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.

Kaesler 2010 Reid's Rasp Barossa Valley Shiraz

It mightn't be enough to persuade Hughesy to change his mind about The Wine Society, but it's enough to prompt second thoughts.

Joining The Wine Society was one of the first things I did after I moved in to the Little House of Concrete, and for quite a while thereafter TWS was the source for much of the wine that's passed over the front door mat, but times change and priorities get reassessed, and the first thing to go was the regular tasting dozen that supplied the basis of the everyday drinking.

Freight free wine clubs and mailing list offers from places we'd visited on trips to Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia, however, provided plenty of alternative sources for both everyday and special occasion drinking.

With a list of places I'm looking to buy from that has sneaked past the two dozen mark, with several others I'd like to add to the list if it was actually possible to do it...

NSW (5): Bloodwood, Helm, Clonakilla, Lark Hill, Lerida Estate
Victoria (4): Tahbilk, Pfeiffer, Baileys of Glenrowan, Brown Brothers (and I'd like to add Dal Zotto, Stanton & Killeen, Chambers and Sam Miranda)
Tasmania (1): Brook Eden
South Australia (9): Rockford, Thorn-Clarke, Grosset, Jim Barry, Pikes, Paulett, kilikanoon, Olssens of Watervale, Mitchell (and Crabtree, Seppeltsfield, Knappstein and Neagles Rock)
Western Australia (7): Lenton Brae, Leeuwin Estate, Voyager Estate, Fermoy Estate, Hay Shed Hill, Stella Bella, Cullen (and Woodlands, Vasse Felix and Cape Mentelle)

and a notional limit of thirty-something dozen a year something had to give, it's quite likely that the TWS Shiraz of the Year dozen is going to have to get the flick.

The tipping point, as it turns out, is the $250/year minimum spend that defines you as an active member of TWS, and while the Shiraz of the Year dozen (it's actually labelled Best in Society) has delivered
Grant Burge 2005 Ethel Nancy Shiraz
Wyndham Estate George Wyndham 2004 Shiraz
Jacobs Creek 2006 Limited Release Shiraz
Mount Langhi Ghiran 2004 Cliff Edge Shiraz

over the past five years, $203.88 isn't quite $250, and while it'd be easy enough to grab another dozen of somthing and pay $7 for freight, that dozen  is a dozen out of thirty-something that I can't buy from….

That's a pity because this years Best in Society Shiraz is, to borrow Danny from Wine Week's terminology, a table-lifter, and it's only a year and a bit old...

Kaesler 2010 Reid's Rasp Barossa Valley/Clare Valley Shiraz (4.5* $16.99) Vibrant crimson with purple tones, soft rounded aromatic peppery elements on the nose that follow through across the palate and linger pleasantly, it will be interesting to see how this one handles a few years bottle age if I can restrain myself from wolfing the rest of the box down. There's a rounded plummy complexity that generates plenty of interest in the mouth, creating a rather enjoyable drinking experience. Can't see stocks of this lasting too long at The Wine Society so I expect that reordering won't be possible.

Coldstream Hills 2004 Limited Release Shiraz

Here's one that takes me back to the trip that shaped Hughesy's drinking habits over the next couple of years. Those habits have been modified, as subsequent trips have added new elements to the LHoC Wine Rack mix, but this week-long sojourn through the Yarra Valley, Tahbilk, Glenrowan, Rutherglen and Beechworth sorted the basic elements for the on-going and ever-evolving mix.

The day after we visited Coldstream Hills, for example, we got to Tahbilk and became aware of phenomenon known as the freight-free wine club, and subsequent visits to Baileys and Pfeiffers added the first of the regular delivered winery-based tasting dozens.

There were others before that, of course, the original incarnation of The Rothbury Estate, the old Hunter Valley Wine Society and The Wine Society, but these were the first winery-specific tasting dozens if you catch my drift.

And much of my reaction as we worked our way through the northeast of the state was, I suspect, shaped by my reaction to what we found as we made our way around a small subset of the hundred and fifty-odd wineries in the valley.

Now, I'm the first to admit that those reactions might have been different if we'd been there some time other than the week between Christmas and New Year, and if we'd done the sort of detailed pre-trip research that preceded visits to northern Tasmania, the Clare Valley and Margaret River.

In any case I was underwhelmed by almost everything I encountered in the Yarra, with the notable exception of Coldstream Hills, where we found an almost deserted tasting area and a range of wines that invariably had Hughesy inserting the hooter for a lengthy savouring of the aromas prior to an actual sip.
I'd been to places where the odd wine or three had a magnificent nose, but this was the first place I'd encountered where everything smelt sublime.

We were flying back, so we weren't going to be carrying too much with us and Madam's birthday provided the excuse to crack the last remaining survivor of that particular trip, which predated  the Wine Purchases spreadsheet that began when the Allocated Pension kicked in in March 2007.

Coldstream Hills 2004 Limited Release Shiraz (4.5* $35) Cherries, plums, pepper and spice on the nose that mightn't be as powerful as I recall it being four and a half years before, but still packed a punch. Elegant across the palate with a rounded mouth feel and a finish that ran on and on. Savoury, balanced and tightly wound around an oaky core that's a rather good example of what cool climate Shiraz is all about.

Pikes 2008 Eastside Shiraz

Under different circumstances I may well have delivered a polite refusal when the nice people from Pikes called at the end of the week that saw us back at base and contemplating kitchen conversions.

Having arrived home on Tuesday afternoon the unpacking and getting things sorted factor got us through Wednesday and well into Thursday, and there was plenty of catching up to do, so checking wine stocks and looking at reorders was hardly the highest priority.

I knew there was a box coming from Helm, there would be half dozens from Hay Shed Hill, Baileys and Brook Eden in the pipeline between mid-May and the new financial year, and I'd be looking at mixed boxes from Lerida Estate, Lark Hill and Clonakilla over the next month or two. I really need to get something from Cullen in Margaret River as well, so you might think that there wouldn't have been much room for anything else along the way.

I hadn't actually got to the monitoring stock levels side of things, but I couldn't help the sneaking suspicion that we were light on for wine at the everyday drinking end of the spectrum, things that slot in between the el cheapo Tahbilk Everyday Drinking bottles left over after we've resupplied The Barra and the mid- to high-twenties that aren't quite your everyday quaffers but deserve something better than Hughesy's regular curry and pasta staples.

There's still a reluctance to open a really good bottle with the chilli con carne…

And if the call from Pikes had been offering something other than the Traditionale Riesling (RRP $23) and the Eastside Shiraz ($25) for an effective $18 a bottle freight free, I may well have been issuing a polite not this time, thanks.

On the other hand I knew I was light on for everyday drinking Riesling, and I need at least one bottle every week…

The Shiraz would, I reckoned, be handy along the way as well, particularly when the new oven's ability to deliver roasts and pizza was factored in.

In any case, the dozen took a good two and a half weeks to arrive, and if I'd known that I may well have gone to Tahbilk to meet the perceived requirements.

Pikes 2008 Eastside Shiraz (4* $25) Plums and berries on the nose with a touch of peppery spice thrown in for good measure, plenty of fruit and smooth chocolaty tannins across the palate. Very enjoyable  drinking, though I'm not sure I'd be queueing up for a resupply.

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 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.

Pikes 2009 The Assemblage Shiraz Mourvedre Grenache

Anyone who has spent close to forty years following the evolution of the Australian wine industry has probably lost count of the trends and fads that have, predictably, come and gone.

Some, like the Ben Ean bubble are probably best described as necessary steps in the evolutionary process (the discovery that, yes, you can drink table wine, followed buy there's got to be something better than this. Mateus Rose, anyone?).

Others, including the Fume Blanc phenomenon and the great Rougolais debacle  are probably best described as well intentioned but ultimately fruitless sidetracks, while others (the discovery that, yes, you can do something with Sauvignon Blanc rather than turn it into Fume) are probably destined to be with us for a while.

Which will hopefully be the case with the current investigation of alternative alternative varieties, the rediscovery of Grenache and Mourvedre and the rising interest in Rhone-style blends like this little number.

Pikes 2009 The Assemblage Shiraz Mourvedre Grenache (4.5* $22) SMG rather than GSM, but very much in the same flavour profile. Medium bodied, brightly coloured, fruit- rather than oak-driven. Soft, savoury food-friendly style with a touch of elegance that is definite reorder material.

Baileys of Glenrowan 2008 1920s Block Shiraz

I'm not a big fan of flowery descriptive terms when it comes to wine, but as I took my first whiff of this a couple of months back for some reason my mind went back to the dusty ancient leather-bound encyclopaedia Britannicas that were shelved beside the fireplace in the landlady's half of the majestic old Queenslander where my family lived until we moved north in 1963.

With a couple of substantial orders on the way it's a case of clearing things out to make room in the rack, so I've been revisiting some things that have previously been tasted and reviewed on the website.

Baileys 2008 1920s Block Shiraz (4.5* $35/$29.75 1870s Club) Leather notes on the nose, abundant tannins, surprisingly silky mouth-feel (I was expecting something substantially bigger and bolder when I first tried this one) combine to result in a wine that's complex, stylish and quite delightful. At 16% alc/vol, this is a wine that could easily creep up on you and should last well into the 2020s. While there's no guarantee Hughesy will still be around to enjoy it when it really hits its straps there's some left in the wine fridge.

Brown Brothers 2004 Shiraz Mondeuse & Cabernet (Relocated)

Some things stick with you.

On my first visit to Brown Brothers in January 1980 I ran across this blend with the helpful and very informative bloke in the cellar door giving me the drum on Mondeuse. I'd already let him know I was interested in varietal wines, and Brown Brothers seemed, at the time, like Varietal Central. That's changed a little over thirty years, but the changes have largely taken the form of other people heading down the varietal path rather than Brown Brothers changing direction.

Inquiries as to the possibility of tasting Mondeuse on its own produced an explanation that the variety was far too muscular as a stand alone proposition unless you were going to give it an extended spell in the bottle to settle down, but in a blend it adds intense colour and substantial tannin. I haven't run across this one all that often over the intervening decades, but I managed to fit a bottle into an order placed in May '09 and while it could have sat quietly in the wine fridge for another couple of years,

(a) I needed the room for a Houghton C.W. Ferguson;

(b) It's coming up to seven years, not optimal perhaps but it's had some time; and

(c) I was disinclined to wait much longer.

Brown Brothers 2004 Shiraz Mondeuse & Cabernet (4.5* $40) Deep full-bodied red, complex notes on the nose, focussed, smooth and balanced across the palate with everything playing nicely together. At just over 50% Shiraz, with the other two sharing the rest close to evenly you can taste what the Mondeuse brings to this rather wonderful blend. I would love to have the wherewithal to try one of these at fifteen, twenty or twenty-five years.