2005 Produttori del Barbaresco Ovello Riserva

The relaxed pleasures of the Italian table perhaps touch the sublime in Piemontese inspired cooking? Fresh Tassie truffle liberally sliced over a plate of agnolotti del plin and what to drink? Undeserved spoiling in carefully sipped glasses of Produttori tradition. Great purity, freshness and ripe melting wax tannin. Head full of truffle, rose, cherry, licorice and tar perfume. Great fatty comfort cut by a tannin acid nexus like no other. A few moments of life on planet Earth which offer a very tasty connection to its best farming and cooking tradition. Even at just over ten years in the bottle under the most unreliable of closures, this Nebbiolo is only just starting to soften after a rough double decant. There’s no fat to the ripeness but there’s no green either. The acid cleans up the finish but it helps freshen the lovely mix of red fruit and darker savoury tar. Thanks, Scopri, our local Carlton Italian for birthday spoiling and the best glassware for Neb. Sitting under that huge black and white wall sized print of the Barbaresco landscape only helps the mood.

14% alcohol. Cork. $135.

95 rapturous points.

2018 Cirillo The Vincent Grenache

It’s unusual for the words finesse and Barossa to appear in the same sentence but it can’t be avoided here. Perfect musky, red fruit ripeness. Some whole berries in the ferment push the plush brightness and a fine phenolic grip keep the scales perfectly balanced. All the good bits of Grenache grown where it’s happy and no awkward heat, green acid or tannin. It just flows gently, builds sweet fruit and then waves bye with some graceful grip. It’ll be fascinating to see how it ages. Will it get deeper fruited or just lose its brightness? Venerable vines, great purity and just over a twenty. Heart warming generosity.

14% alcohol. Screwcap. $22!

94 points.

NV Philippe Glavier Genesis Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs

The front label is much prettier but goodness, don’t you wish all NV Champagne had a back label with this much info? If you just like glugging Veuve then you’re probably indifferent and aren’t reading this anyway. For the price of anodyne LVMH you can have this though. Sparklingly clean in every sense, flowers, crystallised citrus, touch of yeasty patisserie and driving linear acidity carrying all those flavours a long way. Contained, subtle power that rules on shiny polished rails. The reserve wine and time on those little yeast beasties just add intricacy to the chalky sense of place. Côte des Blancs precision from an obsessively quality driven producer who only makes small amounts of bliss like this. This would make even the most jaded appetite drool.

12% alcohol. Cork. $70 or thereabouts direct from the importer.

95 points.

2016 Te Mata Awatea Cabernets Merlot

Perfect way to celebrate Bastille day eve with a Kiwi that’s better value and probably a bit cleaner than some more illustrious Bordeaux, which was already an expensive dabble thirty years ago when the bug bit. Not that price stopped a reckless love of Burgundy instead. Probably as many disappointments too. Anyway, unlike nearly every other NZ producer, Te Mata are as nineteenth century traditional as the Bordelaise in the choice of stopper. Happily the expensive looking tree bark here didn’t spoil a seriously delicious wine. Just medium in body but achingly fragrant. A perfect mix of marginally tart but ripe fruit and a savoury anchor. Black cherry, cassis, sweet green leaves and seasoning of black olive and cedar oak, all in elegant proportion and driven long. Hint of that grounding claret gravel too. No grunt, just harmony. Anyone on either bank of the Gironde able to guarantee the same quality to price rapport? Could default to a predictably not funny….. choice, eh bro?

13.50% alcohol. CORK! C’est quoi!? $28 from what Dan’s questionably call a rationalisation which means they won’t stock it at my local. Happy to take the below cost discount to clear it though.

95 points.

2009 Produttori del Barbaresco Montestefano Riserva

Just to make sure Nebbiolo’s over represented hereabouts, yet another. Enoteca Sileno have developed a reputation for perhaps not the thinnest of margins on wine but if you look carefully in their impressive wine fridge, you’ll notice less lauded vintages still there for about $135. Less if you buy a few and tongue in cheek ask for a discount. This Montestefano is still a craggy peak of dense stone. Very ripe red cherry, earthy tar and a bit of licorice, well, it is Neb of course. Chunks of mouth desiccating tannin and acid. Only tamed by fat and protein. Warm vintage, big hearted wine from the most stern of the Produttori’s crus. As unyielding as a 90s’ Juventus back four.

14.50% alcohol. Cork. $135.

93 four square points.

2012 Matteo Correggia Roero

As the 2016 was so good and great value, finding a few 2012s amongst the stash under the house meant another Stelvin Luxe cracked with a satisfying twist. Nebbiolo obsession fed. Much more gentle than the 16 but beautifully clean and perfumed. Pot pourri, almost musk, gentle cherry and aniseed. Fragrant but not cloying. Great balanced crunch of ripe tingly acid and fine graphite tannins. More mountain fresh than Barolo earthy. Suave you might say.

14% alcohol. Lovely screwcap. $26 from a Prince Wine Store sale.

92 elegantly poised points.

2017 Macaw Creek Organic PF Shiraz

The same day as this tasty Shiraz was opened, a walk along the pier at Lorne on the Great Ocean Road found a lonely Northern Giant Petrel looking for lunch next to somebody’s thoughtless disposal of a “reusable” plastic bag. Hence the sad iPad photo. Humans are odd, some carefully grow organic grapes, others use the ocean as their rubbish bin. Happily the Shiraz was a surprisingly fresh, straightforward mouthful of very ripe berries, tar and a little mocha. Very bright, primary and forward but still shows quality fruit. None of that yeasty, doughy breath of the more extreme examples of zero sulphur addition. Really looks quite stable. Puzzling how it avoids added sulphur and looks…er..normal? Low ph and a good sterile filter maybe? Intriguing or probably not if you just enjoy a glass of wine without too much nonsense.

14.50% alcohol. Screwcap and a lightweight bottle too. $20.

91 points.

2017 Blai Ferré i Just Billo Priorat

40% Garnatxa, 40% Syrah and 20% Carinyena. Catalan names but close enough that you can work it out? Very ripe, dry grape skins but a glorious freshness. Cherries and raspberries ripened under a hot sun without losing their juicy tang are counterweights to an extraordinary perfume of warm slate and dry scrub. Savoury caramelised pan juices too. Acid etched rocky tannin sweeps clean. So this is what Priorat can do when it’s not over cooked or oaked? Dense fruit and a refreshing austerity. Oh Billo.

14% alcohol. Cork. $45.

93 points.

2016 Fattoria Basciano Chianti Rufina.

Far too much Italian wine recently but the craving for tannin and acidity with rich winter grub and some lucky wins at auction means no let up yet. From the same maker as the bravely commercial Il Bastardo, this is a traditional DOCG Rufina. Sangiovese with a slug of Colorino. Dark semi dried sour cherries, tobacco, licorice and some well controlled sooty oak. Really drying firm tannins and a smack of ripe acidity. Dark, serious, desiccated skin flavour and texture point toward a hot dry vintage, perhaps? Not quite the cool, red fruit calm that used to mark Rufina. Nonetheless a clean, delicious Sangio that comes into sharp focus with warming oily, cheesy pasta. E basta.

13.50% alcohol. Cork. $20 lucky win at Langton’s, don’t you dare bid on the other two bottles!

93 points.

2018 Trediberri Barbera d’Alba

Beautifully labelled with art by a local Langhe artist, one of whose prints brightens the living room wall. Couldn’t resist the photo. The wine itself opens nice and clean with very ripe blackberry, plums and burnt toffee. With a bit of air, there’s a touch of Piemontese soil and a bit more freshness. Thankfully the richness is buffed into shape by that mouthwatering Barbera acidity which is somehow folded into the finish and hides the warmth of alcohol. The lack of tannin helps keep the focus on the bright fruit and acid. Not sure you’d notice the 15% if the label were not so honest. Bit of a big fellow en ballet pointe.

15% alcohol, careful sips. Screwcap, yes! $24 from the importer’s own invitational website shop. Bargain.

91 points.