Winetastic

Nestled on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range of New South Wales, Mudgee has had a one hundred and fifty year viticultural history and over eighty years of association with Italian wine. di Lusso is at the forefront of showcasing some excellent Italian varietals from a region well suited to growing these exciting grapes. Last night we decided to crack a bottle of the 2005 Barbera to accompany some home-made meatballs in a tomato, paprika and rosemary sauce. If anyone knows about making high quality wines to pair with food then it would have to be the Italians!

Enticing raspberry and blackberry aromas leap out of the glass with a hint of spice and earthiness lurking underneath. This wine is rich, round and velvety on the palate and very fruit driven. Medium bodied, there is a little spice and tannin on a slightly drying finish. Incredibly easy to drink this Barbera is fleshy, almost juicy, up front but makes the transition into a slightly more savory well balanced wine after some time in the decanter. This versatile wine carries its alcohol well, mainly due to the fullness of flavour. The flavours of the wine are accentuated with food, though I would be quite happy to drink this on its own.

Score: 91/100
Price: $23
Closure: Cork
Alcohol: 14.5%
Other Opinions: di Lusso
Would I buy this wine again? Yes i would, I really like a lot of the Italian varietals and I think this is a good value example of a great food wine.

I purchased several bottles of Frog Rocks “Premium Vintage” Shiraz 2002 from the cellar door in Mudgee back in November 2005, the intention was to leave them alone for several years, however an empty tasting bench has lead to a raid on the cellar!

Deep crimson in colour, the first glass exhibited lively aromas of plum and blackberry with intense and juicy Shiraz fruit flavours supported by some spice. The red fruit character was counter balanced by smooth drying tannins which faded nicely into a long and slightly earthy finish. An hour later, the second glass showed more dark fruit and mocha characters, also the oak flavours were slightly more evident and the finish rather persistent.

I really enjoy a wine which changes so much over a couple of hours, the first glass was somewhat reminiscent of a Hunter Valley Shiraz, however in a blind tasting I would not have picked the second glass as originating from the same bottle. It was fantastic match for steak diane and homemade chunky chips.

Score: 9/10
Price: $20
Closure: Cork
Other Opinions: Frog Rock
Would I buy this wine again?
Yes, I beleive the non-special price is $25 per bottle, even at that price there is good value for money here.

A few months back I reviewed the 2001 Thistle Hill Semillon and basically rated it as fairly average at 6/10. The wine was a bit watery and lacked the depth of character you expect from an aged Semillon.

Over the weekend I opened another bottle which showed far better, presenting a stronger flavour profile and basically going down like a treat. Perhaps the first bottle was mildly corked.

Score: 8/10
Would I buy this wine again?
Based on this bottle and the $15 price tag, yes. Available from the cellar door or online.

This is just what the doctor ordered. Just when I was beginning to lose hope in white wine along comes my good pal from Mudgee, Simon Gilbert.

I’m so very glad we popped into Simon Gilbert in the wee hours of the morning on the way out of Mudgee, they have fairly consistently impressive with some great value wine - and this one is no exception.

The Pinot Grigio is definitely a winner for me, a lovely white with all the qualities I enjoy in my young white wine: smooth but with a bit of bite, a lingering finish, crisp, a lovely balance of flavours with a reasonable dollop of milder fruit flavours like apple and pear.

This wine keeps you interested, but won’t send your draw dropping to the ground in awe - its a reasonable step up from say Peter Lehmann’s Semillon or Semillon Chardonnay, which I consider excellent value wines. If you are looking for a solid young white with a bit more class than your lower price range wine, its hard to look past the Simon Gilbert Pinot Grigio.

Would I buy this wine again? Certainly, I hope to pick another one or two up at the NSW Inland Food and Wine Festival this weekend from Simon and see if my initial impression lingers as well as the wine.

Thistle Hill are an organic vinyard and winery from Mudgee, NSW. Those familiar with the climate in Mudgee will be wondering what they were thinking trying to grow Pinot there, due to the often extreme heat. However the grapes were actually sourced from the somewhat cooler region of Orange.

We started drinking this wine from a glass suited for cabernet or shiraz, big mistake. At that stage it was all pepper on the palate, with an overly dry finish. After a quick switch to an “all rounder” glass, the wine presented itself far better. Two hours later, the fruit finally emerged and the wine came into balance. I did not jot down any notes at the time, however you can read Thistle Hill’s own notes if you desire.

Be sure to give this pinot some time in the air or better still a decanter in order to allow the fruit flavours to emerge. The wine is $21 a bottle at the cellar door, however as I recall we bought some on special. I have two more bottles remaining, and two years in the suggested drinking window, expect an update in a year from now!

Score: 7/10
Would I buy this wine again?
Probably not, however if you are in Mudgee do visit Thistle Hill, very much a boutique operation and nice people to boot.

Simon Gilbert Wines have become a personal favourite since discovering their fantastic cellar door nestled among the hills on the way out of Mudgee. They are producing premium tasting wines that are smooth, balanced and fruit driven and very reasonably priced.

I’ve never been really excited by a Cab Sav before, but this one is pretty good. It’s not going to win any awards or get really noticed but it’s a lovely quaffer. Dark crimson in colour, the nose displays berry and fruit hues mixed with oak. On the palate there are rich blackberry flavours, balanced with soft tannins and a subtle oak fisnish. This wine is a drink now wine which benefits from decanting, the flavours really open up. It would compliment a wide variety of food, and would be a particularly good pairing with BBQ or Italian.

Would i buy this wine again?
For sure, it’s a good value wine at only $15 a bottle, and it’s easy drinking.

Looking for a light and refreshing white that isnt all acid and wont break the bank? You may well want to consider the 2001 Thistle Hill Semillon.

The 2001 is the current release from Thistle Hill, since they have a policy of aging their wines longer in oak and bottle before releasing them to the marketplace. Lemon and tropical fruit on the nose, the palate shows lemon and acidic characters that quickly fade into light buttery oak flavours. This wine is very light in weight, contrasting a lot with the hunter valley semillons reviewed here recently, which felt a lot fuller or rounder in the mouth.

Score: 6/10
Would I buy this wine again?
Probably not, other wines of a similar style and price appeal more to my palate, such as the Mount Pleasant Elizabeth. However if organic wines are your thing, definitely give this one a shot.

Over the past couple of months we’ve really had our eyes opened by some of the better Rieslings on the market, like this fantastic offering from Simon Gilbert Wines. This Riesling is from their card collection range and like the rose it’s of a very high standard and is a personal favourite.

This wine has aromatic floral notes on the nose which carry across the palate accompanied by the crisp citrus flavours typical of most Rieslings. A soft yellow in colour, with subtle hues of green, there is a long balanced acidic finish to be found, which compliments Thai food perfectly. It’s is an excellent, refreshing drink now Riesling, but the acid structure of it tells us it will benefit well from a few years in the cellar.

Would i buy this wine again? At only $15 a bottle this wine really is fantastic value. I think the rose just pips it at the post for me, but this is still a great wine, so yes i would buy it again. If you haven’t tried a wine from Simon Gilbert yet i really urge you to go out and buy a bottle. They’re producing some outstanding wines, smooth, fruit-driven and excellent with food, i promise you won’t be dissapointed.

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.

Ahh, I feel confident drinking a Frog Rock wine. There is an aura of quality about it, perhaps its merely a combination of the fond memories and the great looking label - but its all part of the grand wine experience!

We picked up a half dozen of the Frog Rock Premium Range for an excellent price - coming in at about $20 a bottle - what a bloody bargain! The Cab Sav was my pick of the bunch, but the Shiraz was also quite good.

The ‘02 Premium Cab Sav has some lovely velvety tannins, and an unusually vivid liquorice flavour on both the nose and palette, along with eucalyptus, nutmeg and the usual suspects of rich berries. An exceptionally balanced finish that lingers perfectly, this is a strong but luscious red with a good dollop of character.

It certainly goes down a helluva lot nicer than a lot of Cabernet Sauvignon wine I have had. Indeed, Mudgee impressed me more with their Cab Sav than with their Shiraz. Also, this was another wine I’ve recently tasted to mention “French Oak” - which I seem to have developed a bit of a taste for due to its smoother oaky nature, and thankfully this wine uses the oak sparringly, very wise with any sort of oak.

I had this wine with an Italian dinner last night, however, surprisingly I found it went better with the dessert - chocolate cake.

Would I buy this wine again? You know damn right. For $20 a bottle this is an absolute steal, I’d even pay more for it… if I had to!