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.

Pikes 2009 Gills Farm Mourvedre

While a box of cleanskin Clare Hills Riesling for $40, a case of Sangiovese Blend for $10/bottle and a six pack of Red Mullet Blend for $56 were automatic purchases (i'd figured I'd be able to split the first two fifty-fifty with someone or other, but that didn't quite happen) there was no way I was going to forego the chance to try the new release wines mentioned in the same email.

The 2009 Gill's Farm Mourvedre was the first one I tried out of the extra box, and, as can be seen below, I was impressed.

Pikes 2009 Gills Farm Mourvedre (4.5* $22) Savoury herb and spice characters through the nose and across the palate, a little violet and blackberry combining to produce a very easy drinking food friendly style. There'll be the odd bottle thrown into the next order.

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.

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.