Clyde Wine and Food Festival

On Sunday I traveled down to Clyde for their annual Wine and Food Festival to understand more about the Alexandra wine region. As I have alluded to in the past there are three wine making regions in Central Otago - Gibbston Valley, Alexandra and Bannockburn (where Felton Road is located).

Whereas Gibbston Valley's issue is sometimes not getting fruit ripe enough and ending up with "vegetal" flavor in their Pinots, Alexandra's problem seemed to lay more with having overly ripe wines with not enough acid or tannins to give the wine structure. Tasty on first sip but the wine ends up "blousy" and unsatisfying.

The one exception I found was the well made Three Miners. Their 2006 Pinot Noir had a ripe cherry flavor with some juicy acid, silky mouth feel and with some light oaky tannin to fill out the wine on the palate. It is a bargain at NZ$25 where most Central Otago Pinot Noir is north of NZ$35. Their vineyard in Alexandra is very new so they have a bright future indeed as the vines mature. Currently they only distribute in New Zealand but I am sure you will see them in the US and UK in the future as production expands. Keep an eye out!

I still think that the real quality Central Otrago Pinot Noirs are being made in the Bannockburn area, and since over 70% of Pinot Noir vines are here, other vintners seem to agree. Just my $0.02.

Tasting the 2005 Bouchard Père et Fils

Earlier this week I had the great fortune to attend a tasting of the 2005 Bouchard Père et Fils red Burgundies at Carrick Vineyard. A veritable who's who of Central Otago winemakers were here to taste a great selection of wines from this renowned négociant. Bouchard Père et Fils are definitely on the way back after some years in the wilderness in the 80's and early 90's and we picked up a distinctive "house style" that was very new worldy - clean, vibrant, juicy and slightly confected wines that were very drinkable (read soft tannins). On the negative side, for me, the wines were sometimes too oak driven but I am told this will integrate with time. A few were outstanding, most were well constructed but there was also definitely a difference in quality between most of the domaine wines and the négociant wines. Whether this is down to viticulture, wine making technique of the vintners that Bouchard bought the barrels from or both is unknown but the domaine wines, with one exception (which may just prove the rule), were noticeably better.

So on to some tasting notes: -

Côte de Beaune - Beaune, Volnay & Pommard

Beaune wines are usually quite supple and round, not quite as muscular as those of the nearby Pommard and not quite as elegant as the floral Volnays.

Beaune 1er Cru 'Grèves - Vigne de l'Enfant Jésus' (domaine wine)
Grèves is one of the best of Beaune's premier crus (some say that it should really be grand cru). 'Vigne de l'Enfant Jésus' is a Bouchard Père et Fils soley owned 4 hectare (10 acre) section of 'Grèves on a steep and sandy slope. The wine was a brilliant light cherry in color, you could shave in its reflection. It was a rich, ripe and robust wine that gave up spice and cherry on the nose. The confected note (powdered sugar, candied fruits) that would show in many of the wines in this tasting was evident. Tannins were "chewy" but the wine lacked a mid palate.

Beaune 1er Cru 'Tuerons' (domaine wine)
From a 21 hectare (52 acre) site south of Grèves of which Bouchard has 2.6 hecatres (6.5 acres), this wine is the only "bargain" of the night being south of $60 a bottle at retail. The wine was a touch "milky" and reduced (read sulfur) in the beginning which blew off over the next hour. Tannins were a touch dry but the wine was rich and also had a high toned finish. If you see this around $50 it is well worth a purchase to cellar for 10+ years.

Volnay’s are the most delicate and fragrant of Côte de Beaune due to the lighter limestone soils.

Volnay 1er Cru ‘Caillerets’ ‘Ancienne Cuvée Carnot’ (domaine wine)
Bouchard has 4 hectares (10 acres) in this vineyard on the south side of the commune. The wine was a deeper cherry than the other Volnays in the flight. Lovely spicy, aromatic nose, with a hint of cocoa (some of that confection again?). Chewy tannins, lovely cheek coating mouth feel, and some mid palate depth with some creamy oak.

Volnay 1er Cru ‘Clos ds Chênes’ (domaine wine)
Considered one of the best premier cru Volnay sites, Bouchard has 0.85 hectares (2 acres). Lightest color of the three Volnays. A ripe cherry, briary nose with a powerful aromatic flowers. Chewiness in the mouth. This is a ripe wine – some of that Bouchard new worldiness again.

Volnay 1er Cru ‘Taillepieds’ (domaine wine)
South of the village and on the northern side of Clos des Chênes, Bouchard owns 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of this 7 hectare (17 acres) site. Our side of the room had a bad bottle, not corked per se but muted and oxidized. I personally would be very disappointed if I paid $100+ for this bottle and opened it in 10 years. Upon tasting a glass from the other side of the room this was the best wine of the flight. An absolutely brilliant wine in the glass – a cherry mirror! High toned, aromatic nose – elegant, spicy and floral. Feminine but also rich and deep, killer acid and good palate depth. A well made wine with a charry, toasty oak that just rounded out the wine, rather than overpower it. Worth the price of admission.

The opposite of Volnay – Pommards are big, strong and muscular. Le Corton is at the northern end of Côte de Beaune produce the biggest wines on the Côte.

Pommard 1er Cru ‘Rugiens’ (domaine wine)
Rugiens is considered one of the classic Pommard sites on a steep, rocky slope near the border with Volnay. Bouchard has a small 0.4 hectare (1.5 acre) plot. An earthy nose, perhaps a little “leafy”. Big powerful red cherry but some dry, hefty oak tannins brought the wine down. Broad and powerful Pommard flavors abound. On its own probably a great wine but outclassed in this company.

Le Corton Grand Cru (domaine wine)
Bouchard owns 3.6 hectares (9 acres) half way up the south-facing slope of the Corton hill. A dark, brilliant cherry in the glass. Power and brawn with deep, deep fruit – hefty mid palate and earthy undertones. Cheek coatingness and chewy tannins. The oak distracts a bit but with a long time in the cellar it should just add some toasty, charry notes (one hopes). This is a very masculine wine. I would age this for a LOOOONNG time if I had a bottle.

Côte de Nuits

Nuits-St-George usually produce rustic, rich wines due to the very complex soils in this commune. Often you pick up some ‘minerally’ notes too. Gevrey-Chambertin is the most northerly of the more prestigious Côte de Nuits communes and ‘Le Cazetiers’ is north of the village adjacent to the revered ‘Clos St-Jacques’. Gevrey-Chambertin wines are full, rich and often meaty.

Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru ‘Cailles’ (domaine wine)
I love Nuits-St-George. The darker berry, rich wines from his commune rock my taste buds. Bouchard owns 1 hectare (2.5 acres) in this 7 hectare (17 acre) site on ths south side of the commune. This wine was the best premier cru wine of the evening for me. Rich and lush, this wine was the whole package. Dark, deep, brilliant cherry in the glass. Lovely, lifted aromatics – this wine had some yin to go with the more traditional Nuits-St-George yang. Lovely silky tannins just made this a great wine. Kudos!

Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru ‘Cazetiers’ (domaine wine)
Bouchard has a miniscule 0.25 hectares (0.6 acres) on this renowned 8 hectare (20 acre) site. Much lighter than the Nuits-St-George in color, but still with that brilliance that marks the 2005 vintage. Sweet fruits on the nose (a tad leafy too which detracts). Powdered confectioners sugar, sweet cherry and chewy tannins. Nice wine but no match for the Nuits-St-George it was paired with.

Grand Crus

Chambertin Grand Cru (domaine wine)
Chambertin is one of the great grand crus. Situated on a gentle incline with limestone soils, Chambertin lies above the Routes des Grand Crus. This was my wine of the evening and I would be tempted to buy a bottle, despite the north of $300 price tag to revisit in 15 years. A rich, dark cherry in the glass with very bright sweet fruits on the nose. Pure, clean floral notes waft from the glass promising an elegant wine. Then in the mouth then wine comes at you with bright darker fruits, rich and firm with robust tannins and rocking “palate bleed” (you can just feel the wine sinking through your tongue). A finish that goes on and on – there is just so much to this wine. Wow!

Chambertin ‘Clos de Beze’ Grand Cru (nègotiant wine)
The two following wines, both non domaine (meaning that Bouchard bought the barrels of wine already made), were controversial and I thought they let the side down. I found this wine virtually undrinkable. Incredibly reduced, like sucking on a burned matchstick, the sulfides stuck out like a sore thumb and a wine fault that I can not forgive from a grand cru. Leaving that aside, the wine was musky and spicy on the nose and very robust and ballsy in the mouth. Some of that “confected-ness” came back again (like “redskins” for those Australians reading this). Too much oak. Not worth the $350+ in my opinion.

Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru (nègotiant wine)
Another wine that was outclassed in this company and again I wonder whether this is again because it is a non domaine wine. Some nice savory notes, but the drying and severe tannins and overextracted oakiness (note, just because a wine is grand cru doesn’t mean it needs 100% new oak). Sweet and disappointing. I would be upset if I paid the $300+ price tag on this wine.

Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru (domaine wine)
Bouchard has a tiny 0.25 hecares (0.6 acres) of this 15 hectare (37 acre) grand cru site that straddles Chambolle-Musigny and Morey-St-Denis. Supple, silky but still rich and deep. A hint of band-aid that doesn’t detract from the wine in my opinion but just adds complexity. Big blue fruit with a gamey edge that was intriguing. I am sure this is a killer wine on its own but just not quite up there with the other grand crus at this tasting.

Clos de Vougeot (domaine wine)
Clos de Vougeot at 51 hectares (125 acres) is the largest grand cru in the Côte de Nuits and is regarded as a second tier grand cru by many and the quality of the wine often depends on how high up the slope you are – the higher, the better. Bouchard’s small domaine parcel is at the top but they also often blend in some purchased wine from down in the lower part of the Clos. From what I understand the 2005 vintage version is made from the domaine parcel only. Very bright and sexy. Silky, rich mouth feel. The wines robustness allows it to hold its charry oak well and gives it tremendous presence. My number three grand cru of the evening. Allen Meadows of Burghound thinks this may be the Clos de Vougeot of the vintage. If so, the cheapest of the Bouchard grand crus at $250 may be a steal.

La Romanée Grand Cru (nègotiant wine, made by Chateau de Vosne-Romanée)
At just 0.85 hectares (2 acres), La Romanée is the smallest A.O.C (Appellation Controllee) in France. Directly up-slope from Romanée-Conti and adjacent to Richebourg, this monopole is regarded as one of the grandest of grand crus. At $1400 a bottle it better be too. I thought it was the second best wine of the night, behind the Chambertin Grand Cru, and the best wine of the flight but most of the room preferred the Bonnes-Mares (the final three blind wines were served as a separate flight from the first three blind grand crus). Intoxicatingly floral and spicy (cloves?) nose. A delicious savoriness and lively cherry fruits – this is a classy wine. A feminine finish that went on and on – like your local Amway representative it would just not go away. I kept returning to this wine again and again. Only three bottles of this wine came to New Zealand and two were consumed at this tasting. I would love to see this wine again in 20 years but alas the $1400 tag is a touch outside my budget. And by the way, the only other bottle in New Zealand was bought that evening by an anonymous participant at the tasting!

So does the 2005 vintage live up to the hype? You bet! As Allen Meadows (The Burghound) has said every wine seems to be tasting “up in class” – your villages like premier crus and your premier crus like grand crus. Also Bouchard is definitely back – and they seem to have learned a lot from the new world about clean, well constructed wines. I would definitely recommend Bouchard Père et Fils as a house to explore for newcomers to Burgundy.

Some quick tasting notes

Had a lovely evening with the "Folks" sitting on their deck overlooking Sydney Harbor on my way to New Zealand for harvest. Some crackerjack wines and Sydney Rock Oysters - can't be beat.

2006 Bindi Quartz Chardonnay
Some say this may just be Australia's best Chardonnay and I can see why. It took some time to open up, but when it did it was magical. Burgundian in construction, lovely full, soft and sexy mouth feel with some smooth oak. Lemon, melon, green apple scents waft from the glass intoxicatingly. The acid in this baby promises some benefit from ageing. A winner of a drop!

2000 Giaconda Estate Chardonnay
While a bit of an unfair competition since this bottle had a six year head start, Rick Kinzbrunner, for me, still holds the title of making Australia's best Chardonnay. Luscious and richly honeyed, the oak that is often overwhelming in youth is completely integrated with six years. The mouthfeel alone is worth the price of admission. Toasty and briôchy, with lovely fruit and a killer finish - this is a well constructed wine. Major kudos! While it can last a few more years in the cellar, the 2000 is tasting so well I say drink up!

As a control we also had a bottle of 2006 Penfolds Bin 311 Tumbarumba Chardonnay. While outclassed by the Bindi and Giaconda, this wine was no slouch and a bargain at AUD$30.

Tonight I fly for my two months of harvest at Felton Road and start by directing traffic in the carpark for the Gibbston Harvest Wine Festival tomorrow. Hopefully I will get a chance to post some tasting notes from the event soon.

Australians all let us rejoice for we are young and free/ We've golden soil and wealth for toil/ Our home is girt by sea;

First an apology, as some of you know I have just moved to the UK and being in the middle of moving house, my wife getting a dream job and preparing for my move to New Zealand next week for two months of harvest has meant the blog has suffered. I promise lots of fun stuff once harvest starts for me next week. Another season of rotting fruit for a living! So now that the apology is out of the way, back to original programming

One of the benefits of being in London and being part of "the trade" as they say is getting to attend some pretty amazing tastings. Last month I rocked up to the annual "Australia Day Tasting" put on by Wine Australia at Arsenal Football Stadium. Over two hundred producers (with well over five hundred wines) showed up to highlight the diversity and quality of wine from Australia.

One of the new initiatives from Wine Australia is their "Regional Heroes" program, designed to highlight the iconic wines from regions that have distinct and diverse characteristics, was on display through focused varietal tasting rooms dedicated to Shiraz, Cabernet, Semillon, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. To me it was quite clear that while Australia still produces the world's best Semillon, and some Shiraz that can compete with top Rhône producers, we are still taking baby steps with our Pinot Noir and there are still only a couple of producers of Chardonnay that can be said to be playing on the world stage.

Some of the highlights of the tasting for me:-

2006 Ten Minutes by Tractor Pinot Noir
Brilliant light cherry color. Elegant floral nose and scrumptious red fruit flavor. Great palate weight, soft integrated tannins and feminine finish make for a great example of Mornington Peninsula Pinot!

2005 Yabby Lake Pinot Noir
Where Ten Minutes by Tractor was light on its feet, this was all power! Dark cherry in the glass. Rich, opulent and broad balanced by lovely acidity. My only gripe is that it was missing a bit of mid palate. Very different example of what Mornington Peninsula can be.

2006 Bay of Fires Tigress Pinot Noir
A Tassie entry - very light strawberry color, translucent almost. Screaming acid which works with a high toned floral wine. Tannins are a tad harsh right now but this is only a puppy. A couple of years in the cellar should make for a great refreshing Pinot for Turkey day!

2005 Stonier Reserve Pinot Noir
The Pinot standout of the day. I have been disappointed in my experiences with Stonier before, but not this time. Brilliant and bright red cherry in color. Yummy red fruits (cherry, raspberry and wild strawberry) and highly floral. A touch of baking spices, super soft tannins, crisp acidity and a singing, long finish make this wine a winner. This tastes so good right now!

2005 Giaconda Estate Chardonnay
One of the few estates that can be said to compete on a global level with the best of Burgundy and California this wine combined the soft mouthfeel of sur lie vinification, peachy and creamy malolactic notes with a lovely high toned finish. The oak is dominant at the moment but my experience with Giaconda is that it needs time to integrate before showing best. A stunner in 4-5 years.

2006 Shaw & Smith M3 Chardonnay
The new kids on the block. A stony and briny flavor (think a beach of slate with the surf misting around) with some lemon and melon and toasty, briochy oak. Super long finish. I may be a convert.

2005 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay
The first wine I started collecting (since 1995) and still one of Australia's best Chardonnays - although I think they have ceded the title in recent years to the likes of Bindi and Giaconda. This wine was classic Leeuwin Estate. Honeyed with ripe peach and pear. Has that "maltiness" that Leeuwin always seems to have when young and a charry oakiness that needs a few years to integrate. Lovely soft mouthfeel from traditional sur lie vinification. This wine still has its baby fat in full view and while it will be a good wine, not the best I have seen from the estate.

2006 Glaetzer Amon Ra Shiraz
Ben Glaetzer is a genius and is younger than I am! He is already making world class wine and his 2006 Amon Ra is no slouch. Rich, blackberry, spicy and deeply brooding. A softer oakiness that comes from his "new school" use of French rather than American wood. This wine is unctuous in the mouth and should be a stunner in 5 years. Kudos!

2004 Kay Brother "Block 6" Shiraz
Made with fruit from vines planted in 1892 (since phylloxera wiped out France in the late 19th Century these are probably some of the oldest vines in the world!). Aged in 100% American and Balkan oak in the traditional Australian style, this wine was a deep inky purple in the glass. Notes of pepper, blackberry and meat predominate. Cheek coating tannins. Superbly concentrated - this is a wine to enjoy on its own in your favorite chair and contemplate. A Parker favorite - he gave it 98 points!

2005 Brokenwood Graveyard Shiraz
Always a favorite in the Nielsen household - this is Hunter Shiraz at its finest. My experience with Graveyards is they need 10+ years to shine and this one was a tight as a drum. Just a brilliant, rich dark wine with amazing clarity. Traditional Hunter spice and sweet leather came through. Black cherry and blackberry. Its 80% new oak shows but that will mellow with its 10 years in the cellar. A little "hot" on the finish which should integrate with time (hopefully).

2005 Giaconda Warner Vineyard Shiraz
The "best in show" Shiraz for me by a country mile was another Rick Kinzbrunner stunner. Floral and "blue fruit" dominant (which I love in a Shiraz) with tannins that were so soft and luscious. Boy, oh, boy this is a winner!

2005 John Duval "Entity" Shiraz
Deep purple, blackcurrant and blackberry. Big robust tannins says "age me! age me!". Lovely spiciness and some oak that needs time to integrate. A super long finish - ahhh, this is wine! Incredibly well constructed wine that shows off John's skills from his 28 years at Penfolds including 16 years of being in charge of "Grange". Get in on this one before the world catches on!

1983 Château Margaux (Bordeaux, France)

Also enjoyed at Bennett and Linda's with a lovely rack of Australian Lamb.

Intense garnet in the glass - clarity has held up well with age. Cigar box, cedar, violets herby nose - this is Bordeaux. There was still enough fruit, predominately cassis, to pull all the other flavors together but this bottle was definitely in its prime. The vanilla from the oak highlighted the fruit and the silky smooth tannins were a delight with the lamb.

This was my first bottle of Château Margaux and I hope it will not be my last. An incredible food wine and a great match for the lamb.

Score: 93 Points
Price: $700 (Wine House)

2002 Sine Qua Non "Just For The Love Of It" Syrah (California, USA)

By golly, have I been on a roll. My FIFTH Sine Qua Non in a little over a month, this time courtesy of Bennett Traub and his wonderful wife Linda who hosted Emma and myself for a farewell dinner at their house before we jaunted off to our new home in England.

Now before I get into my tasting note, I wanted to get out in the open my thoughts on "100 Point" wines. This wine was my second Robert Parker 100 Pointer, the other being the 2003 Sine Qua Non "Poker Face". My opinion has always been that there is no such thing as a "100 Point" wine - I mean what happens if you come across a wine that is better? It's not like we live in Nigel Tufnel's world where we can go to eleven ("You're on ten on your guitar. Where do you go from there? Where? Nowhere. Exactly!"). As I pondered this conundrum for the umpteenth time Emma turned to me and said "Well if it's not 100 points, what is the fault [in the wine]?". Ummmmm...

The best thing about Sine Qua Non for me is that it has never (in my five bottles) not lived up to the hype. A dark, brilliant purple in the glass - a hint of what was to come. An exquisite, otherworldly nose that refused to be pinned down. Constantly evolving, first showing mouth-watering meatiness including bacon fat and beef blood, before pushing into more floral (violets) and peppery, coffee territory. In the mouth this was an extraordinarily well constructed wine - Manfred's talents as an artisan can not be exaggerated. The wine had linearity without being straight-forward, it was mouth coating without being unctuous, it hit on every spot on your palate and finished with a clear, ringing finish that I could still taste after the hour long car ride home. This wine had everything.

Still, I haven't got my head around the "100 Point" thing so let me do an artful dodge for now and give it a 99.999 which rounds up to 100. Ehh?!

Score: 99.999
Price: $630 (Saratoga Wine Exchange)

1998 Sine Qua Non "E-Raised" Syrah (California, USA)

Am I a lucky bugger recently or what? Getting to try my first four Sine Qua Nons in the period of a month.

Like the Sine Qua Non's before, this wine did not disappoint. For an aged wine, the color has stood up well. Dark and brooding, with no hint of brickishness even at the rim! Rich and ripe black fruits, bacon fat, and violets on the nose - a hedonistic delight of aromatics. Exquisitely well constructed wine on the palate - silky smooth, integrated tannins, with a long linear progression of flavor and an elegant finish that goes on and on like the Energizer bunny. Big and brooding yet still delicate and elegant - does wine get better than this?

I had this wine in a blind tasting of twenty Syrahs that scored 95 or more points from Robert Parker and I ranked it Number 1 overall. Damn shame that this wine is so expensive or I would be backing up the truck. I don't know how long I can wait to get on the mailing list... best guess - 2018, anyone?

Score: 98 points
Price: $395 (Blicker Pierce Wagner Wine Merchants)

2004 Sine Qua Non "Poker Face" Syrah (California, USA)

I had the luck to have this wine alongside the Sine Qua Non "Into The Dark" at the Jemrose Vineyards harvest party.

This wine, along with being my first experience of Sine Qua Non, was also my first Robert Parker "100 Point Wine".

Decadent is the perfect word. Rich, lush, black fruit, pepper, violets, coffee, meat and some toasty oak notes on the nose - what a heady mix! The darkest of dark purple in the glass. The palate was immensely lush, yet focused, building and building up to a crescendo of fruit - an explosion in your mouth, finally finishing with some focused acidity.

I could get used to this - unfortunately my position on the wait list probably won't come up for 10 years or more!

Score: 96+ points
Price: $400 or so (Winecommune.com)

2004 Sine Qua Non "Into The Dark" Grenache (California, USA)

Had at the Jemrose Vineyards Harvest Party (more on the party later) - a very generous gift from Russell Bevan!

O-M-G, this is my first ever "Sine Qua Non" - a cult winery that is impossible to find and has a wait list of over 5 years - and it lived up to the hype.

This is a full throttle wine, it comes at you with pure force of personality, yet it is still incredibly graceful and lithe. Imagine an athlete that is a dual gold medalist in gymnastics and weight lifting!?!

Black cherry, licorice and smoke with silky, fine grained tannins. Must be some big time alcohol in there by no heat on the palate. Color was a spectacular deep black-purple. Mouth feel was like sucking on velvet.

Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy...

Score: 98 points
Price: $250 or there abouts (WineCommune)

2005 Rosella's Vineyard Horizontal Tasting

To celebrate harvest, Emma (my wife) being back from China, and having Rosella's fruit in the door, I put together a horizontal tasting of (almost) all the producers who made a 2005 Pinot Noir from Rosella's, most of which came from my cellar (plus a few trades with winemakers - thank you to those who did, you know who you are). We also threw in a "ringer" to add a twist to the tasting. Gary and Rosella Franscioni own a pug so we thought it would be appropriate for our two little boys, Chester and Mister Darcy, to be the "hosts of the tasting.

Aside: A horizontal tasting is when you select a year (and often restrict it to one vineyard) and taste producers against each other to get a sense of the quality of the vineyard, the vintage and of course the different producers idea of the best way to make a killer wine from very similar grapes. A vertical tasting on the other hand is when you select one wine, say for example of Penfolds Grange, and taste different vintages against each other to get a sense for the wine as it evolves and the style/quality. All of the wines were served "single blind", which means we knew what wines were in the tasting but not which bottles were which since we emptied all the bottles into unmarked decanters.

Overall the tasting was very enjoyable. The unique Rosella's "citrus" component was evident in most of the wines but there were many different approaches taken to expressing Rosella's, some pulled off better than others. The bright red fruit was also in evidence across all the bottles and there was plenty of refreshing acidity to go around. A lot of the wines also had that "funk" (forest floor, mushroominess) one sees often in Rosella's. I am glad that I have stocked my cellar pretty full of most of these puppies!

So how did I rank them?

1. 2005 Kosta Browne Rosella's Vineyard
This wine was the stand out of the tasting for me. Mouth coatingly voluptuousness and superb palate weight - bright red fruit, orange zest, grapefruit, baking spices and cleansing, refreshing acidity. A damn sexy wine.

2. 2006 Kosta Browne Rosella's Vineyard (Barrel Sample)
Very young but this wine has some promise. A perfect yin-yang match of masculine power in the mid palate with the feminine high toned lift in the finish. I like this a lot! I hope I am not developing a house palate. ;-)

[this wine was the ringer to confuse everyone and was the #2 wine for the group - a hint at what a great year the 2006 vintage will be for Kosta Browne]

3. 2005 A.P. Vin Rosella's Vineyard
Excellent well crafted wine. Rosella's citrus (grapefruit on this one), red fruits (raspberry, strawberry) and a touch of the "funk". This wine gets your attention with its power and acid. Well done Andrew!

4. 2005 Loring Wine Company Rosella's Vineyard
Citrus, raspberry, strawberry and cranberry - wow! What tasty juice! Tannins give this one some backbone. Cleansing acidity balanced the fruit well. Neck and neck with #3 for me. Could have gone either way. Definitely one of the best crafted wines of the tasting. As always, Brian delivers.

5. 2005 August West Rosella's Vineyard
Ed Kurtzman brings it with this wine! Baking spices, grapefruit, raspberry, lemon zest, and cherries - and throw in a bit of funk for good measure. Lovely mouth weight. These #3, #4, #5 wines were so close - different but very good. I took the rest of the bottle home later to have with dinner and it continued to get more impressive. So glad I have eight more of these in my cellar, the most of any 2005 Pinot Noir.

6. 2005 Siduri Rosella's Vineyard
Plush, velvety and ripe. Very funky (which I like) but the fruit was hiding a bit for me. Still a delicious wine. This was Emma's #2 wine.

7. 2005 Vision Cellars Rosella's Vineyard
A little thin for me but well received by the group. Ripe fruit, a little bit of harshness from tannins which were less integrated than the higher scoring wines. Not a bad drop but outclassed for me by the others in the field.

8. 2005 Roar Rosella's Vineyard
Could this wine be any more polarizing. My wifes #1 wine (and the #1 of many in the group), several in the tasting including myself ranked this at the back of the pack. Way too much oak for my taste with what I call a "halo" mouth feel (all sides and roof with no mid-palate weight). In the positives though, this one had a great floral nose that I didn't see in many others. Lacked the complexity that the top wines showed.

9. 2005 Morgan Rosella's Vineyard
For me this wine was last by a long way. Bitter, astringent, and green (unripe fruit). Tannin sticks out like a poke in the eye. Not enjoyable.

All in all, I think the tasting showed what an amazing vineyard Gary and Rosella have and how unique the flavor profile is from their little plot. Who would have thought that you could get grapefruit and mushroom funk in the same glass?

The wine paired well with my signature harvest dish -- Salmon smoked over dried Rosella's stems.

Does working in a winery get any better than this?

1975 Château Palmer (Bordeaux, France)

Since we were sorting the last of the merlot from Jemrose Vineyards for the new Jemrose Estate label, Shane Finley (the Associate Winemaker at Kosta Browne) opened this treat for us.

Château Palmer is a third growth Bordeaux estate in Margaux, whose grand vin is a blend of 45-ish percent Merlot, 45-ish percent Cabernet Sauvignon and between 5 and 8 percent Petit Verdot.

1975 was heralded at the time as "a vintage of the century" (funny how the French always have around ten or more of those a century) but not all of the wines have been up to the hype. Our bottle deteriorated very quickly in the glass. The first few whiffs were classic aged Bordeaux. Plums, earth, mushroom and dried herbs filled the nose. Very smooth, soft palate with a touch of grip left from the tannins. I was amazed they were still here after 32 years!

An enjoyable wine, but I wish it held together more. It was all over in about an hour - completely fell apart on us. Oh well, back to the sorting table

Tasting with a school-mate

Erin and I finally caught up for a drink last week - we are only 10 miles away from each other and with the craziness of harvest we haven't had the chance to see each other. Quite embarrassing really considering that we normally live 7952 miles away from each other.

Erin and I both study at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, Australia in their Wine Science program and while I am at Kosta Browne for harvest, she is at Alderbrook - a producer of Dry Creek and Russian River Valley wines (most well known for their Zinfandel).

What do two wine students do when they hang out? Well, they drink! We opened a bottle of 2001 Dehlinger Goldridge Pinot Noir and scarfed it down. Erin didn't want to post her notes on the wine so instead we have notes from "Taster X":-

A nose of savory meat, dirty and gutsy. Awesome, total mouth feel - a meal in a glass! Integrated and complex, almost salty, superb weight.

I agree, this wine was special. Good times, good times...

2005 Amisfield Central Otago Pinot Noir (Central Otago, NZ)

Very dark, deep color in the glass - I love it!

Fresh red fruits on nose and palate: strawberries and bright red cherry. Some interesting spices and earthiness too.

Very "juicy" and mouth watering with a long cleansing finish. My flat mate loved it!

Well worth the $27 tariff!

Score: 90 Points
Price: $27 (Bottle Barn)

2005 Chasseur Durrell Chardonnay (Sonoma Valley, USA)

Lively golden straw color - this wine promises a lot just at first glance. Lush tropical notes on the nose, not overpowering passionfruit or banana though, think guava! Tasty Golden Delicious apple and apricot fruit notes and a bready, first rise of dough, smell and taste that is divine.

The wine has all of the mouth coating fattiess you want from a Chardonnay with none of the cloying butteriness that often comes with it. Smooth, long clean finish makes you want to go back for more.

Reminds me more of a Meursault than any Californian I have tasted recently. Just "sex on a stick"!

Score: 95 points
Price: Not Yet Released (Chasseur Wines)

Von Simmern Riesling Hattenheimer Nussbrunnen Kabinett Trocken 2005 (Rheingau, Germany)

Like sucking on a peach stone that got dropped on slate.

Tasty minerality, green apple, guava, lime peel, and lemon custard. Great acid and grip, with a long clean finish with a "titch" of sugar.

Superb value!

Score: 89 points
Price: $14 (wine.com)

2005 Pisoni Estate Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands, USA)

Wow! This is one of the best Pinots I have tasted this year!

Deep, deep ruby red. Beautiful expressive nose of blueberry, raspberry, baking spices and subtle oak notes.

In the mouth this wine takes you off on the ride of a lifetime. Starting with the bright raspberry, red cherry and citrus that Santa Lucia Highlands is famous for, it then builds and builds, coating the sides of your mouth and the flavors just bleed through your tongue!

The wine has lusciously soft tannins but still has the structure of a wine that will age well. This is a fruit driven wine, no doubt, but Pinot doesn't get much better than this.

Score: 95 points
Price: $59.99 (Wine Pavillion)

2005 Yering Station Reserve Pinot Noir (Yarra Valley, Australia)

I was very much looking forward to this bottle which I brought back from my recent visit to Australia. We had it at the winery yesterday with lunch (one of the great perks of working at a winery - wine for lunch!).

Unusually "brickish" and light in color - if I had to go on color alone I would have said a 2002 or so Pinot Noir. Refreshing acidity and with a "juicy" mouth feel, silky tannins with tart red cherry and baking spice.

Overall, I found it flat and one dimensional which was disappointing considering the huge wraps Winewise gave it.

Maybe we had an oxidized bottle?

Score: 87
Price: $34.99 (Fine Wine House)

2006 Château Guiot (Southern Rhône, France)

Grenache & Syrah Rosé

Darker than what I would normally associate with French Rosé - looks more Californian. Attractive bright strawberry and raspberry nose with some spicy, stemmy action.

In the mouth, a more full flavor of red berries than most French Rosé. Very "juicy" - reminds me of a watermelon purée. Snappy acidity makes this a great Summer quaffer. Great choice for a house rosé. Damn delicious tonight with some wilted Summer greens.

Year in, year out Château Guiot can be counted on for a great value Rosé.

Score: 87
Price: $7.99 (Winex)

International Pinot Showdown — US vs Australia (with a Shiraz/Syrah coda)

The name of the restaurant was all I needed to hear — Bird, Fish, Cow. Sounded like a great excuse to see how Russian River, one of America's top Pinot regions, matched up against Mornington Peninsula, which has been heralded as the region that will put Australia on the world Pinot map. Considering all the controversy that erupted out of the Mornington Peninsula International Pinot Noir Conference, the theme seemed timely.

Wines were tasted blind by a group of eight wine geeks in Sydney during my eight hour layover on the way from Los Angeles to Wagga Wagga. All that we knew was that one wine in each flight would be Australian and one would be American.

Flight One — 2003 Stonier Reserve vs 2004 Roessler Kanzler


The Stonier was leathery and had an unpleasant green stemminess along with a dash of band-aidy Brett and a dab of VA. On the positive side there was some bright red cherry, plush strawberry, and some snappy acidity. Once the bag was lifted it was a bit of a shock, I had really wanted to like this wine. Especially after James Halliday had practically drooled all over it. Bummer.


The Roessler was your prototypical Russian River Pinot on the first whiff. Cherry cola, forest floor, red berries (raspberry and strawberry) and baking spice. Super plush in the mouth, nice acidity to cut the ripeness of the fruit with a long high toned finish.


Group Vote: 8 votes for Kanzler, 0 for the Stonier



Flight Two — 2005 Port Phillip Estate vs 2005 Kosta Browne Russian River


The Port Phillip was very well constructed. Sandro Mosele is one of Australia's great Pinot artisans, a bottle I had recently of his 2004 Kooyong Estate Pinot Noir was superb. The Port Phillip was the most feminine wine of the day — not light, feminine. Opens with violet, dark cherry and maybe some plum. Very "juicy" in the mouth with elegant tannins that will make for damn tasty Pinot in a couple of years but still approachable now.


The Kosta Browne Russian River was a great wine. Seeing as I am working with them, I feel I must refrain from commenting except to say that I voted for this bottle.


Group Vote: 6 votes for Kosta Browne, 2 for Port Phillip




Anne "Swervin" Irvine with the flight's winner, the 2005 Kosta Browne Russian River


You say Shiraz, I say Syrah - 2004 John Duval The Entity vs 2004 Carlisle The Judge


Can you say Deep Purple? The John Duval was an opaque, deep purple verging on squid ink! Wow! Blackberry, violets, dark cherry, plum and some oak. In the mouth cocoa and vanilla show themselves too. Fantastic balance of fruit, alcohol, wood, and tannins. Will be even better in a few years when the tannins get a chance to settles down because the are B-I-G right now.


Carlisle is one of my favorite Syrah producers and so I was excited to have it matched up with the John Duval. Once it hit the glass, I was sure this was the Carlisle, in fact I was so sure I have fuzzy memories of offering to run down the road naked if I was wrong. Almost rivaling the John Duval for color this is definitely the Carlisle I have come to know and love. Big and ripe aromas fly out of the glass - the first thing that hits me is freshly baked blueberry pie and pepper. Blackberries, smoke, bacon fat and licorice follow. Massively rich mouth-feel — this is almost more of a sensory experience than a wine. Kudos to Mike Officer!


Group Vote: 5 for Carlisle, 3 for John Duval
(although it should be noted that the table thought that the scores may be reversed if the tasting was held in 2010.)