Pfeiffer 2010 Pinot Noir

The conventional wisdom would appear to suggest Pinot Noir is strictly a cool climate proposition.

 If you accept (not that I necessarily do, but the suggestion has been floated in my presence) that the best areas for Pinot are Burgundy, Oregon, New Zealand and Tasmania, all of which would be cooler climes than, say the Mornington Peninsula, Yarra Valley and the Adelaide Hills, areas that would, in turn be considerably cooler than Rutherglen.

So you'd reckon Pinot wouldn't work in northeast Victoria but, for some strange and unaccountable reason, when it passes across Hughesy's palate it seems to work in ways that limited exposure to wines from other more highly rated areas don't.

That's almost certainly my palate rather than the wines themselves, but this one, yet again worked nicely with last night's pasta with a cream, proscuitto and mushroom sauce.

Pfeiffer 2010 Pinot Noir (4* $23.50) Crimson in the glass, fragrant through the nose with earthy berries, cherries and earthy notes I assume equate to forest floor across the palate and a lengthy finish. Soft rounded style that's very easy to drink and could be included if we were heading into reorder territory. As I don't think we will be, rounded down rather than up. Very good.

Pfeiffer 2010 Ensemble Rose

Summer in the Little House of Concrete brings the annual restocking of fridge-friendly regulars, which basically ends up coming down to Riesling and Rose.

Left to myself I'd probably be happy to stick with the staples, and one of them is the Pfeiffer Gamay, which I would happily consume by the unbroken case, but the annual question about the composition ofthe box invariably brings a request for some Ensemble Rose.

In circumstances where I didn't have boxes on the office floor, I could have gone for two cases, one straight Gamay and a mixture from the rest of the range, maybe even going as far as half a dozen Ensembles in the interests of domestic harmony, but I thought there'd be phone calls and offers I couldn't refuse.

So I went for anine-three mix in a single case didn't I?

And those phone calls and offers I couldn't refuse?

Thin on the ground. Maybe when they get back into the swing of things after New Year.

Pfeiffer 2010 Ensemble Rose (4* $16 C2 $14.40) Shiraz dominant (that's if you call 44% dominant) blend with a fair chunk of Merlot, 13% Gewurztraminer, a bit of Cabernet Franc and a dash of Tempranillo. One to avoid if you're looking for varietal character, but as a chilled summer drop this makes for refreshing berry laden drinking, with the requisite berry and watermelon characters through the nose and across the palate goes down a treat. With what we've got on hand there's no chance of a reorder, so pressed to choose between 4* and 4.5 I rounded down. Very good summer drinking.

Pfeiffer 2010 Winemakers Selection Tempranillo

Recent samplings have confirmed Tempranillo as a variety to watch and sighting a Winemaker's Selection number in the Spring C2 pack from Pfeiffers had Hughesy licking his lips in anticipation. Took me a while to get to it, since we're leaning towards the curries and pasta dishes rather that the grills and roasts at the moment, but I was determined to give it a try in the near future rather than setting it aside and waiting for winter.

Pfeiffer 2010 Winemakers Selection Tempranillo (4.5* $n/a) Bright reddish-purple in the glass, savoury berries, cherries, spice and hints of leather nose on the nose and firm tannins in a finish that's balanced and runs out nicely. One to watch for next time around and line up with grilled red meat, roasts or hearty casseroles in the notional winter, though it worked well enough on a Bowen summer air-conditioned Saturday night.

Pfeiffer 2006 Museum Release Shiraz

It's always interesting to come back to something you've tried before for another go.

First time around my reaction to the Pfeiffer 2006 Shiraz around two years agowas a note to the effect that

I really liked the '06. 


Maybe not to the point where I'd be looking at a dozen for medium-term cellaring (both the winery and Halliday suggest 2015 as a drink by date) but it's a definite option when it comes to filling out an order for a dozen or two.


Very pleasant fruit notes on the nose, with pepper and spice characters on the palate that delivered a wonderfully warm and rounded style that made for contented savoury sipping once the evening's big hairy T-bone had been demolished. Part of that may well be due to the extra bit of bottle age, and if I'd taken the chance to upgrade to the three-times-a-year C3 option I may well have had more than a single bottle to sample and may have arrived there sooner.

Now it has turned up again as a Museum Release in the most recent C2 pack, and while I was impressed once again, once again I've missed the boat haven't I?

Pfeiffer 2006 Museum Release Shiraz (4.5* $n/a) Deep red with red berries on the nose and leathery tannins across the palate, nicely structured wine that would go well with most red meats or as a medium-term cellaring style, but Museum Release means there's none left (apparently, at the time of writing, may be wrong, but never mind). Another impressive wine from a winery that continues to deliver consistent quality.

Pfeiffer 2011 Carlyle Chardonnay Marsanne

It's interesting how rapidly some experiments become part of the mainstream. Take, for instance, Jen Pfeiffer's decision to blend a bit of Marsanne into a batch of unwooded Chardonnay that seemed to be missing something on the way to a clean, fresh, fruit driven wine.

That was in 2008, and there's been a repeat of the blend in each of the subsequent years, because (as I remarked at the time) it works rather well. Clean pale colour, aromatic nose (and you can definitely pick the Marsanne) and a refreshing wine that's easy drinking.

On that basis I'd reordered the '08 and while the '09 was quite acceptable, I thought it didn't work quite as well, and I suspected  that while the '08 was an attempt to tackle a problem, the successor was a case of matching the formula that worked last time rather than approaching a particular issue with a particular batch from a particular vintage. It was still a reasonably attractive unoaked white but it didn't make me sit up and take notice the same way the '08 did.

It seems the 2010 sneaked past through the mid-year C3 pack that I opted not to sign up for (it doesn't seem to have been included in the C2 selections that landed here, and there's nothing in the fairly extensive electronic documentation hereabouts to suggest it was,)so I'd guess that it walked out the door fairly rapidly (otherwise I'd have guessed it would have turned up in the October 2010 box).

And the 2011 suggests that may well have been the case, because both bottles of this crisp, fresh, unwooded style disappeared with extreme rapidity.

Pfeiffer 2011 Carlyle Chardonnay Marsanne (4* $16.50) The Marsanne comes pushing its way through the nose with definite elements of honeysuckle alongside melons and peaches. Pleasantly aromatic, and that impression follows through across the palate with citrusy young Chardonnay characters to produce a refreshing style for summer drinking. Summer in these parts tends to be the time for Rose and Riesling, but there may well be three or four of these lining up in the box with Mr Gamay.

Pfeiffer 2009 Carlyle Cabernet Merlot

Given a location around two hundred kilometres from the nearest Dan Murphy's with local liquor outlets tied to the big marketing conglomerates and nary an independent wine merchant on the horizon if you're looking to find something interesting to drink in these parts you've got a bit of a problem.

That point got rammed home fairly firmly about two months ago when our Last Friday of the Month Retirees Lunch Club set out for a go at the fare on offer at Coyotes. They do a quiet line in BYO Wine Only, and when they opened the wine list included items like the 94 Halliday points Capel Vale Cabernet Merlot, Pikes Pinot Grigio, and Tatachilla Growers Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, all of which I'd be quite happy to drink...

Just before we left Madam asked if I was going to head down the BYO Road, and my response was that I was confident there'd be something interesting on the wine list.

When I asked for the list, however, I was dismayed to find an array of the usual big corporate suspects and the initial reaction was that there was nothing on the list I was interested in drinking.

I mean, it's not like I need to have a drink at lunch time, and if I can't find anything interesting I might as well give the liver a slight break n'est ce pas?

Madam helpfully pointed out the Yalumba Y Series Riesling, and I relented to the extent of a glass where otherwise I might have gone an interesting bottle with samples shared around the six person table.

Actually, I should have known something along these lines was likely since Coyotes has gone from a Mexican theme to Steakhouse status with a subscript of We're hot, food's not!

So I'm obviously in the minority as far as food and drink are concerned, and in a landscape dominated by Thirsty Camels, BottleMarts and Liquor Legends I'm obviously going to be looking further afield.

Which is what I've been doing anyway, and with around twenty places I want to buy from I can afford to be a bit selective.

More than that, as I continue to encounter wines that are very bloody good I'm increasingly disinclined to worry about some that may well have been perfectly acceptable a couple of years ago.

Take this one, for example. Back in April 2009 I was looking at the '07 and with a Hungarian Gulyas that I figured needed a hearty full-flavoured red. Berries and a touch of mint (that’s the cabernet, folks) on the nose, more on the medium than the full-bodied end of the spectrum once it gets into the mouth, it wasn’t quite what I was planning on, but turned out to be a rather nice little match-up all the same.

In May last year (before I'd got to the five star rating scheme I'd remarked that the '08 went rather well with that favourite sugo alla bolognese. Definite notes of mint on the nose, along with enough other elements to keep the I'm getting a bit of mob quite happy. I didn't hang about sniffing too long, however, since the first sip revealed a rather elegant wine with plenty of berry fruit flavours, well integrated oak and a long finish. Nice.

That, however, was pre-Margaret River and the subsequent realignment of the Cab Merlot goalposts.

Last night the '09 was the first bottle I cracked out of the October C2 Club pack, and, quite frankly, with 3.5* translating as I could buy this and could changing to might when you drop back half a star, I really don't have much option but to go the three since I found myself wishing they'd doubled up on something else rather than this one.

No, three stars means I might buy this, though the only situation where I can foresee that happening would be on a restaurant wine list or in a bottle shop where everything else was generic, usual suspect mainstream.

There's no way this is going to talk me out of a bottle of Gamay when the order goes in within the next month, though had it turned up in The Wine Society a couple of years ago at an attractive price I could well have been lining up for a box.

Pfeiffer 2009 Carlyle Cabernet Merlot (3* $18.50) Purple red in the glass, rather subdued through the nose and fairly soft across the palate, while it was easy to drink I don't see a need for any more once the two bottles in the October C2 dozen are gone.

Pfeiffer 2010 Viognier

It's probably going a bit far to describe Viognier as an alternative variety these days (particularly noting a recent reference on one of the wine blogs I follow to the V weed) but it's hardly mainstream either.

Given the possibility that the name originates from the Roman pronunciation of the via Gehennae, or road to Hell, and the variety's reputation for being difficult to grow and susceptible to  powdery mildew, it'll be interesting to see how the '11 Viogniers shape up after the trials and tribulations of this year's vintage which mightn't have quite been the road to hell (particularly now that the statistics are in) but definitely shares a nearby postcode.

We're not, however, looking at this year's model here, and with a late ripening variety that needs to be picked at the right time since the fruit flavours arrive in a rush at the end of the ripening process you'd want to be getting things right, wouldn't you?

Pfeiffer 2010 Viognier (4* $25 C2 $22.50) My research notes suggest that when the grower gets it right deep yellow grapes produce wine high in alcohol with a strong perfume. While 13.2% isn't all that high, the aromatics were definitely there on the nose (peaches and stone fruits, touch of spice) with the apricots coming out across the palate. This Wine Club only number, nicely textured and hitting the right spot when it came to accompanying my favourite roast chook could, once again have been rounded up, but one suspects it'll be all gone by the time the Gamay order goes in.

Pfeiffer 2009 Chardonnay

It takes a while to work through these things, but we've got to the point where there was just this one and a 2010 Viognier left out of the Autumn Pfeiffer C2 Club offering. Either would've gone with tonight's roast chicken, but I thought that the Chardonnay might be a better match for last night's Rangoon Lime Chicken, so that was the way it went.

If I wasn't looking at boxes on the floor where boxes oughtn't be, I might have been tempted by the Winter Pack they're offering in the C3 option:

2009 Pfeiffer Marsanne
2010 Pfeiffer Winemakers Selection Malbec (2 bottles)
2005 Pfeiffer Christopher's VP
2006 Pfeiffer Chardonnay Museum Release
2009 Pfeiffer Carlyle Shiraz (2 bottles) Museum Release
2008 Pfeiffer Merlot Museum Release
2006 Pfeiffer Cabernet Sauvignon Museum Release
2008 Pfeiffer Shiraz Museum Release
1992 Pfeiffer Shiraz Cabernet Museum Release
1992 Pfeiffer Christopher's VP Museum Release

But, as stated, there's a slight surfeit in the LHoC at the moment, and I'm looking seriously at an order from Cullens in the near future, so something's got to give. The order needed to go in by Bastille Day, so....

Pfeiffer 2009 Chardonnay (4* $18.50 C2 $16.65) Straw green, nose noticeably subdued at first (note to self: don't taste straight out of the fridge) but across the palate worked rather nicely in the lighter tightly wound New Oz style and had me tossing up between ratings, but eventually rounded down rather than up. Already gone from the website (they're currently offering the '10) and given imminent orders I doubt I'll be looking in that direction in the near future.

Pfeiffer 2010 Gamay

With the announcement of Apple's new iCloud throwing huge question marks across my current website arrangements, I've got absolutely no qualms about grabbing some of the content, giving it a working over and recycling it in an environment that'll presumably be there when MobileMe goes bellyup in twelve months' time.

Given the weather conditions outside as I sit tapping away on a pre-dawn June morning summer is distant memory and a vague prospect somewhere down the track but the subject of summer drinking is something that's a recurring theme.

Given our location in the more-or-less Deep North of Australia it should probably come as no surprise to learn that the climate hereabouts has some impact on our drinking habits.

Living where winter days are usually accompanied by clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid-twenties (Celsius) a full bodied red wine is more likely to accompany steak or pasta rather than a roast or a big warming bowl of stew. It’s not that we don’t like roasts and stews, the climate predisposes us to travel in other culinary directions.

Winter 2011, however, has been a rather welcome cracker in the chilly nights department, with weeks rather than days of temperatures hovering over and regularly dipping below the ten degree mark, but we're talking generalities here.

And in summer the bowl of pasta or the steak and salad don’t really work all that well in conjunction with a really hearty red. They can, but the external temperature doesn't predispose you to reds at room temperature, I'm reluctant to kill some of the flavour through over-chilling or playing around with some variation on whack it in the fridge and then give it a chance to crawl back up to the ambient temperature, and Madam's been known to be critical of the overuse of the air-conditioner.

The steaks don’t go that well with whites either, so we’ve got a problem unless we can unearth some red wines in a lighter style that can handle a spell in the fridge.

The most obvious option is to choose a Rosé. Unfortunately there’s no stylistic consistency and the name covers a multitude of possibilities, some of which also coincide with styles that I’ll be mentioning a little later on.

So I could head to Portugal and go for one of the big names like Mateus or Lancers. I’ve tried both in the past and, while they’ve been acceptable, they’re nothing to write home about either. There are probably other Portuguese labels that would turn up in city bottle shops, but we’re not in a big city are we?

Another low-cost option in those circumstances would be a lambrusco, and if we were still buying from the local bottle shops we’d probably have a bottle or two of the De Bortoli’s version in the fridge.

There are other options open as you move up the price brackets, of course, and on visits to Stanthorpe, the South Burnett, the Hunter, the Yarra Valley, north-eastern Victoria, the Tamar Valley, Clare, the Barossa and Margaret River  we’ve been keeping our eyes peeled for anything that fits the general description of light reds you can keep in the fridge.

One of the earliest was a Dusty Chill from Dusty Hill Wines in the South Burnett, and we managed to track down another couple in the Hunter  but we’ve had more success as we headed further south.

We’d encountered the Brown Brothers Tarrango before we headed to the Rutherglen/King Valley area in early 2007, and, while I was there to follow the Muscat Trail, we found a couple of gems at the other end of the spectrum. Most significantly, we ran across Pfeiffer’s Wines just outside Rutherglen and signed up for their Wine Club, which delivers a dozen freight-free to our doorstep twice a year.

One of the main reasons we signed up was the Gamay, a delightful wine made from the grape variety that produces Beaujolais, although their Ensemble Rosé ain’t too shabby either.

And each subsequent excursion has yielded something interesting to add to the list. There's the Rockford Alicante Bouchet for a start, a little number that has the added advantage of being low (9.5%) alcohol, so you can knock over a bottle at lunch without going nye-nyes in mid-afternoon.

There have been a number of others, and they've often turned up on special ex-winery freight free at attractive prices. I'll cite the example of the Lenton Brae No Way Rose (by the dozen @$150) and rest m'case, m'lud.

But regardless of those offers there are a couple of year in, year out staples that you'll find stacked in the LHoC rack and chilling in the bar fridge. The Rockford Alicante Bouchet's a certain starter, and you can more or less count on the Brook Eden Pinot Rose, though the quantity's going to vary there, depending on how much I like the Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and the Pinot Noir.

And then there's this one that went rather well with last night's pasta leftovers...

Pfeiffer 2010 Gamay (4.5/5 $18/ C2 $16.20) Regulation cheery cherry red in the glass, whiff of berries on the nose and the usual fresh fruity style across the palate. They've done it again. Integral ingredient in the Little House of Concrete summer drinking strategy. Would be 5/5 if you rated it on latest expression of almost absolute reliability.

Pfeiffer 2009 Marsanne

While there are plenty of cases where a winery is widely associated with a particular varietal or blend I can't think of too many examples where the reverse is true.

One case where it is, of course, is Marsanne, the Rhone varietal that has become almost synonymous with Tahbilk, which continues to set the benchmark for the variety in terms of both quality and price. there's no one else (at least no one I've managed to track down) who does it as well, and as consistently, and at $13 for the current release there aren't too many places that can compete on price either. There's also a vertical six pack with two bottles of the 2010, and singles of the four preceding years for a rather remarkable $75 freight free.

Which possibly explains why, much as I liked this take on the variety from Pfeiffers, it's not likely to be featuring in a reorder.

Pfeiffer 2009 Marsanne (4.5* $18.50) Pale straw green in the glass, stone fruits and citrus on the nose and a strong presence of honeysuckle across the palate and a crisp finish, this is a rather classy full bodied well weighted take on the variety and would probably handle a couple of years bottle age. Label me impressed, but there's the Tahbilk factor, so I'll probably be looking at the other Pfeiffer lines when it comes to filling a reorder.

Pfeiffer 2010 The Carson Gewurztraminer

There's no denying the existence of a substantial market out there for semi-sweet or off-dry white wines, but I suspect that many of us are still put off by recollections of the days when someone who turned up on your doorstep for dinner would almost invariably bearing a bottle of the old Ben Ean Moselle.

You can probably see the popularity of the Brown Brothers Crouchen Riesling  as a continuation of those days, and I can't help thinking that the failure of quality Riesling to sell in the quantities it deserves has something to do with the Crouchen Riesling mob sampling a wine from the Clare or Eden Valley and looking for sugar levels that aren't there.

At the same time if you're a Riesling drinker you may well see Crouchen or Traminer Riesling as enemy territory. Sort of east is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet.

That degree of sweetness, on the other hand, definitely goes well with dishes on the spicier end of the spectrum. The key issue, at least from where I'm sitting, is getting the touch of sugar in there without veering off into lolly water.

Experience suggests that varietal Gewurztraminer or something along the lines of the Rockford White Frontignac fits the bill rather well.

Pfeiffer 2010 The Carson Gewurztraminer (4* $16.50 C2 $14.85) Mildly aromatic, musk and rose petals on the nose, there's a slight sweetness across the palate (approaching 7 g/L rather than the thirty you may find in the current wave of off dry Rieslings) and subdued varietal character in a wine that's worth considering, but what's going in the rest of the box is the key factor. Interesting drinking in the right setting without making a persuasive case for actual inclusion.

Pfeiffer 2006 Merlot

Previous comments about the Pfeiffer C2 Club and the reluctance to upgrade to the three-shipment version came back to haunt me when I went looking for pricing details for this very food-friendly little number. I might have been inclined to line up for another bottle or two, but it was nowhere to be found, though I did note that there were Museum Releases of the '08 Merlot and the '06 Cabernet in the July dozen, which I won't be getting.

Given the fact that I write up these notes to help me sort out what I want in the next shipment from the winery you might question the point of carrying out the exercise for a Special Members Only Museum Release that won't be more widely available, but there's an anorak mentality lurking back there that prompts me to keep a record just in case I want to look at one of these from a more recent vintage as a short term cellaring prospect.

Pfeiffer 2006 Merlot (4.5* $n/a) Deep purple red with berry notes across the nose and into the palate, where they're matched by oaky tannins there's a depth to this that made it a versatile style with a lengthy finish that worked well with a steak but would work equally well in other settings.

Pfeiffer 2004 Merlot

While I've been tempted to move from the C2 version of the Pfeiffer Wine Club to the C3 equivalent, which means an additional mixed dozen every year, but that extra dozen is a bridge too far as far as quantities from a particular winery is concerned.

Three dozen with a fourth when we stock up on the Gamay and whatever else has caught the eye is, after all, a substantial chunk out of the thirty-something dozen we're looking at buying each year when we're looking to buy from around twenty wineries.

Declining the three shipment option means that there's always going to be the odd wine we miss trying since it has only appeared in that third shipment, but on the other hand if it means that the Pfeiffers need to throw the odd museum release in to fill out the three dozens that's fine with me.

Take this 2004 Merlot for example.

Given the preponderance of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz at the notional quality end of the Australian market we tend to forget that we're talking about the variety that dominates the Bordeaux blends in St. Emilion and Pomerol. That's probably understandable when you look at the quantities of industrially produced Riverland Merlot that ends up on the el cheapo shelves at your local liquor outlet. It tends to be a drinkers' variety rather than one for the collector or connoisseur, so it's always a pleasure to get a reminder of how well the variety can come up when it's handled properly.

Pfeiffer 2004 Merlot (4.5* $n/a) Medium bodied with floral notes on the nose and rounded earthy tannins across the palate there's plenty to savour here and I'd be inclined to grab an extra bottle or two if it was Gamay-ordering time which, unfortunately it isn't (yet). There's a lush mouth feel that works well with a roast (beef in this case, though it'd go well with lamb) and there's a fair dash of leather and cigar box for after dinner as well.

Pfeiffer 2009 Carlyle Shiraz

While phone calls from wineries offering special deals are always welcome in The Little House of Concrete, the failure of the Pikes Riesling & Shiraz Dozen to lob on the doorstep close to three weeks after the order was placed has meant that Hughesy's powering through the April Dozen from Pfeiffer's C2 Club with not quite alarming rapidity but certainly a fair bit quicker than might otherwise have been the case.
Reorder considerations have also been disrupted buy this situation, with orders to Cullen, Lerida Estate, Lark Hill and Clonakilla in the pipeline, so whether this one features in later calculations is anyone's guess.

Pfeiffer 2009 Carlyle Shiraz (4* $?, but presumably $18.50 C2 $16.65) I'm not quite sure why this one found its way into the April C2 Dozen some four months before it becomes available for general consumption, but while it worked rather well and kept me going as I worked my way through a Fred Vargas novel after dinner I'd be more inclined to head for the  Pfeiffer Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz if an order was going in within the next month or two.
Deep red in the glass, spicy pepper on the nose and a long finish it's a hearty winter red, though it'll (hopefully) be well after winter has passed before ordering considerations kick in. A couple of bottles to pad out an order when the 2011 Gamay appears, perhaps? I'd still, subject to availability, be inclined in other directions at this point in time.

Pfeiffer 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon

Given the fact that the object of the exercise is to keep track of what I've been drinking ith a view to figuring out future orders it makes sense to complete a stocktake every now and then, and figure out some way of keeping track of what you've actually got.

I've had a couple of attempts at something along those lines over recent years, and each time the wheels have fallen off due to an inability to put things in place to monitor stock levels, and keep track of what's been consumed along the way.

Returning from the recent southern odyssey the first priority was clearing the decks for the new kitchen, which meant that for three or four days we were operating on reduced cooking facilities, which was a fair excuse for hitting the takeaway options and clearing leftovers out of the freezer and an even better excuse for making a bit of space in the wine rack by clearing out bottles that have been there for a while, which usually means they're the last survivors of dozen lots, so in most cases I've already got something along the lines of a tasting note.

With the new kitchen in place it was soon obvious that we were looking at a far better photographic environment when it came to capturing images of wine bottles, and much of the time since the electricians finished their end of the job has been devoted to the photographic side of recording what's on hand. That process isn't totally complete, but with the new database (Hughesy's Cellar) almost up to date and the possibility of a second (Hughesy's Wine Archive) under consideration, most of the stock that's been lurking on the floor of the office relocated to the wine rack and the ability to look at current stock levels by variety, a Saturday night rump with a potato casserole looked like a reasonable excuse to start a serious assault on the April Pfeiffer C2 Club selection.

With winter seemingly upon us and a stock of Cabernet Sauvignon around the dozen mark, starting with the 2009 Cabernet seemed a logical move, given the suitability as a food match and the possibility of needing to build up stocks.

Pfeiffer 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon (4.5* $22.50 Wine Club $20.25) Deeply purple in the glass, varietal mint on the nose with blackberry and rounded tannins across the palate, this worked well with the steak and delivered something to savour after the meal was done. Nicely structured, very easy drinking and a definite reorder candidate.

Pfeiffer 2009 Shiraz

While the number of wineries I try to buy from means that the question of reordering  from a Pfeiffer C2 Club delivery could well become academic, a glance down the contents of the Autumn 2011 delivery reveals a couple of likely contenders.

Pfeiffer The Carson Gewurztraminer 2010
Pfeiffer Winemakers Selection Viognier 2010
Pfeiffer Gamay 2010
Pfeiffer Marsanne 2009
Pfeiffer Chardonnay 2009
Pfeiffer Shiraz 2009 (2 bottles)
Pfeiffer Musuem Release Merlot 2006
Pfeiffer Museum Release Merlot 2004
Pfeiffer Carlyle Shiraz 2009
Pfeiffer Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 (2 bottles)

The Gewurz and the Gamay are frequent stock up items, and based on an initial sample of the 2009 Pfeiffer Shiraz it could well be another.

Pfeiffer 2009 Shiraz (4.5* $22.50; Wine Club $20.25) This rather tasty densely coloured wine, with savoury aromatics on the nose and a lingering finish across the palate could well find itself featuring in a reorder though much depends on which wines out of the rest of the C2 Club pack make me sit up and take notice.

Pfeiffer 1999 Reserve Marsanne

I've frequently bemoaned the tendency to stow the odd bottle away in the bar fridge, waiting for the appropriate occasion to open the little devil, and here's a perfect case in point. It arrived as part of the C2 shipment just on three years ago, found its way into the fridge, gravitated to the bottom of the rack and would probably have sat undisturbed for a bit longer if I hadn't been looking for something with a bit of bottle age to go with some pork steaks with tomato and mustard sauce.

Pfeiffer 1999 Reserve Marsanne (3* $n/a) While it was pleasant enough drinking, with touches of honeysuckle and a rounded mouthfeel and I could be charitable and suggest we might have left it a tad too long, this did nothing to dispel my view that Tahbilk is the automatic go to when you're looking for Marsanne, particularly when you're after something with a bit of bottle age.

Pfeiffer 2008 Chardonnay (Relocated)

A visit to the cellar door at Pfeiffer Wines at the end of 2006 left us extremely impressed, and apart from signing up for the C2 Wine Club (two shipments a year, a dozen at a time) there have been regular reorders of the Gamay and Ensemble Rose. Apart from the fortifieds, which are very much in the mould you'd expect a regional trademark to be, the rest of the range is generally more than acceptable and the C2 parcels usually throw up a few other order possibilities. 

Pfeiffer 2008 Chardonnay (4* $17) Pale straw in the glass, some varietal character on the nose and across the palate, and a touch of oak as well. Workman-like style that's pleasant enough drinking but wouldn't have prompted a reorder, and, in any case, the winery's sold out of this vintage. Maybe there are others out there who liked this more than I did.

Pfeiffer 2004 Riesling (Relocated)

Pfeiffer 2004 Riesling (4* $n/a) Arrived in the October 2009 C2 Club Dozen and stuck at the back of the wine fridge since, a check with the ubiquitous Halliday suggested that January 2011 was a bit past the drink-by date for a well-made but unremarkable Riesling, probably made from King Valley/Strathbogie Ranges fruit. Seven years in the bottle had certainly rounded out the youthful apple and tropical fruit notes he'd remarked on, and the aged Riesling characters weren't up there with some I've tried recently, but an interesting drink that suggests it's worthwhile sticking a few well-made Rieslings away even if they're not from a premium region. Provided you've got the cellar space, of course.