2012 Purple Hands Wines Old Vine Barossa Valley Grenache

Lurking amongst the investment heavy labels on Langton’s wine auction website, you can sometimes find less coveted varieties and labels that don’t attract a bid and behold, a bargain pops up. Increasingly earlier and warmer vintages are highlighting how well the old Grenache vines are handling the warming. 2012 is perhaps seen as one of the cooler seasons since 2000 but there’s no lack of ripeness here. As the dusty bottle development clears, yes it does seem like red wine changes under a screwcap, sweet raspberry, aniseed and fruit and nut chocolate emerge. Maybe a bit of herby whole bunch pulls the fruit into line? Tasty resolved mouthful of the same fruit, spice and chocolate with just a twist of Barossa dark carbon. Perfectly ripe fruit, a swish of tannin and comfortable acidity. Probably developed as far as it’s going but still frisky as it plateaus. Worth the punt at auction in between the traded labels; this actually ended up in a glass.

13.50% alcohol. Screwcap. $14 at auction, probably about $30 on release. Happy.

92 points.

2016 Viña Olabarri Rioja Blanco

From the variety Viura which being Spanish is of course a local name for something else, in this case Jancis says Macabeo, the Cava stalwart, and suggests widely underestimated too. This version is firmly modern in its winemaking and a long way from the oxidised, old oaky, traditional blancos. Full and creamy textured with aromas of chamomile, yellow peaches and apricot jam. Odd how often Spanish whites seem to evoke that sleep and wee inducing flower, not necessarily always compatible effects. Terrific balance of full rich fruit and pulpy grape skin acidity. Such a sunny disposition with a firm true handshake. Another fascinating voyage into the amazing territory of Mediterranean varieties or just an easily delicious glass of wine too. Getting on the email list for the wittily named Melbourne importer, The Spanish Acquisition, led to a mystery bin end clearance of six bottles for $60. Happy this turned up as Rioja Blanco wouldn’t usually register on the buying radar.

12.50% alcohol. Looks like a Nomacorc sugarcane polymer cork alternative. $10!

91 points.

2013 Jamsheed Seville Syrah

Whole bunch Shiraz from the cool volcanic soil end of the beautiful Yarra Valley. Sure, there’s some mulchy almost tequila like aromas but mostly it’s lots of dark raspberries, cherries and aniseed tinged earth. A bit of bottle age has helped the typically rich but fresh Yarra fruit swallow up the stalky tannin and crisp acidity. It’s all very svelte and dress circle Yarra Valley.

13.50% alcohol. Diam. $45 a few years back.

94 points.

2010 Roberto Voerzio Langhe Nebbiolo Vigneti S. Francesco Fontanazza

Maybe the old argument about traditional and modern winemaking is more blurred than important when seeking value in Piemonte? La Morra is seen by some as the devil of new oak and esoteric science. Well, you can hope new barrels probably won’t feature in a humble Langhe Nebbiolo and it seems they don’t here. A blend of two vineyards, the eponymous, lovely word, S. Francesco and Fontanazza with grapes from a vintage with a reputation. Add some highly polished wine making and deeply flavoured grapes and the result’s a resolved bourgeois glass of rich cherry, Langhe dirt, polished melting tannin and controlled acidity. Great fruit and suave craft. This or old dirty barrels?

14% alcohol. Cork. $50 or so then.

93 points for Nebbiolo in a nice suit.

2017 Comm. G. B. Burlotto Dolcetto d’Alba

There’s possibly still a misconception about Dolcetto, the little sweet one; this certainly isn’t sweet or little, more like tackle from one of those Italian centre backs from the eighties. Knees, elbows or whatever it takes. This is savoury, jammed with dark Piemontese earth and astringent to the degree of pizza being a necessity. Dark cherries and soil both in smell and taste. Seems like a hot, dry vintage character with assertive dry skin tannin, almost leathery and very firm but thankfully not sour acidity. If you just tasted between meals, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking it too dry and unbalanced but that’s not the way to do it. To the table for sweet tomato and pale mozzarella on a long prove chewy base and so delicioso.

13.50% alcohol. Cork. $30 or thereabouts.

92 points but not much else can match a pizza so well.

2010 Escarpment Pahi Martinborough Pinot Noir

Preconceived ideas about how you like a grape variety to taste are always liable for a surprise. Over the years, a perfumed, crisply red fruited version of the mystery that’s Pinot Noir has become more appealing. Well, red fruited and lightly built this isn’t. Dark spiced berries, almost plum and licorice chocolate with a touch of fruit cake all melded by time. No flab though as there’s a perfect counterpoint of graphite like tannin and beautifully integrated naturally ripe wet stone acidity, all benefiting from time together in the bottle. A tickle of dried and sweet green herbs twists and turns the rich fruit too. Dark, complex and such an even keel that shows this most fickle of grapes can express itself in the most valid and surprising ways. Côte d’Or it ain’t but Martinborough it must surely be. Choice eh?

14% alcohol. Cork. About $60 a few years ago.

94 points.

2012 Delbard Premium Reserve Shiraz

From a farmers’ market and an affable informed producer. After an alarmingly early taste one winter morning, this seemed worth a bottle try. The bottle tasted really well over a couple of days, clean, well made, settled acidity and a lovely even ripeness at what indeed seemed to be low alcohol. At a shade over $20 if memory serves, three bottles added to the weight of fruit and veggies on the way home from the next market. Roughly five years later and this is still fresh, pure and beautifully red fruited. There’s a little ethyl acetate lift but this only serves to brighten the aromas. Raspberries and cherries galore in pristine form. A sprig of mint and a sprinkle of earthy spice, all carried along with that natural feeling acidity and fine emery tannin. Beautifully grown fruit but perhaps not much of it as the vintage label is a small one adhered to the larger producer label. Not much spent on the packaging but much care in the growing and making. Must be good, it’s Premium and Reserve!

12.50% alcohol. Diam. $20 ish.

94 points.

2014 La Chablisienne Chablis Le Finage

Australia’s two dominant supermarket leviathans both dabble in direct imports with Coles’ attempts even less well organised than their competitor’s hit and miss attempts. Coles’ fine wine arm, Vintage Cellars, somehow still manage to import La Chablisienne’s lovely wines without much obvious promotion which leads to some occasional irresistible discounts. The last was a “cellar frenzy” sale with this Chablis reduced to $21.50 a bottle in a six pack purchase. Don’t think credit card details have ever been so quickly entered. There’s always an anxious wait to see which vintage turns up as something as simple as stock rotation and customer service seem just too difficult. Worry turned to glee as four 2014s under Diam and two 2017s under screwcap turned up, as unlikely and as fist pumping as a Southampton home win. The Diam’s done a proper job as there’s a touch of lanolin reduction and a pale colour as things open up in the glass. Gentle Chardonnay smells and a soft palate that seems a bit dilute, oh well, it’s a cooperative wine. How wrong first impressions can be. Second day the airing had swept away the reduction and the colour deepened. Real Chablis perfume and flavour bite. Ripe citrus, quince, stony sweet green herbals, salinity and that sour lactic yoghurt twang. Delicious basic Chablis! Next one’s going to get double decanted and patience will be a virtue waiting a day for a sip. Six bottles doesn’t seem nearly enough now.

12.50% alcohol. Diam. $21.50, Coles’ shareholders may not be happy.

92 points but a lot of value Chablis pleasure.

2002 Domaine Christophe Perrot Minot Vosne Romanée Les Beaux Monts 1er Cru

Carefully carried all the way back from Paris to Melbourne surviving inept packing, baggage handling and a few years in cool storage. Research at the time suggested Perrot Minot had backed away from the mid nineties fashion of too much extraction and new oak in favour of more perfume and transparency. The helpful staff in the basement of delights at Lavinia in Paris encouraged the opinion in much better English than my French. Compared to current premier cru prices this looked a reasonable buy too. Fast forward fifteen years to Xmas eve 2019, all looks good, good fill level still, cork barely stained and removed in one piece. First sniff and a joyfully rich wild strawberry and spice fragrance, then….a musty, old hessian sack waft of, oh no, TCA. Foul language but a resigned shrug too. Life has a way of dealing with great expectations but, really, why are we still wedded to mid nineteenth century technology for our most precious drinks? Down the sink and head in the sand along with much larger issues like a warming planet perhaps?

No points just a grumpy old man who’s a bit worried at the moment.

2010 S C Pannell Syrah

A delicious Shiraz from the beautiful Adelaide hills opened the day before homes, vineyards and livelihoods were tragically lost to bushfire. Named Syrah as a signpost to the Northern Rhône and its restrained balance of fruit, spice and stalky earthy complexity. Age has smoothed things but the lively Australian fruit still has a rich red berried, warmth which is comfortably wrapped up in a nutty, stalky coat. There’s deep brown baking spice too which brings to mind Shiraz from the Canberra region, same sort of latitude, altitude and attitude perhaps? Touch of Rhône like stony incense adds detail and cuts the richness. The structure holds it all together with natural feeling acidity and ripe chocolate tannin. Hopes for some cool weather, rain and a brave recovery helped by buying a good bottle or two from those hills.

14% alcohol. Screwcap. Was about $26 in 2012.

93 points.