E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône

 The Guigal Côtes du Rhône may well be the world's greatest quality value wine. It is also the greatest equalizer: not too big, not too skinny; not too sweet, not too savoury; structured, but not too tannic.

I once observed aspects of the production of this huge volume wine at the Guigal facility. The secret may be that the family manages to pay as much attention to each production step, and in particular the blending, as they do to their premium wines. 

So what is special about the 2019 Guigal Côtes du Rhône? The wine is full-bodied. The Grenache element stands out with its red berry flavours, bu down the palate the wine gets darker and delivers almost a mushroom character. There is considerable complexity in this wine. The finish is dry, savoury  

and with a tannic backbone.

Everybody should have this wine in his/her cellar for enjoyable drinking and as a benchmark for Grenache/Shiraz blends 

Score: 93/+++

An Unknown Barolo

I do not know if this has happened to you, those who have a wine cellar. Yesterday I came across a Barolo which was totally unknown to me. I do not know the maker nor how I acquired the wine. I have a basic cellar management system, but I decided not to look anything up. This is the wine.

2013 is good, Rocche di Castiglione is a great vineyard. The colour of this 2013 Arnaldo Rivera Barolo looks very advanced, but with Barolo it is hard to tell, as orange is common in young wines, too. This is a bit brown, though.

The fruit is strawberry and raspberry, but tar and roses are the more prominent notes. However far more dominant are the dry tannins. This wine is past its best. That should not be the case. The structure is holding up with a long, but extra dry finish. This was not very pleasant. 

Score: 86/-

Aged Sauvignon Blanc

 Some questions come up over and over again, this one for example: can you age Sauvignon Blanc?

I had overlooked this 2017 La Gemière Sancerre in my cellar. Clearly time to open it. The colour had changed from the typical grassy green to a light golden colour. The nose was not pronounced, a bit waxy perhaps.

I was pleasantly surprised on the palate. The wine tasted a bit like an aged Riesling: beeswax, lanolin,  some honey, and some remaining pear fruit. The wine shows still some freshness due to the healthy acidity of the wine. 

So yes, this wine is absolutely drinkable at seven years of age, but one should not expect it to taste like a fresh Sauvignon Blanc. Wood aged Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand also lasts many years.

The question then is, yes some ageing is possible, but why would you want to?

Score: 91/+

Penfolds RWT Shiraz

 I am opening this 2006 Penfolds RWT Shiraz with some trepidation. It is after all the French oaked baby brother of Grange, and I have mainly enjoyed lighter wines during these hot summer months. Also, we are still in the dusk of the Robert Parker period.

The colour of this wine is deep purple, no orange tint yet. Blackberry and liquorice notes dominate the intense experience on the nose.

On the palate, a very complex flavour profile develops. The fruits are predominantly ripe blood plum, mulberry and blackberry. But then there are savoury flavours of tar, charred meat, liquorice and mocca. I taste the vanilla from the 70% new French oak hogsheads. This is a very concentrated wine, built like a house from bricks. The wine is fat and sweet in the core. I find the tannins from this Northern Barossa fruit quite coarse and matching the fruit weight. The finish is long and holding up the wine's complexity.

This is a good wine, but a bit much for me at this time of year.

Score: 95/0  

Bass Phillip Bin 17k Pinot Noir

 It is interesting that leading wineries find it difficult to replicate the quality of their icon wines in newer brands. Henschke is a prime example. The quality of Hill of Grace, Cyril Henschke, and Mt. Edelstone has never been reached by any of its proliferation of newer wines. Bass Phillip is another example. There have been some attempts to replicate the success of the Estate Vineyard in other Gippsland vineyards near by. One such example is the Bin 17k from a vineyard only 350 meters away from the home vineyard.

Phillip Jones has always been clear he wanted to make Burgundy wines and the wines from the Estate Vineyard could be regarded as such. Very low yields and high rainfall, in Phillip Jones' view, are key. He then developed a vineyard with extreme dense planting, 17000 vines per ha (8 to 10k per ha is regarded as dense planting) - hence the name of the Bin 17k.

The 2019 Bass Phillip Bin 17k Pinot Noir comes from a warm vintage. Strawberry and red cherry flavours deliver a pleasant mouthfeel, quite straight forward. Acidity enlivens this medium intensity wine. The finish is medium as well, without the interest the Estate wines normally deliver. This is a wine of balanced fruit weight reflecting the warmer vintage, but nothing special overall.

Score: 91/+

Cooler vintages in later years meant the vines had to struggle too much. The dense planting was simply too demanding for this Gippsland vineyard. The experiment, and therefore this wine, was discontinued.

    

Chatto Isle Pinot Noir

 Chatto's Huon Valley vineyard, a warm site facing north in a cool region, was first planted in 2007. A small part of the vineyard was first bottled separately in 2014 as the Isle Pinot Noir. While the whole vineyard is planted with nine Pinot Noir clones, only three go into the Isle Pinot Noir, with clone 777 dominant. Limestone, calcareous mudstone and a lot of fossils form the soil. The wine is made with a significant proportion of whole bunches.

Vintages vary a lot in Tasmania's marginal climate leading to great variability in wine quality. It is clear that the 2018 Chatto Isle Pinot Noir is very special. 

The wine is complex and layered with dark cherry, cranberry and soft spices on the palate. Earthy and underbrush flavours add to the intense mouthfeel. Fine tannins drive these flavours across the palate to a harmonious finish. This is how Australian Pinot Noir should taste.

The volumes of the Isle Pinot Noir are small. I came across this wine for the first time now. I encourage you to seek it out.

Score: 96/+++ 

Mauro Molino Barbera D'Alba

 

Mauro Molino is one of the stalwart wineries of the La Morra subregion of Piedmont. I described the Rosso in the last post as a pizza wine. Well, Barbera goes pretty well with pizza, too.

This 2021 Mauro Molino Barbera d'Alba tastes of fresh red cherry, getting darker down the palate. There is a bit of underbrush, too. This is a medium-bodied wine with quite good intensity. The acidity is very high and remains a dominant feature of the finish.

This is a very lively wine. The acidity is perhaps a bit much.

Score: 91/+ 

J.D. Vajra Langhe Rosso

 There are mainly two styles of entry level wines involving Nebbiolo in Piedmont. One is the Langhe Nebbiolo, a 100% Nebbiolo which for one reason or another does not go into Barolo or Barbaresco, the other is a Rosso, which is a blended wine, often involving a Bordeaux variety, mainly Merlot. The 2020 J.D. Vajra Langhe Rosso, however, focusses on Piedmont varieties; Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto, and Albarossa. Some Pinot Noir is included as well. 

This wine is medium-bodied, with a bright red colour. Fresh red cherry flavours jump out of the glass. The fruit is backed up by firm acidity. You may call this bright and lively wine a pizza wine, but there is a solid structure behind the fruit.

I probably prefer a good quality Langhe Nebbiolo, but this is also a great choice on warm summer nights.

Score: 89/++

Giant Steps Applejack Pinot Noir

 Giant Steps is one of the success stories of the Yarra Valley. Like few others, Giant Steps have emphasised the characteristics of different vineyard sites. Still, we have perhaps not conclusively progressed past the differences between the Valley Floor and the Upper Yarra Valley.

The Applejack vineyard fulfills many conditions for great Pinot Noir; it is closely planted with seven clones; a sloped vineyard at higher altitude; east facing. The only drawback; clay soil, not ideal for energetic Pinot Noir.

The 2021 Giant Steps Applejack Pinot Noir is very perfumed, with rose petals so present.

On the palate, we experience a typical Yarra Valley fruit profile; strawberry, raspberry, red cherry. The flavours are not overly complex, but the texture is very appealing with silky tannins present along the palate, and on the long finish.

The wine presents a little fruity now, but with time is likely to deliver more complexity.

Score: 94/++

Tyrrell’s 4 Acres and 8 Acres Shiraz

Over the last couple of days I had some protein dinner and given relatively warm, but not hot summer temperatures, I was wondering what to pair this with. South Australian Shiraz would have been too heavy, a different grape variety did not seem right. Why not Hunter Valley Shiraz, a lighter, less alcoholic style, often with velvety tannins. It gave me an opportunity to drink two highly regarded Tyrrell’s wines side by side.

 In Burgundy, it is easy to find maps of all vineyards; not in Australia. It is unfortunate in the case of Tyrrell’s, as it would be instructive to see the location and size of their so called Sacred Sites vineyards. The four Sacred Sites vineyards (an unfortunate name?) have been planted well over 100 years ago. The 4 Acres and 8 Acres vineyards sit right next to each other, both on the same red clay over limestone.

So will the 2019 Tyrrell’s 4Acres Shiraz and the 8 Acres Shiraz taste very similar? There seem to be one major difference: the 8 Acres vineyard is planted North to South, the 4 Acres East to West.

There is already a big colour difference: the 4 Acres has a crimson colour, whereas the 8 Acres is purple. On the palate, the 4 Acres is red fruited, with great energy, edgy even in the mouth. There is a fair amount of acidity and tannins in this wine, but the elements are in balance. The wine is long on the palate, and perhaps more of a challenge, in a good way, than the 8 Acres. This wine will clearly add complexity with age.

Score: 95/++

The 8 Acres is a much softer wine, with a velvety mouthfeel. It is medium bodied with soft tannins. The wine is great on the mid-palate, but loses towards the finish.

Score: 94/++

These two wines are quite different. I don't think the treatment in the winery would have been different. Is it all due to the different vineyard orientation. Could be. Or are picking dates different, for example. Unfortunately, such data is not available. In any case, it shows how decisions over a hundred years ago can still impact the flavour and taste of a wine.

Te Mata Gamay Noir

 This 2022 Te Mata Gamay Noir is a great find. 

There is a lot of talk about the improvement of Beaujolais cru, and some of this is justified. And then you get a Gamay from left field, at half price or less, which is quite exciting.

The colour is carmine (ruby with a bit of blue), very appealing.

On the palate, there is raspberry fruit, but also a lot of savoury flavours, game and green tea. The mouthfeel is velvety. The wine is not very concentrated, but the flavours create an intriguing complexity. Acidity and tannins are medium.

This is a good quality, very drinkable great summer wine. Highly recommended.

Score: 90/+++

What Did We Drink For Christmas?

 My Christmas was quite small in scope and the wines were mostly disappointing.

A Pipers Brook Late Disgorged Sparkling was fine, but not very distinctive. The Tyrell’s Vat 47 was better, quite traditional with a nice peachy mouthfeel. On the red front, I was disappointed by two different Mataros (see post below). I then needed something special. I opened a 2009 Robert Chevillon 1er cru Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Vaucrains. The fruit profile was fine, but nothing special. I enjoyed the silky finish.

What did you drink over Christmas? Get on the board! I would like some American or European contributions, too.