Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz 2008

Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz 2008

  16:32    Stu.

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Impenetrably black wine with a vibrant purple rim.  Big on flavour, it smells expensive with lashings of oak, bound up with rich, sweet black fruit and twists of licorice.  Vanillin - fruit - hints of darker spice edged-aromatics conclude matters.

Gently spiced on entry, smooth with a fuller feel - the spice builds.  There's drying tannin against the oak, pulling fruit flavour through; firmly in the big-is-best camp.

There's good fruit structure here, the wine barely shifts over three days of being opening.  You know it will age well, and you'd be looking for it to mellow with time.  92 - Very Good

Source: Sample
Price: $70
Alcohol: 14.5%
Closure: Screwcap, Stelvin Luxe
Website: http://www.foxcreekwines.com

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Thorn-Clarke Sandpiper Eden Valley Riesling 2011

Thorn-Clarke Sandpiper Eden Valley Riesling 2011

  12:06    Stu.

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Trust in Riesling to shake me from a little wine malaise.

Lemon, lemon sherbet, higher notes of citrus blossom with a loose framework of stony mineral.  Some underlying tropical notes complete the aromatic picture.

Juicy, fresh, hints of apple.  Feels a little looser and approachable now, than some of the tightly coiled 2011s tasted.   Acid is still noticeable, but has settled from the razor-like, teeth-achingly sharp position of around a year ago.

Finishes fresh and long - citrus a consistent theme through.  90 - Good

Source: GFWS
Price: $16
Alcohol: 12%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: http://www.thornclarkewines.com.au/

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Hugh Hamilton Black Blood II Shiraz 2010

Hugh Hamilton Black Blood II Shiraz 2010

  21:55    Stu.

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Tasted at Swirl, Sniff, Spit's Scarce Earth tasting and again a day and two days later.  From a vineyard planted in 1993, off of the Mcmurtrie road and on sandy loam over alluvial river flat soils.

Dark, dense, tarry, chocolate notes against hints of plum and mulberry.  Tasted alongside the Brash Higgins SHZ 09, this came across as a sullen bruiser in comparison to the light perfume of that wine.

Tannin here was more forward too, grainy, tingly tannin.  Savoury notes weaving their way around the palate, generating a lovely persistence of flavour and feel.  It really was the exquisite tannin structure that made this wine for me, good chewy tannin.  Long, fine and drying - working with the inherent flavour of the wine.  94 - Excellent

Source: Swirl Sniff Spit Scarce Earth Tasting Leftovers
Price: $50
Alcohol: 14.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: http://www.hughhamiltonwines.com.au/

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Brash Higgins SHZ Shiraz 2009

Brash Higgins SHZ Shiraz 2009

  15:57    Stu.

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I've seen some interesting literary references applied to reviews of Brash Higgins wines this week.  If I were to extend the theme here, I'd be thinking Suskind's Perfume, not for any link to morality, more the reference to smell and its relationship to emotion, place and time.

Initially the wine displays an overt perfume, one I heard referenced by well-regarded scribe Jeremy Pringle as (and I hope neither he, nor the wine's proprietor mind me paraphrasing/referencing): "like a lady who had applied a little too much scent to her person".

Given time, it settles, and 24 hours later it shows choc-plum-orange notes, still fresh and fragrant, but hinting at the depth within.  More than once its perfume, did make me think of Mataro.

Dense, richly layered, with hints of choc-mint on the palate.  Opening up it shows itself to be more expressive, gravelly, grainy, with hints of herbs and violets.  Fine tannins, clean through a generous length.  92 - Very Good

Source: #ScarceEarth Tasting
Price: $37
Alcohol:14.7%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: http://brashhiggins.com

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A.Retief Botrytis Grenache 2010

A.Retief Botrytis Grenache 2010

  22:27    Stu.

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Triumph over tragedy, delight over despair.  However you want to frame it, Alex Retief has fashioned a curio, a wine to have the boffs guessing.  But more than that, a downright interesting drink and a rather good pairing on a Sunday night with some 85% cocoa Green & Blacks (in my case).

Storms during vintage and the resultant humidity saw some disease pressure amongst Retief's Grenache vines in the Hilltops region.  Rather than just rejecting the fruit, Retief opted to craft a Botrytis Grenache.

Sweet, musky, rose and hints of Turkish delight.  Luscious and unctuous, the full mouth-feel of the botrytis style marks it out.  Faint hints of raspberry, but quite light.  Still, it struck me as rather delicate.  Interesting.  Really interesting.  89 - Good

Source: Sample
Price: $25
Alcohol: 10%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: http://www.aretief.com.au/

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Crittenden Los Hermanos Saludo Txakoli

Crittenden Los Hermanos Saludo Txakoli

  21:58    Stu.

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Txakoli (chack-oli) is the Basque name for Petit Manseng, a grape that seems to have a slightly different interpretation depending on which side of the Pyrenees it's made.

Here we have a golden wine, hints of straw, lemon and zest; sea spray/ briny: a 'fresh' aromatic profile.  Not complex, no need - or intent I believe - for it to be.

Fresh, zing - youthful spritz that gives the illusion of texture/ minerality.   Clean - and again that word - refreshing.  Good acid profile, little length - but that's not what it's about.  To possibly understand this maybe take yourself to San Sebastian/ Donostia, and one of its many Pintxos bars.  Seek, fun and refreshment, it's really about lazy grazing, casual consumption.  89 - Good

Source: Retail, SBH Cellars
Price: $15
Alcohol: 11.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: http://crittendenwines.com.au/

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Mandoleto Nero d'Avola 2011

Mandoleto Nero d'Avola 2011

  21:37    Stu.

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Initially quite elegantly perfumed: lavender and blueberry, before savoury charm takes over - hints of leather, bitumen and tobacco.

Savoury tannin, graphite-mineral character and black fruits completing the equation.  A good peak peak of lively acidity shows how versatile the wine is when paired with food.  Good finish, with a mix of acid, tannin and the aforementioned savoury charm.  89 - Good

Source: Sample
Price: $13-15
Alcohol: 13.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: http://mandoleto.com.au/mandoleto

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