Cullen 2010 Cullen Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc Semillon

Read the winery's tasting notes and you'll find references to the beneficial effects of biodynamic viticulture that are almost guaranteed to create debate between enthusiasts and sceptics, but it's impossible to deny the presence of something special in this 12% alc/vol number.

Not knowing anything about such matters I'm probably better off leaving them alone, but I can't help feeling people who are going to go to the trouble of ensuring they're following Steiner's principles down to the impeccably crossed ts and immaculately dotted is are probably guaranteed to turn out a quality product regardless of whether biodynamics actually deliver. If you micromanage to this degree you're going to come out way ahead of the just bung some chemicals on the vines and hope for the best mob.

Check the available details closely and you see we're talking grapes  picked at various degrees of ripeness (between 9.7 and 12.2 baume) over a number of different days (picking for the flavour components rather than a well, it's sort of ready now, let's get it off) and you're going to end up with (and I'll admit I'm guessing here) a number of different parcel that are going to be micromanaged to within an inch of their vinous lives.

And if that process delivers something as good as this, that's absolutely fine with me. Loved this one and will be back for more.

Cullen 2010 Cullen Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc Semillon (5* $35) 66% sauvignon blanc and 34% semillon combine to deliver a package that's almost seamlessly integrated and delivers plenty to savour and speculate about. A hint of this? A tad of that? among the herbal citrus on the nose and across the palate. Not, I think a wine for food since the food flavours will get in the way. Open it early, savour as an aperitif and then throw in the fresh seafood as you hit the end of the bottle. At 12% you're not going to be absolutely stonkered by that stage, but you'll be absolutely well disposed towards the world at large. A dozen oysters or a couple of fresh red spot prawns with the last glass would work well for me. Outstanding as long as your palate can handle subtle and you're not throwing in distractions in the food line.

Cullen 2009 Mangan

The invitation that brought Warbo and the Dragon Lady to the LHoC last night was, I must admit, a calculated move to kick off what's intended to be a serious assault on the quality end of the stock on hand in these parts over the Festive Season.

We've got 'em here, and as far as Hughesy's concerned, it's a matter of finding a suitable excuse to drink 'em.

One of the first things I did when we started out on the retirement bit was to start keeping a record of the wine expenditure, since finances weren't exactly tight, but they weren't going to allow massive extravagance either.

I like my bottle of wine at night, don't mind a glass with lunch, want something interesting to sip and was, at the time, working on a $10/bottle budget.

The spreadsheet started with a selection from the Tahbilk Everyday Drinking Range back in March 2007, and now, more than four and a half years later, with the most recent entry $180 for a six pack of Hay Shed Hill 2011 Block 1 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, the long term average per bottle is still under $11.50 ($11.33 if you want to be pernickety).

We end up, in other words, with plenty of budget priced selections in these parts, but we've got a good range of bottles further up the price range, and we need excuses to open same.

Visitors are one, the Festive Season is a second, and there'll be a flurry of blog activity in these parts as Hughesy mounts a valiant attempt to move boxes off the office floor. Along the way there'll be a few wines like this little beauty which, trust me, I would luurve to be able to afford as an everyday drinking prospect.

The 2009, sampled at the winery a bit over a year ago, left me speechless, and that was before I got to the Diana Madeline.

Mangan for everyday drinking, a case of Diana Madeline for special occasions, and unlimited temperature controlled storage…

Well, a man's allowed to dream, isn't he?

Cullen 2009 Mangan (5/5 $45) Malbec (63% for fruit and colour), Petit Verdot (27% for the length and texture) and Merlot (10% for the structure) blend that, according to Mr Halliday, approximates a pre-phylloxera Bordeaux. Deep red in the glass, berries and oak across the sinuses and a palate that runs on and on. There's a characteristic subtlety that runs through the Cullen wines that would have you (or at least me) scrabbling for superlatives if you weren't so busy drinking. A rich, savoury wine that demands far more restraint that Hughesy can deliver. Definite evaporation problem here…

Cullen 2010 Mangan Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc Semillon

When it comes down to tin tacks, most of us who drink would have to admit that we do so, at least partially, for the effect. True, there are any number of other considerations that impinge on the matter, including what some might consider minor details like taste and food matching, but when you scrutinise the matter with an intense and totally honest scrute, the desired effect is always lurking in the background.

Reflecting on what we'd sampled when Warbo and the Dragon Lady landed on the Friday night pizza doorstep here at The Little House of Concrete had me casting the mind back to a chance liquor barn encounter with an ex-student who rejoiced in the nickname of Jimbob.

At the I was browsing through the quality end of the operation rather than the cask and el cheapo section and a glance at the pricing had Jimbob suggesting that the price point was a matter of wankery since it was all about getting you off.

That was close to twenty years ago, but the encounter still sticks in my mind for some reason.

Yes, effect is a significant part of the picture, but it's not the only part. Suffice it to say, what we're looking at here aren't aimed at the Jimbob fraternity.

AS far as I'm concerned, however, I want something interesting to drink, and I want variety, which is why we've got a swag of boxes on the floor of the office to go with the contents of the wine rack, the stash in the wine fridge and the selection in chilled storage in the bar fridge.

And if you're after something interesting to sample, you're probably after some details, which explains the statistical and other information cribbed from Mr Halliday and the winery website, since I'm interested in, for example, what makes this one different from the almost identical blend produced by the same producer from the Cullen Vineyard.

Cullen 2010 Mangan Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc Semillon (5* $35) 62% Sauvignon Blanc and 38% Semillon from the gravelly (c.f. the loamy Cullen) Mangan vineyard with some French oak (13%) on the SB side. Clear pale straw, with a subtlety through the nose that needed a little time to open up, revealing understated grass and citrus notes and a blend of citrus and minerality on the palate that was poised, balanced and textured to run out to a rounded finish. Subtle and quite superb…

Deep Woods 2010 Jack's Patch Sauvignon Blanc

When it comes to phone calls asking acquaintances if they want to share a case of wine they're usually emanating from the LHoC rather than heading in the opposite direction.

We were almost out the door on the way to collect my brother from Whitsunday Coast Airport when the phone rang and Jimbo put the proposition, and the nature of the surrounding circumstances possibly accounts for the fact that I thought we were talking Cabernet or Cab Merlot rather than Sauvignon Blanc.

Subsequent research from Jimbo suggests this is the Deep Woods export label and the wine, under its official guise, took out the trophy for Best Sauvignon Blanc at the Margaret River Wine Show in 2010.

Deep Woods 2010 Jack's Patch Sauvignon Blanc (4* $n/a) Pale in the glass with green tinges, varietal aromatics on the nose and zingy acidity across the palate, this presents as an ideal summer drinking style without standing up and demanding attention.

Hay Shed Hill 2010 Block 6 Chardonnay

 Ah, the joys of a changing palate…

Or, more accurately, developing styles and changes in public perceptions. It's not that long since the drinking public seemed to be pouring vast quantities of Anything But Chardonnay down their collective throats, a shift in consumption that had winemakers scrabbling around for a way back once the big buttery styles I used to like went off the boil out there in Consumerland.

And in the wake of the Kiwi Savalanche, you'd be wondering how anything else was going to get a look in, but here's a perfect example of what's out there for the Savvied-out drinker, assuming you're not getting a bit of Semillon in with the Savvy or haven't rediscovered the joys of Riesling.

Hay Shed Hill 2010 Block 6 Chardonnay (4.5* $35) Early picked fruit from thirty-five-year-old dry-grown vines, free run juice, a total lack of malolactic fermentation (so not even a daub of butter in sight)  and minimal exposure to oak delivers fresh apple, citrus  and stone fruit aromas to the nose, concentrated flavours across the palate in an elegant understated style that's simultaneously vibrant and intensely fruity. Very easy to drink now, and could develop over the short to medium term, but the stocks wi;l, I suspect, be gone by autumn.

Cullen 2010 Margaret River White

Well, here's another string to add to the Summer Drinking bow…

We're already looking at a regular mix of light reds and Rose, Riesling and the odd Semillon Sauvigon Blanc or SBS, drawn from Brook Eden, Rockford, Pfeiffer and Pikes, with maybe a bottle or two of the Brook Eden Pinot Gris ond Rockford White Frontignac thrown in for a bit of variation.

There'll be a six pack of the Hay Shed Hill Block 1 SSB thrown in for something towards the premium end of the spectrum and, of course, there's plenty of other wine sitting in the rack that will need to be removed to make room for incoming summer supplies.

Based on a slight degree of disappointment with the Margaret River Red I hung off this one for a bit, but a retry of the red had me sneaking the previoous rating a bit higher, bunping the 3.5 I could buy this up towards a 4* I should buy this. I'm still not !00% there, but if I'm going to line up for more of the White, and given the fact that I don't quite need a dozen of these, I'll probably be in for a couple more of the reds.

Time to whack a bottle of the Red in the fridge to see how it handles that option, and I'd better get a Mangan Vineyard Semillon in there as well.

Cullen 2010 Margaret River White (4.5/5 $19) A variation on the traditional Bordeaux blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon with a splash of Chenin Blanc, a dash of Chardonnay and a touch of Riesling, it's still basically a Margaret River SBS with added complexity from the additional elements. Those extra dimensions come across on the nose, with enough elements in there to keep you sniffing for a while as you have a go at identifying them. They deliver across the palate as well, with a rounded elegance coiled around a core of soft-edged acid. An interesting blend for the short term with depth on the palate that's remarkable in a wine that registers 12.5% alc/vol. I may well be looking for more of this one.

Leeuwin Estate 2003 Art Series Riesling

Well, here's one that underlines the need for accurate records and careful monitoring of stock.

There are excuses, but, really, leaving two bottles of a fondly-remembered favourite to the point where they're starting to slide is, to all intents and purposes, unforgiveable.

I can start by blaming the cork closure, and the care I took to ensure that anything in the bar fridge that boasts one lies on its side.

The shelving in the bar fridge is such that the best way to maximise capacity is by piling everything that's lying horizontal atop a single shelf, which in turn means there are eight or nine bottles lying in a configuration that makes the bottom layer difficult to extract without a complete remove/restack operation.

And while I've been fairly meticulous in keeping track of what I've bought since that $50 box of Tahbilk Everyday Drinking 2004 Sauvignon Blanc back in late March 2007 there's nothing on a spreadsheet that runs down to Row 543 and reveals a long term average per bottle of $11.18 that refers to Leeuwin Estate 2003 Art Series Riesling.

There are a couple of entries for 6 Assorted bottles from Magees from around Christmas 2007 that could be right, but, really, after close to four years there's no way of knowing.

What I do know is there were three cork closed bottles on the bottom of the pile, and at least one of them was a Rockford Eden Valley Riesling that had managed to avoid an entry in the Bento database and would probably have gone rather nicely with last night's Thai curry.

Restacking that section so I could get at the Rockford produced two bottles of 2003 Art Series, and a quick check with Mr Halliday revealed a Drink by 2009, so there was a fairly hasty redrawing of the evening's drinking arrangements. There are leftovers from last night to be consumed this evening, so we'll be waving a not quite teary goodbye to its brother tonight.

Leeuwin Estate 2003 Art Series Riesling (4* $n/a) It might have started out light, delicate and fresh with passionfruit aromas but from the first whilff it was fairly clear that we've caught this one just in time. There was a fair dose of the aged Riesling kero notes on the nose and across the palate, but they were almost muted, as if someone had taken a plane to anything resembling a rough edge. Interesting as an exercise in drinking a Riesling that's reaching the end of its development, but not, once the other bottle's gone, one that I'm keen to repeat.

Hay Shed Hill 2009 Block 2 Cabernet Sauvignon

I like it when someone delivers you a ready made, straightforward but still rather elegant to a potentially thorny problem.

We weren't long back from Western Australia and I was trying to figure out how to include the wineries we'd visited over there into a purchasing schedule that didn't have much room for manoeuvre when the flier about the Hay Shed Hill Four Seasons Club arrived in the P.O. Box.

The beauty of those we'll send you a specified number of bottles at prescribed intervals wine clubs is that the buyer is saved the effort involved in deciding what he or she wants to buy. Someone else makes the decisions, but you've probably got the chance to try what you would have ordered in the first place and, most importantly, it takes the when out of the ordering equation.

In the end it all depends on whether you're interested in what they're offering.

In this case, an arrangement where you receive the Semillon Sauvignon Blanc in summer, their Sangiovese and Tempranillo in the autumn, Cabernet Sauvignon in the winter and Chardonnay in the spring looked pretty attractive at a first glance, though the $180 a throw for half a dozen wines seemed rather steep, so I did a bit of basic research, and a bit was all that was needed.

Apart from the autumn wines, the wines are drawn from their Block Series, wines made from single parcels of fruit from designated blocks that supposedly represent the best grapes on the property.

Fine, so how were they rated?

The SSB consistently rated 84 from Mr Halliday, the Cabernet ranged between 94 and 96, and the Chardonnay was the same.

As far as the pricing went, the autumn wines were $20, the SSSB $30, the Chardonnay $35 and the Cab Sauv $50, so I figured that $135 x 6 was $810, while four times $180 was $720, and the deliveries were freight free, so why not?

The SSB duly arrived, and made for quite sublime summer drinking, the autumn wines were acceptable without being overly impressive, but this one…

Hay Shed Hill 2009 Block 2 Cabernet Sauvignon (5* $50) Bright deep dense red in the glass, intense berry and blackcurrant notes on the nose and a complex palate built from a base of tightly wound tannins this wine provides ample justification for signing up for the Hay Shed Hill Four Seasons. Colour me highly impressed.

Cullen 2009 Margaret River Red

I'm not sure what motivates the rest of the blogoverse, but as far as I'm concerned the Little House of Concrete family of sites gives me a means of keeping track of what I've drunk, read and listened to, what I thought and, maybe, the chance to interact with people with similar interests.  While there have been over a thousand hits on the Wine Rack and Music blogs, there haven't been too many comments, which is fine, since I haven't been too active in commenting on any of the thirty-something blogs I follow.

Keeping track of things is particularly important where the Wine Rack is concerned, and from time to time there's a bottle which brings all of the major considerations into focus, and although those considerations mightn't apply to anybody else, sorting them out in my own mind is an important part of the whole box and dice.

This little bracket of wines bring a couple of those considerations into fairly clear focus.

For a start, back when we were investigating the economics of retirement and formulating a budget I figured a long term average price of $10 per bottle was about what I could afford. Things have changed over the intervening years, particularly after I'd finished paying off the house, and we're now looking towards $20 as the average, though the sheer quantity of relatively cheap wine I've bought over the years has the average well below $12.

The changed circumstances mean that I can now start looking at wines I wouldn't have considered a couple of years ago, which then becomes a consideration when you're making up your mind about what goes in the box.

Do you, for example, get a dozen selected from the top of the range or do you work across the price points?

That's not such a major consideration when you're looking at Grosset, for example, when the bottom of the range is just under the $30 mark, but when you're looking at Cullens, you can balance some of the $100 top level with a $20 entry level.

Then there's the question of when you're actually going to drink them. I'm hardly likely to be opening a bottle of Rockford Basket Press to go with stak, mashed spuds and peas on a Saturday night, am I?

Actually, it's be nice to think that I could, but the harsh light of reality rules that out.

There's also a definite place for something that's relatively lightly weighted in the Alc/Vol Stakes, particularly wen you're looking at a bottle over lunch that won't leave you totally stonkered for the rest of the afternoon.

Given the northern environment and the relatively limited cellaring capacity, there's a tendency to go for wines that are short- to medium-term prospects rather than something that you might be looking at holding onto until the 2020s.

We get two seasons in these parts (I've labelled them hot and not) and with the temperature starting to climb as we head into September the subject of summer drinking is always lurking in the back of the mind, and we're always looking for reddish wines that are either lighter bodied or will handle a stint in the fridge.

For all those reasons I was particularly looking forward to trying the Cullen 2009 Margaret River Red and White, both sitting on the 12% mark, that I'd thought were eminently drinkable and rated as 4.5* I really need to buy this when we visited the winery about twelve months ago.

Making up the order, I'd used both as the basis of mixed cases, with four of the MR Red and the Cab Merlot, three Mangans and a single Diana Madeleine comprising the red portion of the order. After trying this one, however, I'm not sure I'll be using the same mix next time around. 3.5 on the scale equates to I could buy this though I'm still open to persuasion.

Cullen 2009 Margaret River Red (3.5* $20) Bright red in the glass, fresh aromas through the nose, balanced and medium bodied across the palate, but I felt there was something missing, and it's more than likely something to do with the 12% alc/vol, though the change from the previous year's Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec/Merlot/Petit Verdot/Cabernet Franc blend to 80% Merlot 15% Malbec and a dash of Petit Verdot might account for the disparity between the 4.5* '08 and this one. Still, there are another three bottles left that might change my mind, and one of the little devils will definitely be going in the fridge for a short spell...

Two whites (Helm 2009 Sauvignon Blanc and Stella Bella Suckfizzle Sauvignon Blanc Semillon)

Visitors to the Little House of Concrete (at least, visitors who will take a drink) provide an excuse to open something that I mightn't be sampling as an everyday drinking line. Those everyday drinking styles tend to arrive in multiples, not always by the dozen but somewhere between three and the box. With a visitor on the premises you can try one of those odd bottles secreted around the rack or lurking at the back of the fridge.

Selecting the appropriate bottle is, of course, a function of whatever is on offer on the food front, and these weren't the best option for a chicken tikka masala but there were other factors that came into the mix.

The visitor, this time around, was the fabulous Staggster, a forty-year acquaintance from Teachers' College days and ex-colleague in Townsville prior to my relocation to beautiful downtown Bowen. She's based in the national capital these days, so I thought it was worth starting with something from her home territory.

Inquiries about Helm while we were assembling the dinner sealed the issue. The winery, I was informed, was a bit on the expensive side (well, given the small winery bit that's par for the course) but I think we might have persuaded someone that the $25 Sauvignon Blanc and the $28 Riesling were worth investigating.

Into sitting around after dinner mode, with Richard Thompson's 1000 Years of Popular Music on the DVD player provided an excuse to crack one of the Stella Bella Suckfizzle SBS.

Helm 2009 Sauvignon Blanc (4.5* $25) Hand picked grapes and free run juice deliver plenty of herbaceous aromatics on the nose and intensity across the palate, a cool climate Sauvignon Blanc with varietal character and a lengthy finish. Will be back for more, most likely for a six-four Riesling-Sauv Blanc blend in the next ten-pack.

Stella Bella 2006 Suckfizzle Sauvignon Blanc Semillon (4.5* $36) Plenty happening on the nose, herbs, grass, berries and talc, with the interaction between Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and oak delivering a complexity across the palate with layers to savour over a lengthy sitting. Won't be waiting too long to open the other bottle on hand and definitely one to throw in the next order from Stella Bella.

Fermoy Estate 2010 Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc

Truth, Jimbo remarked on yesterday's morning walk, is stranger than fiction. We were talking music rather than wine at that particular juncture, which may have prompted my Or, to borrow the name of a Robert Wyatt album, Ruth is stranger than Richard. Jimbo has a brother named Richard, though I'm not sure whether his circle of acquaintances is a Ruth-less or Ruth-free zone.

This morning's brisk stroll around the Front Beach, however, returned to the subject of wine, and, predictably, given the fact that we wandered around impressions of Sauvignon Blanc with and without the addition of Semillon, that truth is stranger than fiction bit kicked in again, prompted by two items I sighted yesterday and cited in the course of the stroll.

For a start yesterday's Wine Companion newsletter had Mr Halliday describing the 1.62 million tonne 2011 grape harvest as  unexpected and profoundly shocking.

I'd been rash enough to opine that we might be looking at the end of the current grape glut, thanks to a mixture of factors including floods, mildew and botrytis in almost every region around eastern Australia. Talking to Steve Doyle at Bloodwood I was told he was one of the few producers in Orange who'd been able to pick anything at all, and I'd heard a similar report from Ken Helm outside Canberra, yet here we are with a crop that's nearly 25% bigger than the quantity needed, and, to quote Mr Halliday, it is certain that the extra 300 000 tonnes were very poor quality grapes sold for a song and destined for the bulk market.

Strange. We've got a glut, so we ensure that the situation remains in place by harvesting large quantities of crap grapes for the already over-catered for lower end of the market.

I've also noted that calls for a floor price for alcohol to counter, among other things, binge drinking in indigenous communities in the Northern Territory are greeted with claims that a steep increase in the price of a five litre goonbag would remove one of the few pleasures available to the Australian age pensioner.

Strange. We have an on-going health disaster in the Territory largely fuelled by the availability of vast quantities of industrially-produced ethanol but we can't do anything about it because of the impact on our pensioners, who deserve a far better deal than they're currently getting.

Based on the Carbon Tax debate, one would have thought that the extra revenue from a floor price (I'm assuming that this would be achieved by changing the way alcohol sales are taxed) could have been evenly split between expenditure on indigenous health and raising the age pension to the point where the elderly, who definitely deserve it, could afford to buy semi-decent quality bottled wine.

Then there was the article in the Sydney Morning Herald linked from the Daily Wine News that suggests that they're selling 3.4 million cases of Sauvignon Blanc per year in this country, and most of that seems to be sourced from New Zealand, where producers seem to be (and I'm quoting from the Australian Tax Office website here) entitled to a rebate of 29% of the selling price of the wine. There's more on the same subject here.

I'm not an expert on these things but it looks awfully like we've got a continuing glut due to sales of cheap imported wine that attracts what amounts to a subsidy. Strange.

Those matters might explain why I'm able to buy something like this rather good Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc for $7.50 (the '09 back in February) or  $10.85 (the '10 in an end of financial year sale).

Fermoy Estate 2010 Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc (4.5* $22 Sale $10.85) Another crystal clear pale straw number with bright aromatics that are a bit closer to the hay and curt grass end of the spectrum than I recall from the '09, this one hits the palate with sharpish varietal character, a balanced acidity and a tinge of sugar that rounds into a lengthy finish. Under my five point scale, 4.5* means I really need to buy this, while 4* equates to I should buy this, but with eleven bottles left in the box I don't need to buy any more, do I? On the other hand 4.5 means I'll be looking very closely at the '11, n'est ce pas?

Fermoy Estate 2010 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

My tasting note for the Fermoy Estate 2009 Yallingup Vineyards Margaret River Semillon Sauvignon Blanc that I reprised from back in March concluded with Will be looking very closely at the 2010, and while $10 freight free is a slightly higher impost that the $7.50 including freight I paid for the '09 there was no way I'd be bypassing this one at the price..

A perusal of the back label suggests a cancelled order that would have been heading Stateside....

Fermoy Estate 2010 The Partnership Semillon Sauvignon Blanc (4/5 $20 Sale $10) Green tinges in the glass, the regulation tropical fruit and citrus nose that goes with the regional blend, this 55/45 combo hits the palate nicely balanced, with the same tangy complexity and lengthy finish as noted in the '09. Maybe not quite as impressive as the last one, though that may well be a reflection on the accompanying meal rather than the wine itself. I'm inclined to round things down rather than up, and reserve the right to ratchet the rating up to 4.5 after a later sample.

Fermoy Estate 2008 Yallingup Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot

There are times when you find yourself scratching the noggin and wondering what happened to that stuff you know you've got here somewhere but isn't where it ought to be. I was sure that I'd filed everything from the winery side of the Western Australia trip last year in separate folders in the filing cabinet, but when I went checking a minor detail there was no sign of a folder dedicated to material from Fermoy Estate.

There should, by rights, be a scribbled page of notes that produced the tasting notes and impressions noted here, but I was hoping for a price list or something similar that would verify that the wine I'd assessed as a bit young but had things in place to improve with age had the words Yallingup Vineyard on the label. Assuming it did, ten months or so has seen things fall into place rather nicely.

There are plenty of places to visit when you're wandering around Margaret River, even if you've decided to limit yourself to the places James Halliday has allocated five stars, and the decision to add Fermoy Estate to the list was partly based on Mr Halliday's rating, partly prompted by an assessment that they were happy to keep a relatively low profile, however difficult that may be given the quality of the wines and partly by the establishment's proximity to Cullen Wines on a day where the itinerary was centred around a tasting and lunch at Cullens before hitting the road to head back towards Perth.

Getting orders in to everywhere you want to buy from is rather tricky when you've got an extensive list of places you want to buy from, limited storage space and a diplomatic need to limit the number of cases in front of the wine rack.

There are, however, some offers you can't refuse, and dozens of the Fermoy 2009 Yallingup Vineyards Margaret River Semillon Sauvignon Blanc and 2009 Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc for $180 all-up including $30 freight was too good to miss, given the fact that Hallidayy had rated both at the 93 mark. I hadn't been quite so taken with a 4/5 rating, but then again at $7.50 a bottle you can afford to take a punt and prove yourself wrong.

In any case (actually, in both cases) I thought that the wines would go down well with the Merry frockster's lady friend, so a we'll go halves arrangement was fairly easy to negotiate.

Suffice it to say she liked them enough to save them for special occasions, so that when the end of the financial year offer from Fermoy had what looked like the 2010 equivalents a phone call was enough to ensure we were backing up for a restocking exercise.

You can't start on the whites until you can get 'em into the fridge, so I thought a good starting point this time around would be the...

Fermoy Estate 2008 Yallingup Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot (4.5* $20, sale $10) Dark red with purple notes in the glass, subtly pronounced cabernet character on the nose with some plummy merlot in there as well, berry flavours across the palate with ripe firmly rounded tannins and a lingering finish this 70% cabernet blend hit the spot rather nicely and left me regretting the fact that I only ended up with half a dozen. Somehow I doubt that I'll be able to reorder at the sale price.

Voyager Estate 2009 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon

While it would have been interesting to have left the last survivor of this dozen for the warmer weather that's probably just around the corner a combination of a surfeit of Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc, SBS and SSB blends along with a severe case of cases on the floor in front of the wine rack meant that this one was a prime candidate for Operation Room in the Rack.

Voyager Estate 2009 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon (4.5/5 $24) One of the best examples of the standard Margaret River white blend I came across when we visited reduced to $18 and freight free was a no-brainer in October last year, and it's a minor miracle this last survivor has lasted eight and a half months in the rack. Pale straw colour, regulation elements present on the nose, with fresh zingy acidity balanced in with the fruit on the palate and a gentle, textured almost understated rounded finish made for a great drink, and prompt a mental memo to scour the horizon for the 2010. 93 from Halliday.

Leeuwin Estate 2008 Art Series Riesling

 The predictable end of financial year stock clearance offers haven't exactly been flowing into the Little House of Concrete, but the impending arrival of a couple of cases from Fermoy Estate to join recent deliveries from Tahbilk, Baileys and The Wine Society means that we need to concentrate on getting things out of the wine rack to make room for what's sitting on the floor in front of it. The easiest way to do that, of course, is to clear out some of the wines that are there in multiples, but last night's dinner needed something in a Riesling and this one was, conveniently in the bar fridge, so…

Leeuwin Estate 2008 Art Series Riesling (4.5* $22) After a couple of younger Rieslings from other regions where the citrus notes were far more pronounced the relatively restrained nose and the semi-aged notes across the palate (that hydrocarbon element's there again, but lurking below the surface rather than muscling its way to prominence) made a rather pleasant change. In the mouth it sat comfortably in between the citrusy zing of a young Riesling and the overt developed characters you find in the aged versions. There's a tendency to see that transition from youth to maturity as leaving a void that detracts from the drinking experience, but there was, I thought, plenty going on here. Thankfully, there's still another bottle to go.

Leeuwin Estate 2007 Art Series Riesling

Back in the days when the Horseshoe Bay Cafe provided some of the best food along this stretch of the Queensland coast I developed a taste for Art Series Riesling, which was a permanent fixture on the wine listand it's a something that has lasted through subsequent encounters with the variety. Things may have moved on over the years, but this one (at the el cheapo end of the Art Series spectrum) remains a favourite.

Leeuwin Estate 2007 Art Series Riesling (4.5* $23) Pale straw in colour, lemons, lime and the developed Riesling hydrocarbons on the nose and apples and minerals across the palate deliver an enjoyable drinking experience that underlines the need for restraint if you're going to enjoy bottle aged Riesling. Would quite possibly go further, though Halliday described it as a Peter Pan (as in may never grow up). If this is eternal youth I could do with a bit more of it…

Hay Shed Hill 2008 White Label Tempranillo

Rather than the unbroken half dozens that are apparently the go for the other three seasons, the Hay Shed Hill Four Seasons Club Autumn Pack arrived as a fifty-fifty split between the 2008 Tempranillo and the 2009 Sangiovese. While autumn in these parts may not quite be the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, this one definitely turned out to be mellowly fruitful.

Hay Shed Hill 2008 White Label Tempranillo (4* $30) Medium bodied elegant, silky style with full, soft, rounded tannins, gently spicy with tasty mouth feel. Very easy to drink. While it mightn't be the greatest Tempranillo going around it's a long way from being the worst.

Fermoy Estate 2009 Yallingup Vineyards Margaret River Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

While mileages may vary when it comes to winery ratings those of us with a limited budget as far as time is concerned need some sort of framework to start from when we're visiting somewhere like Margaret River. Lacking either local knowledge or acquaintances who've visited the area recently (though we had one friend who pointed us towards Hay Shed Hill) it was a case of turning to Halliday, and a quick squizz revealed enough five star operations to keep us busy for a week rather than the two-and-a-bit days we had available.

In cases like that, the list from Halliday is a starting point and you (or rather I, readers may operate differently) then start sifting through other details to sort out the wheat from the chaff. We had Cullen Wines pencilled in for lunch on the last day, didn't want to overdo it, and I noted with interest that Fermoy Estate was just down the road from the planned stop, conveniently located near a chocolate factory Madam expressed an interest in, and, in Halliday's words "happy to keep a relatively low profile, however difficult that may be given the quality of the wines". Sounded good to me.

Which explains how we got there. What happened when we did meant that we'll be keeping an eye on the website for frequent orders even if they're nowhere near the heavily discounted ($20 to $7,50 by the dozen with freight)

Fermoy Estate 2009 Yallingup Vineyards Margaret River Semillon Sauvignon Blanc (4.5* $20) Not quite half and half (52-48%) the Semillon characters sit on top of the grassy passionfruit Sauvignon Blanc, resulting in a blend that's  tightly knit with a tangy complexity and a lengthy finish across the palate and plenty on offer through the nose. A wine that had me wishing there were more than five of them left.  Will be looking very closely at the 2010.

Fermoy Estate 2009 Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc

While I'm quite aware that I've been marching to the beat of a different drum for much of the past forty years a recent stroll around downtown Bowen reinforced the difference between Hughesy's tastes and the drinking habits of the wider community in these parts.

Given the prevailing humidity, a walk downtown usually comprises a two-and-a-half-block trek from home to the (air-conditioned) post office, with subsequent stops at the bank, the regular newsagent and the local library, all of which offer a temporary cool down.

The need to visit the supermarket on Friday resulted in a further stop at the corner newsagent, and with around a hundred metres to go before the supermarket I yielded to temptation and sidetracked into the liquor barn.

These days, my wine purchases are almost invariably made direct from the winery, so visits to the liquor barn have become few and far between. They've remodelled the interior as well, so these days I'm not quiote so familiar with the layout.

The new look works around the multi-layer stand the bottles up arrangement, with signs indicating areas devoted to particular varieties and styles. I'd have had no problem locating the Sauvignon Blancs, for example, though I'd have a bit of a problem if I was after something interesting and attractively-priced that didn't come from New Zealand.

There was, however, nothing to indicate where I might find a Riesling, and I managed a fair cooling off period before I found a limited range hidden at the very bottom of the Moscato and Sweet Whites section.

Now, if I had to pick a varietal that's ideally suited to the tropical lifestyle, where people tend to go for fish and seafood and some of us don't mind the flavour profile of Thai dishes, I'd be heading directly for the Riesling without passing GO and collecting $200.

I could well have gone a Riesling with dinner that evening, but an email from Fermoy Estate had landed boxes of 2009 Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, rather remarkably reduced from $20/$22 to $6.25 ($7.50 when you add freight) and the Sauv Blanc needed to be sampled.

Two points that emerge from the above:

(i) Continued bafflement at the public's refusal to go for varietal Riesling (actually, I'm sure the reason lies in the confusion between generic goon-bag swill marketed under the name and the genuine article);

and (ii) The marketing snow job that's persuaded the broad mass of Australian drinkers to subscribe to the cut price Savalanche rather than sample some of the very acceptable styles produced on this side of the ditch.

That second point presumably accounts for some of the remarkable price reduction in

Fermoy Estate 2009 Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc (4.5* $22) Almost crystal clear pale straw, brightly aromatic and leaning to the tropical rather than the cut grass end of the spectrum, balanced with genuine varietal character, depth  and a lengthy finish, this was quite wonderful drinking and had me wishing I'd (at least) doubled the order. Assuming consistency across future vintages I'd happily pay the full RRP whack, and at the discount on offer at the time (it's presumably long gone) a no-brainer.

Lenton Brae 2009 Southside Chardonnay

While February hasn't been a great month for sampling wines I haven't tried before (we'd stocked up on Riesling, Rose and other summer drinking styles and the contents of the wine rack needed to be run down before orders go in to Rockford, Cullen and Pikes between now and Easter.

An email from Lenton Brae earlier in the month complicated matters slightly, offering the No Way Rose for $150/dozen and this one at one-third off the RRP freight free!

Another reason to be grateful we added our details to the mailing list when we were there.

Lenton Brae 2009 Southside Chardonnay (4.5* $25) As opposed to the significantly more expensive Wilyabrup Estate Chardonnay this drink in the medium term style comes from early picked fruit, some malolactic fermentation to tone down the acid and with no obvious oak on the palate the result is an easy drinking style that has a creamy citrus textured tang that's refreshing with a lengthy finish. Ticks all the right boxes as far as new style early drinking Chardonnay is concerned.