2008 Domaine de Vauroux Chablis Montee de Tonnerre 1er Cru (Chablis)

Stephen Tanzer has labelled Montée de Tonnerre as the insider’s Chablis premier cru. He describes the site as being “situated just to the southeast of the unbroken strip of Chablis grand crus on the right bank of the river Serein (it’s separated from Les Blanchots only by a narrow ravine). It enjoys a similar geographic profile, rich in the same Kimmeridgian limestoney chalk that makes the grand crus some of the world’s most cerebral, complex and distinctive examples of chardonnay.”

Given this context I was pretty excited to try this wine, especially with 2008 apparently being a pretty decent Chablis vintage.

The generosity of fruit was a positive surprise for me. Where I was expecting steel I instead found some lovely stonefruit and citrus notes. Before the wine gets away from itself in its generosity, however, it’s pulled taut by a lovely line of acidity. A tell-tale chalky minerality adds interest and appeal as the wine pushes through a very long finish. Nice. It's ready to drink now, and will also continue to drink well over the next few years.

As an aside, this is the kind of wine that just reinforces how fantastic Australian Chardonnay has become over the past decade or so. It's from one of the best Premier Cru’s in Chablis from a good vintage, and yet I can think of numerous Australian Chardonnays that could comfortably sit alongside this wine, and indeed even surpass it from a quality perspective. And that’s in no way detracting from what is a beautiful wine here, and of course that chalky minerality marks it out as unique from many local offerings.

Rated:

RRP: $40-$50

Closure: Cork


Red

2007 Saint Cosme Cotes du Rhone (Rhone Valley)

Your enjoyment of this wine will largely depend on your tolerance for a bit of barnyard pong in a wine. For me it works nicely, but for others it might be a bit distracting. Either way its definitely a wine that needs a good decant.

Once it has opened up it actually has a lovely nose of blueberry, some meatiness, a nice floral note, and said barnyard pong. It drunk perfectly as a casual food wine over a Sunday night bowl of Capellini Bolognese. It’s well balanced between nice berry fruit and a savoury, drying impact. It’s not especially serious or structured, but provides plenty of enjoyment and a point of difference. It should drink well for a few more years.


Rated:


RRP: $18
ABV: 14.0%
Website: http://www.saintcosme.com/


Red

Face Off: Cote-Rotie/Shiraz Viognier

Red - When we received a sample of the 09 Head Blonde Shiraz Viognier a few weeks back the temptation was to taste and review it straight away. Thinking on it a bit though, we realised that RedtoBrown hadn’t got around to a doing a Face-Off for a while, and that this wine could be a part of a very interesting Cote Rotie/Shiraz Viognier Face-Off.

Cote Rotie is the appellation in the northern Rhone Valley whose wines are typically a blend of Shiraz and a small percentage of Viognier. This addition of Viognier to the Shiraz tends to give the wine lifted aromatics. In the past decade an increasing number of Australian wineries have tried emulate this style of wine. In the Australian context it can on occasions be a bit of a polarising wine, and indeed this is somewhat reflected with myself and Brown.

I’ve generally been a bit of a sceptic when it comes to the blend, although just in the past 12 months I’ve had several examples, both Australian and French, which have demonstrated to me that at its best, this blend can undoubtedly produce beautiful wines. Brown on the other hand is a fan, with plenty of Clonakilla in the cellar to show for it.

So we had the Head Blonde, and thought we should get another Aussie example, along with a Cote Rotie. For the Aussie we decided on the 06 Turner’s Crossing Shiraz Viognier. Like the Head it’s an Aussie example that we have both been impressed by in the past, as well as being very reasonably priced at $25 RRP. For the Cote Rotie, it was basically a case of finding the least expensive bottle we could. With Cote Rotie generally being very small production, and factoring in import costs, you struggle to find any Cote Rotie in Australia for under $100. The 07 Les Vins de Vienne Cote Rotie Les Essartailles was found at Dan Murphys for $85.

While the three wines come from different years they are all from good to excellent vintages in their respective regions. We initially tasted the wines single blind before then going on to finish them over dinner.

Brown - It's Face-Off time again. As Red notes above, we roadtested 3 examples of arguably the red blend of the ‘noughties’ in Australia, Shiraz Viognier.

Shiraz Viognier is a blend that has arguably entered the tall poppy backlash zone for some, such is its relative ubiquity. The sticking point with the blend appears to be the occaisional use of too much viognier in some (many?) examples, which imparts a sweet dried apricot flavour and aroma. If you hate viognier or apricots, there may be quite a few SV blends that do not take your fancy. I love dried apricots, but not overtly in my wine.
Personally I am a fan (or definitely not a sceptic) of a good Shiraz Viognier blend, and I also happen to appreciate a good example of a straight viognier as well. My favourite bottles of SV tend to be ones that the winery have taken some care in making (eg: not just a wine to make up the numbers at the cellar door or tap into the demand), and also wines that have a relatively small amount of viognier in them to provide the aforementioned floral and spicy lift. With all this in mind I was intrigued to find out how these wines would shape up blind, and tasted back to back.


Wine 1 (07 Les Vins de Vienne Cote Rotie Les Essartailles, $85)

Red - this wine opened with a nose of spice and cinnamon and some nice vanillin oak, but then over the course of dinner the Viognier became more evident with apricot becoming quite dominant, and ultimately a bit distracting for me. It has good line and length on the palate with ripe, yet balanced fruit, supported by an interesting and appealing citric acid. Based on it’s nose while tasting blind (and before the Viognier started to dominate) I thought it might have been the Turner’s Crossing. 3.5 Stars

Brown – Same nose for me (vanillin oak the most obvious at first). Initally only a suggestion of apricot, though the palate was quite stewed and ripe with some meaty, olive flavours. With more air the wine came to life, and more vibrant black fruit and acidity, though as noted, apricot, white pepper and mixed spice were dominant. Assumed this was from a warm vintage / warm wine growing region. 3.5+*Stars - Good point of  difference to the Australian SV's, though the RRP was a bit steep, though that was the fault of the import duties, not the aspirations of the wine.

Wine 2 (2006 Turner’s Crossing Shiraz Viognier, Bendigo, $25)

Red - There’s a nice complexity to this wine. While tasting blind it appeared to have more evident Viognier on the nose when compared to Wine 1, but then over the course of dinner it grew in complexity and the lovely berry and five spice aromas came to the fore. There’s a lovely ripe, richness to the palate while still retaining a sense of restraint. The tannins didn’t seem completely integrated yet, but it delivered a long finish. Really enjoyed this and reckon it’s one for the cellar. 4 Stars

Brown – The nicest wine when tasted shortly after opening. More expressive nose, fruity, primary. Apricot was evident, though not obtrusive and in balance with the other fruit aromas and flavours. Medium bodied, with similar black fruit flavours to wine 1. Some sweetness and a bit of apricot and unobtrusive bitterness at the finish. With air some cinnamon and all spice became more noticeable, though the tannins remained quite robust. A very solid wine (especially for the price). 3.5 *


Wine 3 (2009 Head Blonde Shiraz Viognier, Barossa Valley, Sample, $30)

Red – During the blind tasting this was the least impressive wine, having a fairly closed nose and tasting almost dilute on the palate. It was completely different from the previous two wines, and as such I assumed it was the Cote Rotie. Suffice to say I was very surprised to find out it was the Head Blonde. Then, however, over the course of the next couple of hours it just built and built in the glass. In the end it showed itself as a beautiful wine. Berry fruits, chocolate, spice, and just a hint of apricot. Far from being dilute, once unwound it delivers beautiful layers of lovely fruit, supported by fine tannins and nice acidity. Looking forward to seeing how this shows up over the next 5-10 years. 4 Stars

Brown - The most intriguing wine of the night (noting Reds comments about it building with air), and a lesson for us in needing to decant certain wines for several hours to try it at its best. A clear point of difference from wines 1 and 2 when first opened. Subtle apricot on the nose, and initially lighter bodied, raw and generally thinner than the last two. Any apricot flavours were restrained and not over-ripe or dried. Strong, slightly edgy but balanced acidity evident. With air, the wine underwent an impressive transformation - really fleshing out. The elegant yet powerful black fruit was balanced with a nice, clean citric acidity. Like Red, assumed this was the Frenchie, purely for how different it was to the others, though I must say I had a smile on my face when I found out it was a wine from the Barossa Valley that had the balance and integrated acidity to suggest it would age as well as any tasted on the night. Maybe Andrew Jefford should tuck into some of these babies.


Conclusion

Red - Ironic that the overt Apricot style of Shiraz Viognier that I'm often critical of in Australian blends was in fact the Cote Rotie. The two Aussie examples are both excellent wines and excellent examples of the style. At their respective prices i'd highly recommend both the Head Blonde and the Turner's Crossing.

Brown - Another very interesting night where we both learned more about a wine (or a blend) and the different regions that they come from. Both Australian examples on the night were representative of the style of SV that I like drink, and I would recommend them both. Thanks to Red to a lovely meal that complimented the wines very well (roast rib of beef on the bone with a northern Rhone red wine jus).

We would be interested in everyones thoughts on the Shiraz Viognier blend, and also would love to get any recommended imports at a reasonable price.

Face-Off: Right Bank – Merlot Blends: 2007 Blue Poles Allouran, 2006 Alluviale Merlot Cabernet Franc, 2005 Chateau Corbin Montagne Saint Emilion

“No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any f#cking Merlot!”

This classic quote from the movie Sideways probably sums up the attitude of Red to Brown towards Merlot up until a couple of years ago. Given that we’d only been exposed really to entry level Australian and American Merlot, I’d say it was an understandable attitude. More recently, as we’ve had the opportunity to try some Merlot blends from Bordeaux and Hawkes Bay in NZ, we are starting to look at the variety quite differently. Of late we’ve even had a few Australian Merlots that have been impressive. As such we thought we’d put Australia, NZ, and France to the test in a Right Bank Face-Off.

Given the scarcity of Australian merlot blends we reckon we did pretty well in lining up 3 wines at similar price points and from similar vintages (both in terms of age and quality).

The Chateau Corbin was a wine I purchased in Paris for 15 Euro (about $A22) and is from the much hailed 2005 vintage in Bordeaux. Montagne Saint Emilion is a satellite district to the famed right bank commune Saint Emilion.

The Alluviale from Hawkes Bay in NZ costs $30 NZD ($A24) and 2006 is meant to be a good but not great vintage. We’d had the 2007 Alluviale previously, and it is a beautiful wine. Unfortunately we couldn’t get our hands on an ‘07 for the night, so the ’06 got the call-up.

The Blue Poles Allouran is $25 a bottle and is from the fantastic 2007 vintage in the Margaret River. Blue Poles is one of the relatively few wineries in Australia that produce Right Bank style, Merlot dominant blends.

All three wines from $20-$25 AUD and all from good to excellent vintages. We tasted them single blind, and then enjoyed them with some slow roasted Venison afterwards. So how did we go?


Wine 1 – 2006 Alluviale Merlot Cabernet Franc

Red: The wine was a vibrant crimson colour and reasonably transparent. The nose was fragrant, with red fruits, hints of cherry and plum, along with some more savoury notes. The palate was juicy, with some nice sweet fruit on the front palate before turning savoury with a hint of sourness through the finish. Some nice spice, good tannins and persistence of flavour. Decent length.

Brown: Aside from the notes above, I found a bit of inoffensive greenness on the palate, and a bit of mocha/chocolate on the back palate. A refined and elegant wine that had a very nice nose and good length.


Wine 2 – 2007 Blue Poles Allouran

Red: This had a deeper, purpler colour. A beautiful and interesting savoury nose. There was a hint of sweet, red fruit but the more prominent aroma was a lovely savoury smell which reminded of frying lightly salted mushrooms. The front of the palate is surprisingly sweet (in a good way) given the nose. It is mouth filling with nice drying tannins, and lovely hints of those savoury, mushroom flavours flowing through the long finish. A nice level of complexity to the wine and should age well. My favourite of the three.

Brown: To anyone reading this who does not like the smell or taste of mushrooms, rest easy – you will still love the 07 Allouran. Personally, I did not get the mushroom in a glass vibe from this wine (just kidding Red). Compared to the other wines, the Allouran was sweeter on the nose and palate, though only in a relative sense; this is a restrained wine and not jammy in any way. Given the blind tasting, and my relative inexperience with this blend, I assumed this could be the Bordeaux wine (cultural cringe kicking in?). Chalk that one down for experience – it was Australian and a clear favourite for me on the night.


Wine 3 – 2005 Chateau Corbin Montagne Saint Emililon

Red: A similar darker, purplish colour to the Allouran. The wine had an aromatic, sweet nose of berry fruit and oak. On the palate it was the lightest of the three wines, being also a bit dilute. It has some pleasant berry flavours and very light tannins. Ok length. A nice wine but my least favourite of the 3. Given its colour, and sweet nose of clean fruit and oak I confidently predicted that this was one of the New World wines! How wrong I was.

Brown: This is not a bad wine. However, like Dorothy finding out the Wizard of Oz was just an ordinary human, my naive wine tasting mind was (predictably?) brought back to earth with the knowledge that a true entry level Right Bank Bordeaux Red is not going to necessarily blow my socks off. Another lesson learned on the wine journey.
This was considerably more dilute than the previous wines. It had pleasant fruit on the palate, a bit of plumb and also a hint of vanilla. It finished with average intensity and was sweeter on the nose than in the mouth. If I picked this up for its French retail price, it would be a good wine. If I were to pay double the price as an imported wine I would not be happy.

Summary – A nice collection of wines and an interesting Face-Off. The Blue Poles was our favourite being the most enjoyable, complex, and cellar-worthy. It was also the only wine to provide a bit of Face-Off controversy, with Brown finding the nose to be more sweet-fruited compared to the others (while still acknowledging the savoury notes), while I thought the nose was predominantly savoury (while still acknowledging the sweet fruit). One interesting thing was how well all three wines performed as food wines. They all complemented the food and a wine like the Chateau Corbin gained extra appeal in this context.

In a Merlot blend Face-Off in which we pitted an Australian wine against a Hawkes Bay and a Bordeaux I wouldn’t have expected the Australian wine to show itself to be the most savoury and complex of the wines. A great achievement from Blue Poles, and hopefully more wineries in Australia follow their lead; firstly, by taking Merlot seriously, and secondly by blending Merlot with Cab Franc and Cab Sav as they do with the great wines of the Right Bank in Bordeaux.

Brown: All I have to add is that it is promising to try two new world wines based on Merlot that were superior to their equivalent French cousin. There is a long way to go, though the regions (Hawkes Bay) and wineries (Blue Poles) focusing on this style are already showing signs of success. An interesting and educational tasting. Thanks to Red for providing the slow roasted venison, which complemented the wine nicely.

2008 Georges Du Boeuf Beaujolais Villages

I've become a bit of fan of the Gamay grape in recent times. Brown is a bit more of a sceptic with the variety, and as such this could be the subject of a worthy Face-Off between the two of us.
Previously I'd had a negative perception of the wine, given what you often read about it being simple, flimsy, and not age-worthy. This perception was changed the day I had a Cru Beaujolais from Fleurie. It was a dark wine, of structure, tannin, complexity, and would undoubtedly age for 10 years.
The 2008 Georges Du Boeuf Beaujolais Villages ($15) is a great summer red for quaffing. I picked it up at Dan Murphys for $15. As a Village level wine you're always a bit worried about the quality of the wine that you'll be drinking, but no such dramas in this instance.
It's a nice cherry red in colour, and certainly a lot darker than many pinots you would often drink. It has a lovely, soft nose of flowers and berries. On the palette it's beautiful and smooth. The front palette has some nice fruit sweetness, and then through the middle to back palette sour cherry comes through. It finishes with decent length and some soft, drying tannin.
Serve this slightly chilled on a balmy evening this summer . . .

Red