Keep calm and drink wine

If I was a wine, I wouldn't be caught dead in this label.

Forgive me, but if this isn't one of the most unappealing labels I have ever seen then I don't know what.

Please don't throw stones just yet! Let me explain!

I'm not usually one to judge a book by its cover. The same goes for wine labels. In fact, when choosing a wine, I like to think I'm objective (ha!). 

Even so, there are certain cues I look for: variety, vintage, region, producer and price point (that's in no particular order).

But on this very occasion, I did the dirty thing. 

I judged the wine by its label.

But! Lesson learnt...

Turns out the wine - a 2009 Shiraz from Western Australia - is damn delicious. Medium in body, ripe with raspberries, plentiful spice and soft tannins. This is a moreish wine that boasts far more potential than to be called a 'picnic wine', as the label suggests.

Not that there's anything wrong with picnics, of course -  I'd be very happy to down this wine at a picnic in the summer time, perhaps some Sandie Shaw singing her way in the background. Come to think of it, that sounds somewhat perfect.

The wine is made by Whitfield Estate - a winery in Denmark, Western Australia. You can stock up on your winter reds and other vinous delights at their website, here. Another bonus is that all wines are relatively cheap. Lovely.

Happy drinking.

Harvest moon

Wine and music. It’s a damn fine fit, especially when compared with skinny black jeans on hips after a very indulgent winter. 

I’ve always wondered about pairing wine with music; is Pinot Noir better suited to Neil Young on a cold rainy day or ... there's really no comparison.

Nevertheless, when pairing wine and music I can’t help but think of the specifics: the weather, the emotion, the company (or lack thereof) and the colours outside the window. And, of course, why you’ve decided to crack open a bottle of vino; the reason beyond curiosity and enjoyment.

Seems I’m not the only one to have such thoughts. Three young female musos, with lives now in Europe, have travelled back to their home country, Australia, to present their show, Oz Cabaret, as part of Adelaide’s Fringe Festival.

The trio – Sarah, Katrina and Jessie – draw on their experiences of tried relationships, family turmoil and warm nostalgic memories to present an interactive show brought to life as they turn their stories into live music and match their songs with different wines.

Pianist Sarah Regan, violinist Katrina Kirkwood and accordionist Jessie Jean.

“It’s an honest account of our lives with wine and how wine has impacted us,” says Katrina.

It gets better – they’re also working to take the snobbery out of wine tasting.

“We’re not experts and we don’t claim to be. It’s about offering a bit of education with a personal approach to make for an experience that everyone can relate to.”

One of the best parts is the engagement with the audience; everyone is provided with a tasting sheet with questions. Not questions about aroma or texture, but rather personal questions that make you reflect on your past and relate specific experiences to your vino.

Cool beans, indeed. And it is – the wine is terrif, representing different flavours from the Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale and the Barossa (though I did wish there was more of le vino). It's also a top performance by the girls; they can all sing above their weight and know how to belt the heart out of their instruments.

This is a show I’d take a spunky girl or boy to see on an innocent Tuesday evening.

For more on the girls, visit their site here.

Moon over la Gabriella

One, two, three, four. That's how many grey hairs I pulled out of my 25-year-old head this morning in the workplace bathroom. Three to be exact; I had to ask the sales manager to pluck the fourth one out because it was too short. If that's not the lamest thing then I don't know what!

It's been somewhat of a while since I bashed out some words on my latest wine tasting extravaganza. But since you're busting to go to the toilet I'll keep my answer as short as I feel like.

I've tasted a lot of different wines over the past month or so. Some good, some mediocre. But, alas, I haven't tasted a wine that makes me want to ...

Then one day I was browsing through the various wines at the bottle-o when I saw a familiar face. A wine I once had and enjoyed. A goodie.

Not just any goodie, of course. I’m thinking the kind of wine that leaves an impression; the vino that takes you back to the moment you first tasted it, to the vivid memories of the time, place, company, the smell and the rain.

The who, what, when, where, why and how - all of which can come to life by an individual bottle of wine.

I didn’t think the wine was mind-blowingly run-around-naked fantastic, either. Of course it wasn’t just ordinary. It was just a good drop. A really good drop, of sentiment, if you will. Like An affair to remember.

Talk about a movie you can set your watch to.

St Hallett Barossa Faith Shiraz 2009.

Lively red fruits on the nose and the palate, complemented with the perfect amount of spice and oak, this is a classic Barossa Shiraz, truly representative of the region from which it was grown.

Twenty or so bucks a bottle and easily accessible (at most bottle shops as well as online), this is a wine to live and enjoy.

Summer at Lodge Hill

So there I was, at Dan Murphy's on a late Friday afternoon rushing about to find a bottle of vino for dinner that night. It's that time of the year when my stocks are running low, so Dan seemed like the man to hit up (though, let's be honest, he's not exactly my man of choice. Where there's Dan, there's beef!)

Then it hit me - it's summer! What with all this talk of low-alcohol booze and the world getting super fat, I thought what the hey. Let's try a low-calorie vino.

I asked Mr Dan Murphy employee whether they stocked any of this kind. He asked: "What's low alcohol?" To which I replied: "Well I'm not 100 per cent sure, but I'd say anything below 12%abv for reds, and 10% for whites." He shot me a look that said he had no such kind.

Then it dawned on me. Who needs low-alcohol wine when you can either a) dance the calories off to The Easybeats on Singstar or b) dance the calories off to Devo or c) dance the calories off to Devo.

With that in mind, Jim Barry's The Lodge Hill Riesling was the vino of choice.

I've heard a bucket load of good things about this wine, which has won a plethora of awards. Click here for the specifics.

As for the wine, let's just say it didn't take long for the bottle to run dry. Floral notes on the nose, peach, grapefruit and citrus on the tongue, topped with an exciting minerally texture, this vino is one to toast to on a warm Friday afternoon. Damn fine with a light chicken salad, too.

Also, $22 bucks a bottle. Do it!

Corked wine sucks

There are things in life that suck ... like that unpleasant moment when you sit on a warm toilet seat because the last person to take a leak took their sweet arse time. This sucks a fatty. 

Accidentally tucking your dress into your sad washing-day knickers for all the cool kids to see – also a major fatty sucker. 

 

Of course such suckers are not limited to toilet time. Saving a cracking bottle of Italian Barbera (or any good wine, for that matter) for a special occasion only to discover it’s corked, is a hideously unfortunate instance, where the only real words left to say are: 

“Dang. This wine sucks a fatty.”

Such was the case about a month ago when a bunch of friends and I drove to Middleton, along the South Australian coast, for a weekend of vino, slow-cooked food, good company and games. 

It was a super sunny day and the first bottle to be enjoyed was Kalleske Wines 2011 Clarry’s GSM - a top drop from the Barossa which was recently awarded three awards at the International Wine Challenge in London.

Then came the moment we had all been waiting for - the time to crack open the Barbera. Off came the cork and there I was, taking a sweet sniff and sip from my glass. 

A sour look took over my face and, along with it, came the dreaded words. Words that no one ever wants to hear...

“Dang, Joe, I hate to break it to you, but this wine’s corked!”

(That is, the wine contained TCA (2,4,6-trichloroanisole) - a compound that leaches from the cork, into the wine, causing icky odours that often resemble mouldy newspapers or wet dogs).

You should have seen the despair in his eyes.

“Dang nath, girl! I ain’t drinkin’ dis shit!” he said. Not in those exact words but, needless to say, the wine was undrinkable. 

Don't get me wrong. I’m not anti-cork. I have tasted several wines under cork that have turned out to be exceptional. At the same time, when opening a bottle under cork, I can’t help but find myself holding my breath in the hope that the wine won’t be corked.

So it was with great pleasure that, when I opened a 2010 Shiraz, first picking, from Adelaide Hills' producer Main and Cherry, that I was blown away - in the best way possible.

Main and Cherry winemaker Michael Sexton with his wine dog, Charlie.

With raspberry sweetness, and soft and silky tannins, this wine reminded me of the delicious candy my teacher treated me at primary school when I worked well in class. It's certainly not too sweet. Hints of spice and blackberry add to its complexity, making for a lucious, well-balanced and moreish wine. I'd lap this up in a heart-beat.

For more information on Main and Cherry, and the wines, check out their website.

Note: Main and Cherry's 2010 Shiraz, first picking, was kindly supplied to me as a sample.

Bella

It's been a while since a special someone visited this blog ...

 

 

 

 

 

She sure digs a drive in the car. Especially to music by '60s outfit, The Shirelles.

 

Such a pretty pooch x

 

Dirty wine

There's a wave of winemakers who are ditching conventional winemaking processes in favour of a 'less is more' approach to produce some real funky wines.

Forget your clean Riesling or blockbuster fruit-driven Shiraz. These new wines stink. They're grubby. In fact, sometimes they're so dirty you can literally see particles floating about in the bottle.

I'm talking about unfiltered wines made with the very rarest of intervention. The grapes are grown to organic or biodynamic principles; some go as far to say they're natural. I'm talking natural yeasts, no enzymes and the deliberate exclusion of chemicals in the vineyard.

Some say they're bogus wines being led by overly enthusiastic winemakers who don't know what they're doing; that it's all marketing hype. Others argue it's the wine of the future - that it's the next logical step in the sustainable paddock-to-plate food phenomena.

While I've heard good things and bad, I can't say I've tasted an organic wine that makes me want to gag. So far, they've all been pretty decent. At the same time, it's also very possible I haven't tasted enough.

Nevertheless, if there is one wine that's got me on the organic train, it's this baby.

Dear God. This wine makes it hard to for me to express myself. It's actually breathtaking. Give me a second, yeah?

Based in the French village of Courgis, in Chablais, Alice and Olivier De Moor are known to produce some of the best Aligote-based wine in France. Can't say I'm surprised. Light, aromatic, textural with a good balance of acidity and sweetness, this wine is a treat worth savouring.

It's an organic vino, too. It's even a bit dirty. According to Living Wines, all the grapes are picked by hand and only natural yeasts are used to ferment the wines. Nice one.

If you happen to come by it, lap it up. Cork Wine Cafe was selling it for $50 a bottle, though I was told by co-owner Mr Travis Tausend that it was the last bottle they had. I'm crossing my fingers they get more in.

Happy drinking.

C'est le jour Cabernet

Well, it's Thursday 30 August. My gosh, doesn't time fly. It wasn't too long ago I was doing something that was a few months ago. 

Today is unlike no other, except that it's a day that celebrates the diversity of a certain wine variety. A variety that perhaps I haven't given enough credit to. Indeed, it is Cabernet Day. And what better way to spend it blogging, glass of Cab Sav in hand, shoes off and music on. Elton John, to be precise.

If I'm to be completely Frank, I've never been a big fan of Cab Sav. I've always found it 'too much' - too big in tannins, too phenolic, leaving an after-mouthfeel, like I've been chewing cotton for the past week, that makes me want to down a glass of mineral water and gargle madly. 

Don't get me wrong. There are traits to Cab Sav that I do like - red fruit, cedar and even that hint of eucalyptus. Smashing. Riveting. But even with all these good qualities, Cab Sav has never been my wine of choice.

But after tasting today's vino, I suspect that's all about to change.

Hay Shed Hill Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2010. Damn delicious. Smooth, rich, fruity, spicy...it literally makes me salivate. And, while it's not too heavy,  the wine still boasts complex tannins that make it a thrilling drop.

So what is it about this wine that makes me want to get a bit naked? (Too much?)

Well, according to the tasting notes on the Hay Shed website, it's all to do with the vintage.

The 2010 vintage in Margaret River was in two distinct phases. Early in the season it was warm to hot and very dry. The fruit was scrupulously clean due to the lack of spring rain, making bright, clean and very fruit expressive wines.

While the height of summer was quite warm the season broke very quickly with temperatures dropping dramatically in late March proving beneficial as it allowed more time on the vine for the red varieties and prevented excessive sugar build up in the grapes which has moderated alcohol in the final wines.

And, of course, the winemaking.

The wine was matured in French oak barrels for 13 months allowing integration of fine oak and development of the soft ripe tannin.

Interesting, indeed. I'm yet to travel to Margaret River but it is definitely high on the to-do list, along with a whole bunch of other vino regions. But in the meantime, this vino is more than enough to suffice.

Happy Cabernet Day!

Ducks in a Row

Well, it's official. I'm feeling very, very sorry for myself. You see it all started yesterday when an invisible force smacked me hard in the face with a nasty head cold which, today, left me stuck on the couch choosing between Ready Steady Cook and MacGyver.

Yeah, I've had better days. Like, last Sunday. I drove to McLaren Vale to visit the lovely and passionate couple behind Ducks in a Row: Amanda and Glenn James Pritchard. Of course I can't not mention their very affectionate and wonderful wine dog, Roger, who I instantly fell in love with. And, after trying to eat my cardi and my dress, I figure he took a bit of a liking to me, too. Aw, Roger. Oh, so pretty.

Amanda and Glenn have been making wines under the Ducks in a Row label since 2009, with an aim to explore and produce new and lesser known varieties. I was lucky enough to have a tasting of the Fiano, Nero D'Avola, Tempranillo/Graciano/Mataro (TGM) and the Mataro - all from the 2011 vintage, and all of which were pretty damn fine. My favourites were the Fiano ($25) and the TGM ($25).

To be completely Frank, I've never quite understood texture in white wine - until I tasted this Fiano. Glenn, who has been making wine for decades, including for Penfolds and Hardys, puts it down to the making of the wine.

"Hand-picked grapes, minimal winemaking intervention, naturally fermented and then matured for 12 months in contact with its own yeasts and without oak, minimal suflur used prior to bottling, this wine is complex, aromatic and textured," he says.

For me, the TGM screams complexity: parcels of red fruit run in parallel with savoury notes while the Graciano provides a vibrant lift all the way through the wine.

But it's not just the the wine from Ducks in a Row that sparks my interest. The wine labels, individually, represent particular pieces from the below painting, which was crafted by the very wonderful, French-born Australian artist Mirka Mora.

There's some exciting news coming from Ducks in a Row, too. They're about to bottle and release a very special wine from grapes picked during the 2011 vintage. The wine? A Vermentino, Moscato Giallo and Fiano blend, to be known as Pandora's Amphorae.

What makes this wine unique is the way in which it has been made - in a terracotta vessel, or amphorae, originally used to make wine back in the heyday of the Greeks and the Romans. Only 800 bottles will be bottled in total and about half have already sold. For an interesting read on the winemaking process and how it affects the fruit and resulting wine, check out this post, written by Glenn just after the 2011 vintage.

You can also keep up-to-date with the latest happenings at Ducks in a Row here.

Until then, happy drinking. No drinking for me, though. I have to stick to my Lemsip. Doctor's orders.

Cin, cin!

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned the big twenty-(secret!) and was spoiled to a ridiculously good dinner at Eros Ouzeri - a Greek restaurant in Adelaide's east-end, with amazing food and a cracking wine list.

For the starter, or should I say 'oretika', we had four half dips - this included Melitzanosalata, Tzatziki, Skordalia and Taramosalata - with grilled pitta bread. For the entree, we had Paithakia Salata - seared lamb cutlets, spring onion, Dodoni fetta and rosted garlic mash with red wine jus.

Then came the main: Saganaki Thalasino (pictured): handmade festoni ribbons, bug tails, local prawns, king scallops, cherry tomato flambéed with ouzo, fetta, garlic and chilli. 

The vino? Massena Barbera 2011 from the Barossa Valley. Sure, 2011 was a bit of a hideous vintage - cold and wet weather making for high disease pressure and the like - but, my gosh, this wine was definitely a surviver.

I've had Barbera perhaps once or twice and fell in love with it instantly. Originally from northern Italy, Barbera is full of cherry flavour, acidity, soft tannins and boasts a burst of spice right from the get-go.

If you're looking for something truly unique and well-priced ($22 a bottle), you really can't not have this wine. It's a treat best drunk on any happy occasion and, with Mediterranean cuisine, it's a dream boat.

Happy drinking.

Chateau Australia

"Chateau chunder from Down Under." What a hideous way to describe Australian wine. Fortunately, that's all in the past, according to writer and director Stephen Oliver.

He's getting ready to debut his latest film, Chateau Chunder: a wine revolution - a doco that seeks to explore the history and evolution of Australian wine, from an unfashionable backwater to the toast of the international wine world.

The film will be launched for the first time at Cinefest Oz Festival, with screenings taking place in Margaret River and Busselton from 22-26 August. 

The trailer can now be viewed online. Check it out:

The film is expected to screen on ABC and BBC sometime next month. Keep an ear out for dates.

Ps. A short update from the pooch. She is very well, minus the fact that she's developed this tedious habit of digging after it's been raining. Each day, after she comes inside, I have to clean her paws with warm water and doggy soap to clean away the mud. That's four paws, you know. Four. Big. Muddy. Paws.

She's lucky she's cute x

Alinta

One my first projects as a journo at the Grapegrower & Winemaker was to drive to the Barossa and interview a grapegrower, who had uniquely come up with a way to train his vines in the shape of a corkscrew. The idea was that the training system would allow for an open canopy, reducing the risk of humidity and therefore disease. You can find out more about this here.

My boss warned me that he was somewhat on the quirky side. Quirky, indeed, he was, but in the most refreshing way; he's the kind of quirky that resonates when you're super passionate and keen to share your wine knowledge with everyone around you.

His name is Wayne Elson and he's the grapegrower and winemaker at Roenfeldt Hill Wines, north-west of the Barossa Valley.

I caught up Mr Elson a couple of weeks ago. He's just made two rosés: Alinta and Alinta dry. I was lucky enough to have a taste. The rosés, like his corkscrew method, are truly unique in that they're made from 50 per cent Grenache and 50 per cent Zinfandel - both of which were hand-picked.

"It's probably Australia's first ever rosé made from this blend," says Mr Elson, who will be spearheading a promotional campaign of the wines from next month under the banner 'delightfully different'.

"It's probably deemed in the past that you make a rosé from a single variety, but why does that need to be?"

Why indeed, especially when it tastes this good: satsuma plum, strawberry, a touch of tannin and a little pepper, allowing for a savoury complexity - possibly achieved by way of cofermentation of the two varieties, something he says was a real punt.

"When you're a small player, unless you do things differently, you'll never succeed," he says.

So what's the difference between the Alinta and the Alinta dry? Put simply, the Alinta dry has no added sugars, making it a low carb option.

Mr Elson says both wines would taste amazing with steak, lamb and sausages, or with pasta and seafood.

My favourite was the Alinta. But, while I've never been one to go for the low-carb option, I gotta say the Alinta dry was pretty well on par with the Alinta. Both are truly memorable wines that boast a real 'wow' factor.

The vinos will be available from next month from particular retail outlets and restaurants.

Keen beans? Check it: www.roenfeldthill.com.au