Semillon Tasting

Semillon Tasting

  08:11    Stu.

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A tasting group I am involved with - Swirl, Sniff, Spit - organised a Semillon tasting that sought to demonstrate the diversity of styles that can be found with the Semillon grape. Brief tasting notes that follow represent the range of wines shown on the night. 

Bracket 1 - Sparkling

Bimbadgen, Hunter Valley, NV

Ripe, citrus fresh, easy going ability to drink now.  Good aromatics, with some tang.  A quaffer - get it down you.

St Agouant, 1999 'Blanc des Blancs'

Over ten years on lees gives the wine smooth and creamy texture and mouthfeel, Balanced with good acid structure and fine aroma. 

Bracket 2 - Young Semillon

Murray Street Vineyards Semillon 2010

Excellent value for $20.  Showing some developmental attributes, but this was all about fresh citrus and lemon curd on the night.  Wanted a plate of calamari to accompany this. Suspect it has some life ahead of it too.

Scarborough Wine Green Label

Good value too.  Made more in a 'savvy' style, exhibiting youthful and fresh attributes. Herbaceous, grassy and a hint of lime.  Crisp 'n' crunchy too. 

Bracket 3 - South Burnet, QLD

Barambah First Grid 2008

Offered to Swirl, Sniff, Spit on the understanding that it was in the 'hole' and needed some further developmental time to show its best.  A slight slatey note with some pickle characters and asparagus.  

Clovely Estate Left Field Semillon 2006

Showing lovely toasty and age characters as befits the age.  Good length and honeyed notes.  Top drawer and a perfect segue to Bracket 4. 

Bracket 4 - Aged Semillon

Meerea Park Alexander Munro 2005

Layered, complex.  Still showing citrus toward the back end and a creaminess through the middle.  Plenty in reserve: you think the wine is done when it kicks into 2nd gear.  Had me in raptures on the night.  Table wine of the night for me.

Peter Lehmann Margaret 2005

More bling than a rude boy rap artist this wine.  Classic Barossa warmer climate profile. Still showing some texture and fruit in its profile.  Classy and elegant. 

Bracket 5 - Off-Dry and Barrel Ferment

Thomas Wines 6 Degrees Semillon

Enticingly aromatic and shows its good dose of extra sugar in an approachable way.  Nice shape approaching its conclusion.  Reminiscent of crushed 'love hearts' for those familiar with those sweets/ lollies.

Juniper Estate Semillon 2008

Barrel fermentation provides interesting aromatics and a touch of funk from some indigenous yeasts.  Toasty, a touch of herb.  The palate comes across a bit flinty, with a hint of mineral.  More than one comment on the night that there were some similarities to Chardonnay. 

Bracket 6 - Stickie & Sweeties

Punt Road Venda 2010 Botrytis Semillon

Honeyed aromas, delicate citrus and mandarin.  Lovely unctuous texture in the mouth. Where's the cheese?

De Bortoli Black Noble

Basically Noble One from a Solera.  A barrique of Noble One is held back each year and added into the Solera.  Started out in 1979, average age of 18 years.  Since 2003 has been 100% Semillon (prior to that some PX was included).  Caramelised toffee, raisins, coffee, chocolate.  Need I say more?  I don't do Xmas pud - this will be my liquid substitute this year.

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Hahndorf Hill Grüner Veltliner 2011

Hahndorf Hill Grüner Veltliner 2011

  21:09    Stu.

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Patrick Haddock may think he pioneered the marketing slogans for Hahndorf Hill releases, but those 60s folksters Simon & Garfunkel were singing the virtues of Grüner Veltliner before Mr Pom was even drinking from a bottle!

"Slow down, you move too fast, 
you've got to make the morning last
Just kickin' down the cobble-stones, 
lookin' for fun and feelin' GrüVe"

Hahndorf Hill first released a Grüner in 2010, and along with Lark Hill, Stoney Rise and K1 represent Australia's current producers of the variety.

Much more than a target for witty slogans, Hahndorf Hill have adopted the role of incubator and mentor for the variety in the Adelaide Hills, disseminating plant material around the region - enabling it to become recognised as its leading light.

This wine itself offers a pretty approach, florals, some crisp green apple and blossom, peach and white pepper.  It does not, to me, smell as it tastes.  Entry shows a slight minerally 'crunch' to the wine, offering up texture and a pulsing introduction to the acid of the wine.

The finish is dry, exhibiting a 'glacial' purity; fresh, driving and clean.  Greater than the sum of its different parts, this went rather well with a Mee Goreng in these quarters.  Seeing as Larry Jacobs doesn't, I'll take my hat off to him for a sterling wine.

Source: Sample

Price: $28

Alcohol: 12%

Closure: Screwcap

Website: http://www.hahndorfhillwinery.com.au/

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The Colonial Estate Emissaire Reserve Riesling 2008

The Colonial Estate Emissaire Reserve Riesling 2008

  10:18    Stu.

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This is good shit.

A little backstory: The Colonial Estate had/has holdings across Australia, the US and in Bordeaux.  Despite some good reviews (this received 95 points from Lord Halliday of the Wine Companion) the general consensus was that high RRPs on the wines for new entrants was a little ambitious - this fellow was $33 on 1st release.  

Consequently they were then offered through Get Wines Direct at significantly lower prices.  From memory the GWD advertisement stated the winery was in liquidation, yet the website remain fully functional. 

To the wine itself.  Careful handling, hand picking and sorting, cool transportation from the Eden Valley to the winery operations in the Barossa Valley.  At 3 years it still shows youth and vibrancy.  Lime marmalade, a touch of custard apple.  The palate introduces minerally lemon acid that races through the mouth: pulsing, thrusting, cutting, probing - wave after relentless wave through the roof of the mouth. 

It is this that makes it for me.  And once that is all done, it fades to a gentle finish...gliding to a halt.  You'd figure this will go another 10-15 years.Source: Get Wines Direct

Price: $33 RRP 

Alcohol: 11.5%

Closure: Screwcap

Website: http://colonialwinecompany.com.au/

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Jean-Luc Colombo Les Gravières 2008 Crozes-Hermitage

Jean-Luc Colombo Les Gravières 2008 Crozes-Hermitage

  13:06    Stu.

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UK scribe Jamie Goode has produced an excellent series of blog posts on the Northern Rhone, it was post #4 that brought this wine to my attention.

Jean-Luc Colombo apparently has a reputation for aversion to change in the wines he makes in Cornas, yet he's a somewhat different beast in Crozes-Hermitage, introducing innovative methods in the 40 year old vineyards this wine comes from and throughout the production process. 

Somewhat fruitier in style than I was expecting, black cherry and blackcurrant offered up with background supporting elements of tapenade and plum.  The medium bodied palate quickly makes way for generous amounts of spice.  Moderate tannins carry the spice further, defining the finish.

All up a bright, attractive medium bodied wine.  The finish, quite memorable.  That said I preferred the Yann Chave recently written up here to this.  The price differential on that wine enabling some extra work in the winery to bring the quality up further. 

Source: Retail, Waitrose (UK Supermarket)

Price: $13.99

Alcohol: 13%

Closure: Cork

Website: http://www.vinscolombo.fr/uk/

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A Spot of Solo Dining

A Spot of Solo Dining

  10:18    Stu.

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A blog post by friend Keira McIntosh - The Super Taster - on solo dining, inspired me to have a decent meal out whilst up in Townsville on a short business trip.  My host for the evening was Salt Cellar, self-billed as "Palmer Street's premier wine bar and restaurant" and in all fairness they are right.

My entree was a Ninth Island Pinot Noir 2010 (this website is about wine after all) paired with Maple Glazed Pork Belly, served with pear quinoa, tonka bean cream and sticky balsamic.  Some hastily sought advice from twitter identified this Tassy Pinot Noir (though incorrectly labelled from the Yarra Valley) as possibly the best option. 

Somewhat muted aromatics: sour cherry and a hint of balsamic that matched the pork.  Light chewy tannin - a good foil for the delicate pork. 

The quinoa had a nuttiness I mistook for a sesame snap (it was low-light)! The finish offered more sour cherry. All up rather simple, safe choice that paired well with the pork belly.  

For main course I opted for a Georges Debouef Chiroubles 2009.  From one of the higher sites in Beaujolais, this wine had an ethereal quality to it.  A soft aroma - if you can smell soft.  Juicy strawberry, cassis and redcurrant aromas.  Yes, I could smell it's delicate nature. 

The palate showed excellent harmony.  An incredible lightness followed by some perky acid and then a slight tannic grip to ensure that the mouth is well placed to handle the Confit Duck.  This wine is available in Australia for about $23. Try Cloud Wine

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Best's Great Western Bin 1 Shiraz 2010

Best's Great Western Bin 1 Shiraz 2010

  07:32    Stu.

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There are some wineries operating today that are a living connection to the origins of the Australian wine industry.  Founded in 1866 and stronger than ever, Best's Bin 1 is the entry level Shiraz, an excellent introduction to the winery and regional style.

Hallmark aromatics of red and black fruits provide an introduction, a hint of background menthol, damp coffee grounds and the cool climate flag-bearer white pepper.  Each time I went back to the wine it seemed to offer more.

The aromas provided a perfect segue to a medium bodied spice laden palate, again with an elegant perfume - think crushed Parma Violets - carrying through to a good drying and spicy finish. 

Source: Prize

Price: $25 (online from winery)

Alcohol: 14.5%

Closure: Screwcap

Website: http://www.bestswines.com/

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McLean's Farmgate Shiraz Cabernet 2003

McLean's Farmgate Shiraz Cabernet 2003

  12:27    Stu.

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"Big" Bob McLean was made a Baron of the Barossa in 2011 and I've heard it told that he had been offered inclusion previously, but such is the mark of the man, he didn't feel that his inclusion was worthy.

From those who know, I get the impression that a little bit of "Big" Bob is shown in his wines.  Fruit drawn from the Barossa (sub-region beginning with K I feel I can't mention) and the Eden Valley (Cabernet).  At 8 years of age this wine is still showing generous fruit interwoven with some rather more fragrant violet, and the integration of oak, mocha and chocolate.

Entry shows a silken wine, more chocolate, not necessarily a full wine on the palate, somewhat truncated.  But this is more than made up for it with some generous mouth-filling spice, concentration and carried finish.  Big, but balanced.  Eminently drinkable.

Source: Vinomofo

Price: $40 RRP 

Alcohol: 14.5%

Closure: Cork

Website: www.mcleansfarm.com

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