Thymiopoulos Vineyards Young Vines Xinomavro 2011

Thymiopoulos Vineyards Young Vines Xinomavro 2011

  11:00    Stu.

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Xinomavro – fancy playing that on a triple word score in Scrabble.  Hailing from Macedonia on Greece’s north, its name means ‘acidic and black’ and by jove it is.

Has a lovely radiance in the glass, and seemingly aids in the delivery of forward, upfront fruit character in the form of juniper and cherry.

Smooth and clean in the mouth with good fruit character, cherry and plums in the main.  The acid and tannin here combine to propel the wine forward further.  Finishes drying, with the tannin most evident.   

However it is testament to the quality of the wine that the fruit steps forward again for one last word.  91 – Very Good

Source: Retail, Grand Central Cellars
Price: $26
Alcohol: 13.5%
Closure: Cork
Importer: http://www.douglaslambwines.com.au/

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Golden Grove Vermentino 2012

Golden Grove Vermentino 2012

  10:30    Stu.

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Vermentino in Australia has been largely typecast as a clean, refreshing style, suited to warmer climes and perfectly matched with seafood.  That’s largely how it is.

Then something like this comes along where the winemakers have sought to play with the variety a little, in this case using partial fermentation in barrel, to fly in the face of this prevailing type. 

Spice, florals and creamy lemon/ citrus provide the typical aromatic intro, the lead-in to a clean, fresh palate.  There it starts to deviate from the typical path, with hints of mineral providing revealing glimpses.   

Further, texture, via a fuller, richer, almost waxy feel to proceedings brings you home, carried by a good acid backbone.  A good match with seafood, yes; a clean, refreshing simple whitewash of flavour - it doesn’t have to be so. 92 – Very Good

Source: Gift
Price: $22
Alcohol: 13.9%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: http://goldengroveestate.com.au

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Down to Earth Wrattonbully Sauvignon Blanc 2012

Down to Earth Wrattonbully Sauvignon Blanc 2012

  21:00    Stu.

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Down to Earth represents a more modern style of Sauvignon Blanc for the Terre à Terre team and the resultant wine shows typically Sauvignon Blanc aromatics with fresh tropical, bright, fruit coupled with notes of citrus and zest.

More than just aroma, further interest has been added through the employment of time on lees and the stirring thereof, building texture, resulting in good shape and feel in the mouth.  Hints of spice and mineral at its core; concludes with good length, line and fair persistence of flavour.  90 - Good

Source: Sample
Price: $26
Alcohol:13.9%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: http://terreaterre.com.au/

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Mandoleto Catarratto Sicilia 2011

Mandoleto Catarratto Sicilia 2011

  10:30    Stu.

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Lovely pale yellow colour, indicative of lemon scent within, further augmented by hints of tropical fruit, green pear and shell-accented mineral notes.

Touch of weight on the front palate, lemon and hints of cheese sit afront clean and crisp acids - touch of mineral here in the mouth too.

Clean and fresh, you instantly going for another pour on conclusion of that which went before it.  Calls gently for seafood as you relax on your terrace overlooking the coast.  89 - Good

Source: Sample
Price: $15
Alcohol: 12.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: http://mandoleto.com.au/mandoleto

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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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