Littorai Savoy Vineyard Pinot noir 2009

Date: Thu, May 3, 2012 Wine Tasting

I don't think I've seen a bottle with this pattern on the punt before. Most of my bottles have a circle of notches and ridges, where this has two unbroken chains. Which of course has very little to do with the liquid within.

I've opened this too soon, the first few sips are grainy and it appears overly warm and clunky. There seems to be a little too much muscle and not enough softness and give. Deeply scented, berries and plum, damp earth, mushrooms and toasted oak. It smells big and reminds me of Central Otago. . . It's wrapped in a film of char and polish, but this does seem to resolve and later it becomes more appealing and beautiful. Turkish delight and slippery silk, though through the fabric I can still feel the knots. Ninety plus. 2014-2019

Anderson Valley, California, USA. Pinot noir. 13.4%. Cork. Approx $A85

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Dinner

Date: Thu, May 3, 2012 Wine Tasting

A pdf of the Troy Payne recipe, featured in Dani Valent's book can be found if you start here. It does call for pomegranate jewels, but I've left them out, not wanting the trouble of swallowing or spitting out the seeds.

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Domaine de Suremain Monthelie 1er Cru 'Sur La Velle' 2008

Date: Tue, May 1, 2012 Wine Tasting

Each morning I'm woken by the shrill tweet of the neighbourhood birds. 28 (ring neck) parrots, red tailed black cockatoo and something much smaller which I'm yet to identify. The plastic bird whistle ($3) is almost totally ineffectual, but still aesthetically pleasing.

No functional (or aesthetic) issues with the wine. It tastes like a Côte de Beaune red; light, delicate and fleeting. Rose petals and raspberry, earth, and the scent and taste of whole bunches (stems, roots and bay leaf). Well paced, momentarily soaring and overall quite delicious. Brisk acids, quite sappy and firm, and a dry slightly adhesive (though currently very clean) finish. Ninety one. Now - 2017.

Monthelie, Beaune, Burgundy, France. Pinot noir. 13%. Cork. Approx $A70.

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Mount Mary Quintet 2002

Date: Mon, Apr 30, 2012 Wine Tasting

An April Sunflower.

The image, five days old and taken before the arrival of the Autumn rain. The tasting notes were written last night. I keep adding more words and then stripping them away.

Before the Mount Mary a humble and widely available Chardonnay. The 2009 Orlando St Hillary (Padthaway, 13.5%, screwcap, approx $A13) is convincingly flinty and surprisingly lean and tight. Could this be Australia's best mass produced Chardonnay for under $A15?

The 02 Qunitet (Yarra Valley. Cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, malbec. 12.5%. Cork), shared amongst family, is much less common and much more expensive. Supple and slippery. . . a delight. . . Violet and blackcurrant, even with a trace of rubber and reduction it smells beautiful and refined. Tobacco flavoured but with a savoury leather edge; it's presumably brett, but at this level it's additive and I'm in no mood for complaining. Lovely.

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Domaine du Collier La Charpentrie 2008

Date: Fri, Apr 27, 2012 Wine Tasting

I've been sniffing for most of the night and I'm still not sure that I've found the correct set of words. . . It does smell like a Loire white. It's clean but at same time there is something damp and microbial. . . it smells a little like my wine cabinet, but there's stone and straw and a suggestion of honey. . . something suspended. . . flint and mustard fruit. . . glue and almonds. . . little dots of information which fail to reveal the whole. . . Unrepentantly tart in the mouth, what teeth I have, have started to hurt. . . Chalk and stone, it's extraordinarily sour and persistent.

Saumur, Loire, France. Chenin blanc. 13%. Cork. Approx $A70.

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A weekday pair

Date: Thu, Apr 26, 2012 Wine Tasting

A truncated working week, punctuated by Anzac day and a few too many bottles and plates. . .

Yering Station Chardonnay 2007 (Yarra. 12.5%. screwcap). If the Oakridge was a woman's shoe, it would be pale yellow stiletto, worn only once. This tastes more like a pair of old platforms; with a little too much weight and volume. An obligatory strike of flint before butterscotch and grass. Quite rich and full with a broad seam of bitter grapefruit pith and nougat.


Peter Lehmann Mentor 1999 (Barossa. Cabernet, Merlot, Shiraz, Malbec. Cork). Once the crumbling cork was extracted this tasted typically deep, dark and sweet. Chocolate, spice and curry leaf; bold and sweet, there is very little resistance left, it is all warmth, raisins and Port. An expanding red dwarf. . .

Image: part of Fragmented Tales by Clare McFarlane

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Hudelot Noellat Bourgogne 2009

Date: Wed, Apr 25, 2012 Wine Tasting

The greatest pleasure is at the start. Fresh, bright and blemish free; phloem bundles, ginger spice and cherries. It smells and feels slippery and light. Red satin. A hint of metal, meat and boiled sweets with a sappy and stalk like finish. Convincing and cute. 90-91. Now - 2015+

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Oakridge 864 Chardonnay 2010

Date: Tue, Apr 24, 2012 Wine Tasting

A second encounter with something remarkably beautiful, intense and complete. . . Perhaps I am being too hasty in wanting to leave the comfort of my well worn furrow. . .

Flint and grilled peach on the nose, there is little hint of what is to follow. Searing, pure and almost painfully intense. A sharp edge of granite and mineral with nectarine and orange blossom. Almond meal, a trace of bitter citrus pith and delicate petals. . . Exceptional.

Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia. Chardonnay. 13.3%. Screwcap. Approx $A60.

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A pig in new mud

Date: Tue, Apr 24, 2012 Wine Tasting

is how I feel at the moment. My case of mystery bottles, known unknowns arrived today. . . if it is possible for bottles to look delicious, then these do. . . The Burgundies are ruby red when held to autumn sun and the foils on the Loire whites seductively turn under my fingers.

I want a vinous jolt, something to challenge and unsettle. My palate has been traveling the same furrow and it has grown deep and worryingly straight and there seems very little left to upturn and discover. . .

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Peanut butter ice cream

Date: Sun, Apr 22, 2012 Wine Tasting

Peanut butter ice cream

A partial success. The flavours were fine, but I wonder if I over whipped this, it tasted too clumped and granular, though my children were more generous and forgiving.

• 300mls of full cream milk
• 300mls of cream
• 2 egg yolks
• 130g of crunchy peanut butter
• 100g sugar

Make the flavoured custard - add all the ingredients to a thermomix and set the temperature to 80 degrees C and speed to 4 and cook for 4-5 minutes. Freeze for 4-5 hours then whip and cream in the blender and freeze for a further few hours.

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Ch. La Patache 1995

Date: Sun, Apr 22, 2012 Wine Tasting

Pomerol, Bordeaux, France. Merlot. 12.5%. Cork. Source: Cellar.

A very modest bottle which I had purchased long ago, before my wine obsession had fungated. The store I bought it from is no more, gobbled up by one of the retail behemoths. It's been gathering dust ever since. . .

The notion that at night all cows are black is apt. Varietally indistinct it smells old and mature, cigar and cabbage, leather and bandages. How appropriate that the label has a pair of horses. Cows and horses. Brettanomyces. . . In the dark it does feel and smell like Bordeaux, it's pleasingly leafy, spiced and mostly uncoiled.

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Saturday

Date: Sat, Apr 21, 2012 Wine Tasting

and some long overdue, though mostly superficial changes to the format.

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Delatite Dead Man's Hill Gewürztraminer 2009

Date: Wed, Sep 22, 2010 Wine Tasting

Upper Golbourn, Victoria, Australia. Gewürztraminer. 13.5%. Screwcap. Approx $A20.

Being slightly number obsessed I almost look forward to receiving my monthly power bill. From the most recent statement, I would infer that the days are growing longer and more specifically, that there was a lot more sunshine in August 2010 than August 09. . . Of course the evidence for this is available from a much more direct and aesthetic source. The streets are scented with magnolia and the Cherry blossom trees seem particularly heavy with petals, while the air is filled with all manner of allergen and insect.

It seemed appropriate then to select a floral and perfumed wine to dissect. Pale with flashes of green, this smells of musk and fresh lychee, but also flint. It's quite forward, crunchy and gripping, the acidity is pleasing, but the flavour profile seems short. A wine of medium body and medium interest. . .

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Weekend wines

Date: Sun, Sep 19, 2010 Wine Tasting

Frankland Estate Isolation Ridge Riesling 2002. (Great Southern, Western Australia. 13%. Screwcap)

The re birth of the screwcap started with Riesling at the turn the century, as an avowed convert I still find it surprising and slightly disconcerting when I open bottles from the start of the revolution. The freshness is extraordinary. Tonight two examples, an infantile Houghton Frankland Riesling from 2001 which is still bright and tinted with green, and this youthful Isolation Ridge, which is just starting to show the spots of adolescence. After a few hours of sniffing I can discern star fruit, though more typically at the opening I found lime and toast. Crunchy and long, there is a suggestion of grapefruit pith and slightly unctuous and salty flesh. 92. Now - 2015+

Jamsheed Great Western Garden Gully Syrah 2008 (Great Western, Victoria, Australia. 13.5%. Diam.)

Delicious, though for me, marginally less so when compared to the Yarra Valley edition. Dark and vibrant, the first sniff and sip are heady and dense with sensation. Perfumed with stalk and spice and stewed berries, while in the mouth I'm distracted by competing signals; it's creamy with a hint of sweetness, which seems confection like in it's intensity. Turkish delight and cherries, surely I'm drinking perfume. . . After a few more sips, my taste buds and brain have accommodated and I can see the poise and appreciate the blueberries and the meaty tannins. Presumably, like its Yarra sibling, it will be better still in the days ahead. 92+ Now - 2020.

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