Grenache

A pleasant punch in the nose of really ripe raspberries, coal dust and woody spice. The flavours are large scaled and deeply fruity without being mawkish and held in place by good comfortable acid and fine graphite, perhaps stemmy, tannin. Once more Grenache looks so at home in the warmth of the Barossa. Maybe it will get richer and less fruit sweet with time but it’s still toothsome now and great value too.

14.50% alcohol. Screwcap. $19.99 at Murphy’s.

93 points.

2015 Blue Pyrenees Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

Not the most fashionable of labels but the evidence in the bottle looks like a proper Cabernet just ripe enough to balance some gravelly savoury flavours. Not incredibly concentrated but enough weight of red fruit with some background blackcurrant to keep it interesting. Smidgen of regional mint and oak. Good firm tannin and firmer acid. Tastes like it’s made without unnecessary artifice from not too ripe grapes. Hooray. Good value.

13.50% alcohol. Screwcap. $18 at Dan’s.

89 points.

2016 Carlone Davide Croatina Colline Novaresi

Italians seem to traditionally put their family name first, so perhaps it’s an azienda agricola run by Davide Carlone making wine from the only slightly obscure, in Italian terms, Croatina variety in the hills around Novara. Half the fun is learning the label code which in Italy can verge on the dastardly. Anyone for Montepulciano? Nonetheless, this is spotlessly clean, really fresh and delicioso. Loads of deep perfumed dark cherry fruit to smell and drink. The perfume is almost floral and old Catholic Church incense smelly but mercifully doesn’t cloy. All this richness and some real depth is put firmly in its place by brilliant Ital acidity and tannin. Classic Piemontese stone and earth notes add the food suggestions. Pasta, mushrooms and even non Piemontese pizza.

13.50% alcohol. Diam! $30 from Boccaccio.

94 punti.

2017 In Praise of Shadows Lusco Fusco Touriga Graciano

Over three or four days this made me wish there was more Aussie Touriga about. There’s just something just so right about this Lusco Fusco. Twilight it seems in Portuguese. In Praise of Shadows indeed but wine like this and they will have to step out into the sun. Straightforward chunky bitumen scented blackberries cut by ripe skin tannin, whole berry freshness and firm ripe acidity. Repeat, right grape, right place.

12.80% alcohol…ripe and justifies another glass. Screwcap. Sorry, forgot how much it cost and google ain’t no help.

94 points.

2016 Heroes Riesling

Only the second white post on this odd indulgence of a blog and it’s a tricky one. Despite a long and abiding love of Riesling, it’s always been a swerve toward the dry thanks to the amazing value of some great Australian versions. At lower price points which suit every day drinking sugar can also be used to bolster thin fruit, only increasing prejudice. So what of a premium Riesling from the beautiful Otways that seems to chase all the texture, feathery acid and sugar balance of a serious German? First taste and the fruit’s all citrus and cut apple with a sweet acid tang that provokes the usual dry prejudice. There’s a nice touch of toasty waxy development too. Given an hour or so it did seem to become more of a whole which resisted being broken down into its components. Somehow the fruit, sugar and fine mouthwatering acid all worked together and demanded another delicious sip. Really a good tilt at that Germanic lightness of being. Perfect for hot February nights.

7.40% alcohol. Screwcap. $32 on the Heroes’ website.

93 points if I were pretending to know more about the great Germans.

2012 Hoddles Creek 1er Yarra Valley Pinot Noir

Six years on and this is still bound, gagged and perhaps enjoying it. Light extraction and perfumed delicacy prevail, almost to the point of wishing for a touch more concentration? Both smell and taste are as if all the fragrance and bone china fruit of Pinot have been chiseled away from anything faintly hinting at the robust. There’s still hints of lanolin reduction that take a day to breathe away to leave a very poised wine. It carries long on fine acidity and super silky tannins. If the fruit and my faculties hold on, this will be worth a look in a few more years yet.

13.40% alcohol. Screwcap. $40 in 2014 from those generous blokes at Boccaccio.

93 points