Bloodwood 2006 Maurice

The position of the iMac on the desktop means there are frequent distractions from reflected movement across the screen and while I can always keep the curtains closed I prefer the natural light, thanks very much.

Besides, it gives me a chance to keep an eye out for people trying to sneak up on me.

Not that we get too many unannounced callers at The Little House of Concrete.

The most frequent such caller is The Actor, who's usually bringing back a pile of material that'd usually reside on the LHoC Bookshelves. He's about due for another visit, and with 'Er Indoors transformed to 'Er Overseas Dodging the Aftershocks, the air-con on, the volume on the stereo well down to avoid disturbing the indoor feline population we're trying to keep away from the roadworks machinery as they do up the road outside, having the curtains closed would probably be taken to mean that Hughesy was temporarily elsewhere and callers should call back later.

It was just after ten yesterday morning when reflected movement indicated a couple of approaching figures, and a swivel on the Estate Manager Chair revealed an incoming ex-boss and his missus, back in town for a couple of days and checking on old acquaintances.

Given the relatively early hour and a crowded calling schedule\ it was far too early to be opening anything, but after a chat we pencilled in a rendezvous around four in the afternoon, with sampling a few of the better bottles on the premises as the main business on the agenda.

A quick trip to the butcher on the corner produced a variety of sausages (Mexican jalapeno, Mediterranean spice, lamb mint and rosemary, bush tomato and mountain pepper) to run through the oven and provide valuable blotting paper and when The Rifleman arrived on the doorstep just after four and a cleansing ale it was time to sample a few, with the rest of each bottle to be finished over the next few days.

Mrs Rifleman had a number of ex-colleagues to visit, which explains her absence from the next bit.

Tahbilk evangelism meant starting with a sample of the el cheapo cleanskin that's helping to keep the long term average price per bottle down around the $11 mark, followed by the Holm Oak 2005 Riesling and a Tahbilk 2006 Marsanne (which seems to have slipped past inder the reviewing guard) before we headed into red territory.

Matters were complicated slightly when we were half way through a couple of smidgens of the Fermoy Estate 2008 Yallingup Vineyard Cabernet Merlot. Mrs Rifleman appeared on the doorstep, and, momentarily, I thought we wouldn't quite be getting to the already opened and breathing bottle of Bloodwood.

As it turned out, however, the visit was merely intended to deliver an announcement that a change to the original itinerary meant the Rifleman had an extra half hour (at least) to continue tasting and conversing, so I reckoned we might as well have a little go at the Baileys of Glenrowan 2008 1920s Block Shiraz along the way.

Readers who are thinking we're going over the top a little here are reminded that there's an ongoing issue with wine cartons on the floor where they're not supposed to be, incoming deliveries, special offers and the prospect of stocking up for the summer of Riesling and Rose, so at the moment it's all about creating space…

Plus, of course, the secondary consideration that The Rifleman was one of the best bosses I've worked for and did the right thing by Hughesy a couple of times so I figured I owe him a decent sample or two. I'm tapping this out over a post-lunch snifter of the '06 Marsanne, so I'd be a reasonably happy camper if I didn't have three rogue flighty felines who appear to have gone to ground in a storm water drain and probably won't be emerging till around dusk if they reappear at all…

But I, as I frequently do, digress.

The extra half hour turned into a close to extra hour, and that gave us time for a lengthy savouring of what's probably the best red I've sampled this year.

Steve Doyle's explanation for the origin of the blend appears in this unashamed copy and pastage from the Bloodwood website:

As a winemaker you top-up and taste barrels throughout the year, and you get to know some of the better ones on an on-going and quite personal basis. If they make up a parcel of wine which holds together with continuing interest, then we will release them as Bloodwood Maurice.

Which, given the fact that everything else I've tasted from there has been impressive, probably means the extremely impressive 5* rating should come as absolutely no surprise...

Bloodwood 2006 Maurice (5* $30) Deeply hued in the glass, complex berry and chocolate notes on the nose, savoury oak lurking in there as well, silky tannins running all the way along the palate. Sampling this made the perfect conclusion to the tasting session, since I don't think there's anything on the premises that could follow it. We'll be having at least one of the current vintage in each subsequent order…