Winetastic

This delectable Shiraz offering from Jamiesons Run was one of the wines available for tasting at our local Dan Murphy’s recently, i saw a guy take one sip and immedietly walk off with a bottle - a promising start!

A deep red in colour this fairly full bodied shiraz shows hints of blackberry and chocolate on the nose, intermingled with subtle spices. Strong, ripe berry flavours slide across the palate and for me there was an almost slightly sweet finish to this wine. It has a soft elegant texture yet the tannins feel almost heavy, as though they’ve not fully developed. This is a wine that will only improve with ageing, five to ten years down the line this will be something very special, though it’s drinking very well now.

Would i buy this wine again? At around $15 a bottle this is an excellent wine for the money, though i think if i was to buy it again i would invest in a few bottles for the cellar. Jamiesons Run is definatly going to be a label to watch closely.

The contributers at Winetastic are frequent visitors to the friday or saturday evening tastings at our local Dan Murphy’s, which I am told are held Australia wide. We find this is a great way to taste lots of every-day drinking wines, and although I do love visiting the cellar doors around NSW, the events held around the city are far more accessable.

So to those of you living in the Sydney region, where do you go to find information on tastings? Are there websites? mailing lists? carrier pigeons? If you have some ideas, please do post them in the comments below.

*Update*

http://www.boutiquewines.com.au/ appears to be one place to find events, so far there are three planned for the new year.

This post will hopefully represent a refinement in the focus of my wine reviews here on Winetastic. I hope to focus less on the traditional tasting note structure, instead providing a link to the producers own tasting notes, and focusing more on giving an idea of the style and perceived value of the wine.

The 2004 De Bortoli Windypeak Pinot Noir is not going to win any big awards or rave reviews about its brilliant complexity, or surprise a drinker with unexpected scents and flavours. However it is very easy drinking, provides some variety from the standard shiraz, merot or cabernet, and represents good value for money at around $12 a bottle.

Like most pinot noir I have tasted this is a medium bodied wine that really does taste very different to the more common red varieties here in Australia. I have been told by many wine lovers that you will either love pinot noir or hate it, for newer wine drinkers this would be a nice and inexpensive place to start.

Score: 6/10
Would I buy this wine again?
I originally decided to pick this bottle up based on its “bloody good” rating from Quaff, a book for those seeking value for money wines under $15. I have since purchased several more bottles.

This is an imported Itlaian wine that was highly recommended by the fine staff at Uncle Dan’s (where it is available exclusively), as well as my dad who enjoys the odd drop himself! Not to mention I saw a “great value” little ditty about it in the paper. But honestly, I do not know why.

The nose is very nice, full bodied with some rich, unique flavours of earthy cedar, peppermint coffee, subtle lemon and odd oysters. I was warmed up and ready for a good hearty Italian wine, but then… flat.

I feel like I have been lied to by the nose. Bad nose, bad! I think what really gets me is the texture and complexity of the wine - its, well as I said before, flat… it finishes on a dry note as well, which I am not a fan of.

I was willing to suspend my disbelief for some food matching, hoping things would turn out much like Mudgee’s di Lusso wines where the wine really came out of its shell when you had it accompanied by food. I used the wine in a hearty Spaghetti Bolognaise and had it along side for the ride also. The result? I certainly did see some character open up when I attacked it from this angle, more specifically bringing to the top a nice Raspberry/Cherry flavour, but not enough to amaze me into believing this wine is worth my while.

I’d like also to take this opportunity to mention I spotted the flavour of cow paddock on the nose with this wine! Not horse paddock, cow paddock. Sorry, I get a bit excited…

Would I buy this wine again? No, I wouldn’t bother with it again. I guess I’m less of a fan of the savoury, dry finishing red than I thought- not to my palette. Besides there is so much wine to explore, so little time!

This Cabernet Merlot offering from Saltram of Barossa is a real gem. I’m not a big Cab Merlot fan, i find most of them drinkable and inoffensive, however generally there doesn’t seem to be much going on flavour wise. This wine is different and bursting with flavour.

Ruby red in colour, this elegant Cab Merlot displays strong aromas of chocolate and blackcurrents, it really does smell like blackforest torte in a glass. The nose follows through onto the palate accompanied by subtle oak and fruit flavours. There is some serious body to this wine, yet is very smooth, it also has a nice length to it. It feels very balanced for a Cab Merlot. It’s drinking well now, but would definatly benefit from a couple of years of good cellaring.

Would i buy this wine again?
I really enjoyed this Cabernet Merlot, so yes i would buy it again.

We have created a Frappr Map for our contributers and readers, it will remain linked in the sidebar along with the new and friendly rss feed interface thanks to Feedburner.

For the uninitiated, Frappr is a service built on Google Maps, which allows users to “pin” their location on the map, along with their name and an optional comment and picture. Its always fun to see where people are from, so I encourage any readers to go ahead and give it a go.

Let me open this review by saying that I am not a big drinker of fortified wines, however Farmer’s Port from Farmer’s Daughter Wines is sending me on a course to discover more.

Farmer’s Port is not overly sweet or alcoholic, like many wines from the mudgee region it bursts onto the palate with strong fruit flavors, specifically raisins and black currant. The tastes linger on for a long time, before your mouth warms nicely from the alcohol.

This is the first fortified wine I can say I truly enjoyed, more experienced drinkers have given me the thumbs up however, stating that it is a fine drop of port indeed. The experience can be summed up very simply: deliciously fruity and very smooth.

Score: 9/10
Would I buy this wine again?
At $25 a bottle, I think there is excellent value to be had. It is a lovely after dinner treat, and I do beleive I shall be ordering several more bottles.

An excellent offering from Paringa Estate, this 2004 Pinot Noir was recomended to us by the wine guru at our local Dan Murphy’s, he mentioned it was one of his personal favourites.

An intense, rich dark red in colour, the bouquet of this wine has sweet fruity tones mixed in with subtle spices. On the palate there are bursts of strong cherry and a touch of oak. This was considerably more subtle than most Pinot Noirs i’ve tasted, however the fruit driven characteristics manage to maintain a considerable depth of flavour and complexity.

Would i buy this wine again? At around $20-25 dollars a bottle it’s an easy drinking wine, i might be tempted to go for it again, though some further Pinot investigation is on the cards.

Popular wine writer James Halliday has released his Top 100 list for this year, its free to read and worth a glance for some tasting suggestions.

Catching my eye from the list are the De Iuliis Semillon 2005 (94 points), Tyrrell’s Lost Block Semillon 2005 (95 points) and Hardys Oomoo Shiraz 2004 (94 points), which I have also seen raved about in Quaff by Peter Forrestal. These three wines fall under the $15 a bottle mark and I expect will represent excellent value for money, expect to see our own commentary soon.

A fresh, crisp Riesling from Peter Lehmann, it really is a must taste from his Barossa Range. Peter Lehmann Wines have won the prestigious “Peter Sichel Trophy for best Riesling, World Wide” on no less than four occasions with an Eden Valley Riesling.

A delicate shade of yellow with tints of green this wine is really outstanding when chilled right. Refreshing lemon and lime flavours slide into the mouth with hints of the rich honey tones that will emerge with good cellaring, and the soft citrusy undertones carry across the midde of the palate beautifully. This is an incredibly balanced wine with a good length to it which is enhanced when accompanied by food. This is a great drink now wine, but will mellow and soften with age, once the honeytones are allowed to develop.

Would i buy this wine again? At around $15 a bottle this is a fantastic wine for the money, i’d go as far as to say it’s one of my favourite Rieslings on the market at the moment.