If I had $1 for every half written review….. anyways, I will drag this one across the line. Sealed under cork. 14.0% abv. Was $70, or thereabouts. Soft cherry and vanilla florals, a wafting breeze, cedar and dried herbs. Weightier with time, and sweeter fruits in the mid-palate, finishing dryly with steely and gravelly tannins. Don’t approach unarmed, as it is still firmly tanninised; it needs a good decant. Drink 2015+.
At a lunch at Enoteca in Brisbane last year, I asked for pinot noir and was todl that being an all Italian wine list, perhaps I shoudl consider a Nerello Mascalese. Never heard of it. But being abotu the 5th bottle poured at that lunch i was up for it, and a worthwhile experience it was. This is a different label, but there was no stopping my enthusiasm for another look at this grape from Sicily, and always good pithy fun looking at a double barrle name like this – which distinguishes this wine from a number of single site wines that Passopisciaro also make from higher up the slopes of Mt Etna. Nose out of the decanter is a savoury & a touch stinky, which blows off after a little bit. Also starts out with a little spritz. An hour sees all this settle down to the elegant food friendly thing, understated in its earthy plummy cherriness. The savoury elements here lend a sense of wildness to the flavours. I can see the Barolo Burgundy cross analogies too – the tannins are a refiend version of the Tuscan sawn pine model and there is quite an acd spine to this. 14% ABV. Most enjoyably different. 90/100
This challenges the categories we use on Book Club, so once again for the record it is Nerello Mascalese from Sicily.
Available from Boccaccio Cellars.
My first serious look at the 2011 vintage, starting with an entry level wine. 
At QbA level, this is light on its feet, with a lick of residual sugar and the right amount of acid to keep it on the level, ready for drinking in the freshness of its youth over next few years. Distinctly straw coloured, this is fresh rather than taut. It shows grapefruit, green pineapple, red apple, some sweet ripe passionfruit and pawpaw and a touch of sulphury slatiness with some slight pith on the edges of the tongue. The finish lingers like pleasantly, but the invitation for anther slurp or another glass, is pretty strong.
Great showing for QbA. And screwcapped too. $35ish from http://www.eurocentricwine.com.au. 89/100
As part of the festival that is the annual grape harvest, the Auburn crew sat down to a blind tasting of dry Rieslings from around the world. The aim of this tasting was to evaluate, compare and contrast a variety of dry riesling styles. The only information the tasting group had was that the wines would meet the definition of “dry” in regions where there was one, and woudl be generally accepted as dry otherwise. Wines were served in pairs to keep the logistics of glassware decanters realistic, and was useful managing tasters attention spans.
Tasting held on 13 April 2013. Bottle shots courtesy of Stephanie Moseley.
Notes below are mine, as taken on the night, with a couple of postscript notes added.
Wine 1
Some reduction, passionfruit petrol. Lime rind, fennel, spice Waxy notes and lingering warmish finish of dried apricot – some botrytis here? Ripe and some coiled power here, some residual sugar helping the texture too. Many tasters questioned how this met the definition of “dry’. Mosel? Spatlese trocken? Somewhere around 09?
’11 Van Volxem Scharzhofberger (Mosel, Germany).
Wine 2
White flower and lemon nose. Drier than wine 1, minerally slatiness, and lime pith hints on the back palate. Taut and acid-carried onto the finish. Less ripe fruit and more an elegant style. ’11? Kiwi?
’11 Verus (Slovenia).
Wine 3
Lemon curd nose. Palate seems quite developed. Texturally unusual in a watery, wetting way. Some petroleum character over a limey base, with that warming botrytis suggestion also present, perhaps suggesting alcohol. White flower and herbal elements and saline components here too.
’10 Tantalus Old Vine Riesling (Okanagan Valley, Canada)
Wine 4
Lemon pith nose, and grapefruit front palate. A bitter front of tongue note leading to a warm, even hot palate, with unusual bitter but spicy notes. Juicy texturally. Pink grapefruit notes here. Attractive but the bitterness is a bit off-putting.
’11 Petaluma Hanlin Hill (Clare Valley, Australia)
Wine 5
Bath salts and talc nose – lovely. Palate is similarly white flower lemon lime at first, lovely texture, touched with stonefruit and perhaps a touch of apricotty botrytis. Rich and texturally syrupy. Like the style – very Crawford River on the front end with the textural back palate. Closes down on the finish a little.
’11 Lemelson (Oregon, USA).
Wine 6
Madierised and sherry like nose. Red apple and grapefruit, tastes like raw bruised apple juice. Aromatics are wrong but the palate is OK. Postscript: 24 hours later, the nose had cleaned up considerably, and the palate continued to reflect bruised green apple, and tasted a lot like some of the 2013 raw juice samples we had seen on the previous two days.
’12 Sato (Central Otago, New Zealand)
Wine 7
Musky honeycomb nose, Auslese trocken palate! Ripe, apricotty, textural, phenolic. Oxidatively handled? There is a cooked fruit character here. This is sooo Zind Humbrecht in style. Could it be? No…
’10 Franz Pratner Falkenstein (Alto Adige, Italy)
Wine 8
Bush honey nose, palate is good-watery here too, and the bright zippy acids appear early as a spritz like thing. Warming and persistent – is this Alsace as well? Finish is more of the same ripe stonefruit style, but not at the same over the top level of wine 7.
’10 Pegasus Bay Bel Canto (Waipara, new Zealand)
Wine 9
Honeycomb like nose. Palate starts the same, with honeycomb, and perhaps a touch of old wood maturation rounding the palate out. A tingle in the palate which seems to be fresh acids, and showing some oxidative character which may be early signs of bottle age. Fairly quiet finish, with honey showing through again. Nice finish length, some pithy, good quality bittersweet things happening. Quite like the phenolics on this.
08 Clemens Busch Marienberg GG (Mosel, Germany)
Wine 10
Similar to wine 1 in some ways. Fresher but made in the same vein with the limey notes and waxy development showing, and acid fresh on the finish. Most likely an Australian bone dry style though, from the mid 2000s. Postscript: A pleasant surprise to see how well this is ageing and how fresh it looked in much younger company.
01 Grossett Polish Hill (Clare Valley, Australia)
At the end of all that we were each asked to give our top 3. Mine were:
Wine 9: Clemens Busch
Wine 10: Grossett
Wine 1: Van Volxem
With honorable mentions: Tantalus and Verus
Grossett and Clemens Busch were in most people’s top 3, but the third wine was more spread around, with the Verus, Tantalus and Lemelson all getting mentions.
A very instructive tasting where the objective was well met – we certainly got a look at a wide variety of ways to make dry Riesling.
Cheers
Andrew
NV Henri Billiot Cuvee Tradition: This is a big beasty. A big aldehydic nose of lemon shortbread and bruised green apples. A big hit of strawberry and brioche to begin, and again the rich biscuity aldehydic elements on the palate with some savoury undergrowth. Broad and filling back palate too, this is indeed a food wine. Does this have a load of pinot meunier in it? No, but 75% pinot noir, and not the lemony thing Iv’e seen written into some reviews
2012 Turkey Flat Butchers Block White: Marsanne Rousanne Viognier. Waxy white flowers, prickly acid, and lovely texture here. More remarkably, I came back to this bottle 11 DAYS LATER, to find it still alive and well, and showing the same textural goodness with the lemon rind and white flower, and brown spicy goodness hanging on. An unexpected outcome.
2010 Felton Road Block 2 Chardonnay: Now this is seriously good. Cashew and white peach, creamy nougat, well judged nutty oak cradles all of this nicely. Piercing lemon acidity through to a chewy finish.
2004 Castagna Genesis Syrah: My first look at the 04. Still inky dark. Smells like you’d expect. Black olive, blackcurrant pastille show off a ripe year. On the palate these are joined by black cherry, some of the viognier influences in white pepper, musky florals, and a touch of dried apricot. Just the right amount. While the flavours are dense and satisfying, the palate weight doesn’t overawe, this is quite red meat friendly, with the right tannins and acids to cradle the fruit and make it all work beautifully with a T-Bone. May be close to its peak. More integrated on night 2. Rosalie didnt like it – too “musky”.
2007 Dr Loosen Erdener Pralat Auslese Godlkapsel: Sweet, piercing and seems to have have intense passionfruit…but doesnt. Picks up a plasticene like character – possibly very lightly corked.
I have been rooting around in the cellar, looking for strays that might have passed their best and I found this one. Thought a progress report might be in order. The short answer is that it is looking fine. No signs of ageing but strangely seemed a bit disjoint, with brown mushrooms prominent on the nose, with cherries and undergrowth. The palate was lively, with raspberries and a certain ping, and lots of acid sticking out. This all changed with time, any angularity disappeared and it seemed much more harmonious. Sweet pink raspberry confection on the nose, ripe fruits on the palate, raspberries, cherries, and mushroom dryness. Nor particularly herby, more of a dry woody character. Sweet and dry characters battled out the finish for seniority. Most enjoyable. Lots of life left in it, but give it a decant.
Revered by connoisseurs, collectors and critics alike, Bordeaux is one of the greatest wine regions of the world. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to be guided through a 2 hour Masterclass by our experienced wine buyers and sample an exceptional selection of fine wines from some of Bordeaux’s most prestigious Chateaux.
2005 has been heralded as one of the best vintages of the past five decades, with superior quality produced across the appellations. Compare wine styles from the distinctive left and right banks through to the lesser known but wonderfully rewarding sub-classifications of Moulis and Haut Medoc.
Time for a change of pace. 11.5% abv. Screwcap. An aged release from the cellar door; all the hard work has been already done for you. I think it was about $35. Pale straw in colour. Lemon, lanolin and lime rind, straw, glossy. Expansive palate, beautiful weight through the mid-palate, refined fruits with dry minerals, finesse and clarity, finishing dryly with lemon pith. Outstanding Semillon. Should live many more years, but easy drinking now too. 93 points.
Understated Packaging here, including the braille imprint on the label and the printed Diam closure. Other views on this wine hint that some breathing will be required – and the decant shows a pale garnet colour with pink at the rim. A limpidness that only Pinot Noir can do. This really does need airtime to drink now, or preferably some bottle age. Its all going about its business very quietly at this point, with a just-lifted, spicy blackcurrant waft. Front palate is orange peel at first, and all elegance after that. I find a lot of white wine character about this – in terms of it being fresh and alive. Bark and leaf savoury, spicy, just in the plum skin arena with a light touch of just ripe strawberries. Plenty of persistent pinosity here, silky texture and acids, that both build presence in the glass. This is very nicely balanced indeed, but really needs time to show its stuff. Lovely. 92/100.
Cheers
Andrew
14.0% abv. Cork. Another Scanavino wine from Eurocentric Wines. Was about $30. A really tip-top nose; all ripe fruits and a lovely savouriness, with hints of dried herbs. A lovely palate too, very good depth of fruit without anything jammy or hot; good cleansing acidity, and bursting with a cherry ping in the middle of the palate. It seems an injustice to pull it apart into lots of different components because it is simply a lovely wine. 91 points. Drink 2014-2018.
