A Red Christmas

Christmas in our family typically involves a big seafood feast on Christmas Eve, and then on Christmas Day we do the traditional roast turkey. It also involves pulling some good wine out of the cellar. The vinous highlight was to be a 1995 Grange. Sadly the cork was crap, falling apart on opening, revealing a wine that was badly oxidised. When I see all these wine people coming out at present attempting some sort of cork counter-revolution I don't know whether to get angry or just laugh it off.

Anyway, not the time for an anti-cork rant. Some highlights over the two days were


2004 Lombard Grand Cru – Absolutely loved drinking this. Could only be Champagne. Beautiful gentle acidity, nice complexity of flavour and excellent length.

2008 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling – Quality Riesling. Classic nose of citrus and bath salts, and a beautiful long palate with a wonderful sense of minerality. Perfect match for fresh seafood. A few members of my family are not typically white wine drinkers but they all came back for a second glass of this.

2008 Gembrook Pinot Noir – Same impressions as when I reviewed the wine with the addition of a twiggy, fresh forest floor scent that I didn’t pick up six months ago (http://tinyurl.com/33ramxb). Drinks beautifully now but will get better and better over the next 5-10 years.

2008 Martinborough Vineyards Pinot Noir – Needs time though tremendous quality of the wine is evident. Cherry, musk, hints of mushrooms, and a meatiness mark it out as both a Martinborough wine and a Martinborough Vineyards wine. Not quite there on the palate yet but it’s built to last, and I think it will be great in time.

2006 Charles Melton Grains of Paradise – My kind of Barossa Shiraz. It’s undoubtedly from the Barossa and yet shows a sense of restraint being almost medium-bodied (in context). Beautiful fruit is evident with lovely flavours of plum and berries, along with some spice and a touch of chocolate. The palate finished long, without anything being overdone, all of which was underpinned by a smooth acidity. One of those wines that can be enjoyed now for its lovely primary fruit, but that also has everything in place to suggest it will age well over the next 10 years.

Now that we’re in the first week of January, I’m a few kilos heavier than I was a few weeks back, but that to me is a sign of a properly enjoyed festive season, surrounded by family, good food and great wine. Now to the gym . . .


Red

Red’s Xmas Lunch – NV Veuve Clicquot, 1996 Knappstein Enterprise Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 Charles Melton Voice of Angels

If you think you’ve seen this post before well you have. Somehow it entered the Bermuda Triangle of blog pages and disappeared without a trace . . . so here it is again

Christmas lunch in my family is the traditional turkey meal. We have normally had very good turkey over the years (compliments of either my dad or grandmother), but this year’s was exceptionally good and possibly the best Christmas turkey I can remember having (thanks dad!). Once again the wines were the equal of the food.

NV Veuve Clicquot – Between the presents, lunch preparations, conversation, and laughter, I can’t say I really concentrated while drinking this but I certainly enjoyed it. It was a great champagne to kick off the festivities. It had some toasty, yeasty aromas on the nose, while on the palate it was creamy and sweet. While it finished nice and dry it was certainly sweeter than the Prosecco we had had the night before - http://redtobrownwinereview.blogspot.com/2009/12/reds-xmas-eve-bellussi-prosecco-2008.html . Somehow that slightly sweeter style of champagne seems more appropriate for a festive Christmas day. In some ways it wasn’t an especially remarkable or memorable champagne but I really enjoyed it nonetheless

1996 Knappstein Enterprise Cabernet Sauvignon – This was just a beautiful, aged cab sav. The colour, while still reasonably dark, had developed some of that red brick look. On the nose it was classic aged cabernet, and could not be mistaken for anything else. It had a lovely soft, yet insistent bouquet of blackcurrant and leaf. On the palate it was smooth and concentrated, of good length, with blackcurrant flavours dominating. It was such an enjoyable wine to drink and I reckon we consumed it at its peak. A few more years and it might start to fade . . .

2005 Charles Melton Voice of Angels – While being a family of pagans it was noted that the name of this wine seemed apt for Christmas day. This wine has enough dark fruit and power to suggest the Barossa, but has the structure, elegance and pepper to indicate it’s from the Eden Valley. It’s aromatic and has flavours of plum, chocolate, fruitcake, and pepper. It has a tight structure, good tannins, and plenty of years in front of it yet. A beautiful wine with plenty of yum factor!

2004 De Bortoli Noble One – This was not the best Noble One I have had but it certainly did the job in complimenting the plum pudding with brandy sauce. Orange and honey were the main flavours, and it was sweet and tasty. If I was being critical I would say it was just a touch too sweet for my tastes, but at 4pm on Christmas afternoon after copious amounts of food and wine who’s complaining . . . time for a snooze . . .

Red

Multiple Wine Tasting: 2004 Seppelt Drumborg Riesling, 2005 Clayfield Grampians Shiraz, 2006 Mt Langhi Ghiran Billi Billi Grampians Shiraz

There is currently a poll posted on one of the leading Australian wine websites (http://www.winefront.com.au/) asking which State you would pick to fulfil your wine drinking needs if forced to choose only one. While being a wonderful poll that really makes you think about how diverse the Australian wine industry is, the results have surprised me; Victoria is a clear leader. Personally I might have chosen South Australia or Western Australia, but there is undoubtedly a lot of quality wine coming out of Victoria.

So it seemed somehwat apt that last night I had friends over for dinner (including Red) and every bottle of wine we consumed was from.......Victoria. Furthermore, with the exception of a non-descript and passed-its-best vintage Sparkling from the Pyrenees, the wines were all superb in their own way.

Seppelt 2004 Drumborg Riesling (retail)
As you can probably tell from some of the reviews on this blog, both Red and I are big fans of Riesling – Eden Valley Riesling in particular, but also Clare Valley and any other top example of the grape. I had never tried a Seppelt Drumborg despite almost universal acclaim from critics, so decided to see what the fuss is all about. After almost 6 years in the bottle, this wine is still has years ahead of it – clear, light yellow with the slightest green tinge. On the nose it has strong floral notes. There were slight hints of burnt match upon opening (which almost gave the wine a kerosene smell), but these died away when the wine was exposed to the air. The wine has crisp lemon at the front and middle palate with mineral notes more prominent on the finish. The structure is tight and it has focussed line and length. This wine will develop for another 10-15 years with ease, and I would love to get some more of these babies.
Red's take: Similarly enjoyed the wine. Definitely got that kero smell that aged riesling starts to develop! Very very long


Clayfield 2005 Grampians Shiraz (retail)
For many Victorians (and wine enthusiasts in general) it is an article of faith that Great Western/The Grampians produces some of the highest quality Shiraz in Australia (in the more traditional, continental, spicy cooler climate ‘Syrah’ style). I have been impressed with most of the reds I have had from this region at all price points and will be investing in more in the future. Red invested in a case of this wine a few months ago and generously donated one of the bottles not destined for 10 years in his cellar to the evenings wine list. In the mouth the Clayfields Shiraz had ample waves of ripe plum and dark cherry with subtle lashings of soft sweet liquorice and spice thrown into the mix. The tannins were ripe and soft though still firm enough to assist the impressive structure. In short: a lovely, elegant medium bodied wine that is full flavoured, spicy and with great length and intensity of flavour. It should last another 5-15 years in the cellar (depending on how you like your wine).
Red's Take: As Brown says, it is a lovely, elegant medium-full bodied wine, and yet it still has wonderful volume and power on the palate. A sensuous wine that I absolutely love drinking. Looking forward to the other bottles I have in the cellar as they age gracefully

Mt Langhi Ghiran Billi Billi Grampians Shiraz (retail)
As luck would have it, there was a bottle of the Billi Billi in the wine rack and there was enough interest in tasting back-to-back bottles of Grampians red (well a glass of the second wine at the end of a relaxing evening). Tasting the Billi Billi after the Clayfields provided the opportunity to better identify regional Grampians characteristics and also effectively assess the differences in flavour and style between a $15 bargain and an elegant $45 wine with a capacity to age from the same region. On the nose and in the mouth, the Billi Billi had the same black fruits (less plum) with less intense/obvious spice and a mere hint of liquorice. The tannins were harder edged and there was nowhere near the same level of complexity as the Clayfields (as you would expect given the price difference and 2 less years in the bottle). However, for the price there was definite ‘bang for your buck' in terms of fruit flavour and approachability. There were clear regional similarities between the two wines – to paraphrase Len Evans, both smelt like a wine from the Grampians and not like generic glasses of Australian Shiraz.
Red's take: It was great to taste these wines back to back. While there were differences in terms of quality and complexity, they were so obviously both from the same region. Both wines, given their respective price points, are great expressions of Grampians terroir, and it's a flavour profile I love . . .

Summary: 3 great value wines at differing price points.
#Note: While being a casual dinner, there were no food-wine matchings per-se, though the main meal was Bavette Pasta with Pancetta, cream and rocket sauce (compliments to my wife, LB, the cook).

Red’s Xmas Eve – Bellussi Prosecco, 2008 Grosset Watervale Riesling, 2006 Martinborough Vineyard Pinot Noir

Christmas eve was a wonderful family dinner, with a mixed plate of fresh oysters, prawns, and tuna and salmon sashimi for the entrée, and then a prawn gnocchi for the main. Would love to tell you more about the food but this is a wine blog. Stay on message they always say. Suffice to say the food was beautiful.

Now to the wine . . .

Bellussi Prosecco di Valdobbiadene – $25 - My wife is a big fan of Prosecco so we kicked off the evening with this . . .
On the nose it had that subtle bit of yeastiness which I like. On the palate it had good fruit, a hint of pear, with a bit of sweetness, but from mid to back palate was dry, and you’d definitely put it in the dry style of prosecco. Very tasty and drinkable, and at $25 a bottle would happily purchase more.

With the seafood platter we had a 2008 Grosset Watervale Riesling ($35). A somewhat developed colour for an ’08, this is a wine that is dominated by lemon and lime flavours. Nice and juicy on the palate. Quality wine that will undoubtedly age, though also highlights to me my personal preference for the Eden Valley Rieslings. This wine had none of the floral nose and minerality on the palate that I love in my riesling. Not a criticism just my preference. If you love your Clare Valley riesling you'll certainly enjoy this.

With the prawn gnocchi we had the 2006 Martinborough Vineyard Pinot Noir ($80). I’m not someone who has drunk a lot of pinot noir (not compared anyway to what I have put away in terms of cabernet and shiraz), but I’m certainly coming around to the variety and starting to drink more of it. This wine has done a mighty service to that cause.

I’d say it’s the best Pinot I’ve drunk this year. It combines power and hedonism, with complexity and elegance.

Firstly it’s a dark pinot that foretells of the power and hedonism of the wine. Secondly it has a wonderfully aromatic nose. While there are descriptors I could mention, none of them to me stand out or are obvious, but rather all blend together to produce a wine that you could just keep on smelling (for the record I got strawberries, game/meaty aromas, and spice).

On the palate it is all class. It is silky and smooth, and while there is some sweetness on the front palate, the flavours are predominantly savoury. In fact the front palate provides the yum factor, while the middle to back palate provides a complexity of flavour that you keep coming back to. It has great length, structure, and tannins, and I’m sure it could age at least another 5 years.

I could feel a bit guilty having drunk it when it still had some ageing left in it, but it was just such a beautiful wine that I see no reason to feel that way. It was a superb way to finish off the night.


Red

Mille Vini and a glass of Head Blonde

Following on from Brown's Barossa comments, one of the few regrets from an otherwise amazing trip was the fact we had to cancel a tasting we had organised with Alex Head of Head Wines (as wine obsessives we were guilty of trying to squeeze too many wineries into the one trip). Fortunately, I was able to get a Head fix last night at Mille Vini.

For those in Sydney, or those visiting Sydney, I'd highly recommend popping in to Mille Vini, a wine bar on Crown St in Surry Hills. Its an intimate place with a great atmosphere, very affordable food, and most importantly a very diverse and interesting wine list.

As the name of the place suggests, there are plenty of interesting Italian wines on the list, as well as plenty of other international wines. The Australian wines on the list are a really interesting group as well. When I saw the 2008 Head Blonde Shiraz Viognier on the list my decision was already made.

I'm generally unconvinced by shiraz viognier, but this is definitely one of the better examples I have had. The dried apricot I often get with shiraz viognier is there, but is not over the top. The other things I got on the nose were berry fruits. Not too much in the way of oak. On the palette the thing that really stood out for me was the tight structure and long length. Good tannins and a few layers of complexity that I think will emerge with a bit more bottle age. There is a part of me that wishes it was just a 100% shiraz, but its neverthless an excellent wine.

Red