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.

Leconfield 2009 Cabernet Merlot

Inevitably, a period where you've built up the stocks will be followed by one where you're running them back down again, which largely accounts for the lack of recent blog action in these parts, though the cricket coverage over on the Little House of Concrete Sports Desk also impinges on the equation.

The summer of Riesling and Rose tends to take us away from heartier red styles, but we've also been experimenting with the slow cooker in the air-conditioned living area, which brings them right back into calculations, and in this particular case brings them back with rather alarming rapidity.

I'd availed myself of a couple of offers from Vinomofo, one of which was supposed to push this particular carton a little further down the pecking order so that the contents just might last through to the notional winter, and had just polished off the last of a box of Tahbilk Cellar Door Reds when I ordered the second of them (a Hay Shed Hill Pitchfork Cab Merlot) that would, I figured, do for everyday drinking and push this Leconfield onto slightly more special occasion status.

So, not to put too fine a point on it, I didn't head off to Tahbilk for a resupply, the Pitchfork met with logistical problems and we're almost half way through a case of wine that, as noted in the note, has definite issues with evaporation.

Leconfield 2009 Cabernet Merlot (4.5* $25) Bright crimson in the glass, with fragrant oaky chocolate and mint through the nostrils. Once it hits the taste buds Cabernet cassis and plummy Merlot combine to form a rounded style with refined silky tannins. Medium-bodied elegant wine that's easy to savour and brings a definite evaporation problem to the table. Excellent now, would go on for several years but unlikely to get the chance.

Tahbilk 2009 Riesling

 Recurring themes recur because, by and large, there's something about them, and there's definitely something about Tahbilk's ability to consistently produce well made wines that make for interesting drinking and deliver them freight free to the Little House of Concrete in that $10-$15 price range.

This one's no exception to an exceptional rule of thumb.

Sure, it's not quite up there with the quality Clare and Eden Valley drops I've come to know and love, but we're talking something that arrived as part of a $75 multiple vintage six pack rather than a Grosset $31 Springvale or $42 Polish Hill.

When it comes to an everyday drinking style with a bit of bottle age (Halliday rated it 89, noting a strong fruit platform for medium term development) for a notional $12.50 you could do a lot worse.

Tahbilk 2009 Riesling (4* $n/a) Ticks all the right boxes from the pale straw colour, fresh aromatic citrus notes on the nose through the varietal characters across the palate. Well made, easy drinking style that had me veering between 4 and 4.5 on the rating scale. Eventually rounded down since it's not currently available. Whack it back in the Web Specials section of the Tahbilk web site and Hughesy may well be interested. Very good everyday drinking. Excellent value for money.

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.

Rockford 2011 Alicante Bouchet

I've noted a couple of not quite favourable references to the old Rockford Alicante Bouchet recently, and on every sighting I've scratched my head and remarked that the person making the criticism obviously doesn't live in our neck of the woods.

Hell, if I lived somewhere close to a half way decent independent wine merchant in an area where there restaurants had interesting wine lists with extensive by the glass options I might get a little sniffy about wines like this.

But, for good or ill, I live two hundred kilometres away from a Dan Murphy's in a town where all the liquor outlets are tied to a major chain (ad I can understand the reasons why they would be, the locals tend to buy on price). Pub and restaurant wine lists tend to feature the usual big name corporate suspects and Kiwi savvy blanc.

So if you want something interesting to drink you have to buy it in, don't you?

And when you've started to find things that suit your purposes you're going to stick with them, aren't you?

So the reasoning behind the annual Alicante Bouchet reorder in these parts probably don't apply to the people who posted those recent comments. Low alcohol, lunchtime, fridge friendly, and if you've got more than two people on site when it's opened there's always the option of opening something else.

Suits me.

Rockford 2011 Alicante Bouchet (4.5* $18) Bright translucent red in the glass, attractive fruity bouquet and the usual low alcohol refreshing palate, a degree of sweetness lurking there but it's well in the background. Your mileage may vary but this one almost invariably works in a North Queensland summer environment. That opinion, by the way, has been almost universally mirrored by those I've inveigled into sampling a glass. Excellent under the right conditions.

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.

Bloodwood 2011 Riesling

A few words I don't expect to be able to peck out very often.

We tried this at the winery when it was just out of fermentation and were rather impressed then (not that we had much prior experience to compare it with, you understand).

Now, just on seven months later, the first sample of the finished product is almost certain to have us lining up for more. We're talking a classy Riesling with acharacter that sets it comfortably apart from the familiar Clare Valley styles we tend to go for, but at the same time is just as impressive.

Bloodwood 2011 Riesling (4.5* $28) Pale green-tinged straw in the glass, understated but rather complex floral notes with a smidgeon of talcum powder through the nose and a bright, complex citrus-centric palate that runs along nicely and finishes very nicely indeed. We'll be having more of this one for sure.

Grosset 2009 Picadilly Chardonnay

We're not too big on the actual Christmas here in the Little House of Concrete, since being non-believers takes out the Christmas observances and a lack of kids in the vicinity tends to remove Santa Claus from the equstion, but the prospect of an effective two- to four-day long weekend means we tend to stock up, cook up big on the actual day and sup off leftovers until the supermarkets and butchers are open again.

And drink well; Under the circumstances you might as well, at least from where I'm sitting, drink well.

This year's Chrissie lunch was centred around what we could put through the LHoC oven while the air conditioner purred away im the background.

Moreton bay bugs with a bechamel sauce, my favourite roast chicken and a heaping helping of risotto was washed down with a bottle of bubbles I'm not inclined to review because we're not that big on bubbles, and, in any case, it paled beside the sheer magnificence of

Grosset 2009 Picadilly Chardonnay (5* $46)  Clear, almost shimmering pale straw in the glass that drew the briefest of inspections as the vessel made its way to the nose. From the first whiff it was obvious we were in for something special. There's an incisiveness on the nose and across the palate that's simultaneously luscious and austere, with competing elements perfectly balanced. Give it time to open up and there's a buttery richness that wasn't immediately obvious among the citrus and peach notes in the first waves through the nose and across the palate. Textured, focussed, perfectly integrated and a joy to drink. Between this, the SBS, the Springvale and the Polish Hill there's a bit too much to fit into a single box. Looks like we'l be up for the Off-Dry Riesling, Pinot Noir and Gaia next time around...

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…

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.

Jack Mattinson's 2009 Deluxe Dry Red Shiraz Cabernet

Nostalgia, as someone or other remarked, is not what it used to be, possibly because for Gen X and Y the landscape they can look back to isn't all that different to the one they inhabit.

When you're a bit older than that, however, you can definitely look back to a different time though your mileage may vary when you do so.

Reading the back panel here it's obvious Campbell Mattison has special memories associated with his paternal grandfather. He's lucky. Looking back to my own grandparents brings back memories of sweltering Christmas holidays in Rockhampton and hotels in Redbank where the draconian vagaries of the Queensland licencing laws meant you walked on eggshells through Christmas Day in case your presence on the premises might result in allegations of sly grogging.

Your reactions to the past, in other words, are largely shaped by what you're looking back to.

Here's a rather pleasant exercise in retrospectivity that would have been value at RRP but came in as remarkable value at $10 from the Fo...

And Deluxe. How long is it since I've seen anything described as Deluxe?

Jack Mattinson's 2009 Deluxe Dry Red Shiraz Cabernet (4.5* $18) Spicy berries and blackcurrants on the nose, attractive purple red in the glass and very easy across the palate this medium-bodied easy drinking style was rated 92 by Mr Halliday and when you savour the balance across the palate you can see why. While the fine tannins and chocolatey texture past the tonsils suggest autumn and winter somewhere around the high country on the NSW-Victoria border, stocks will definitely be gone before we hit the notional winter in these parts.

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.

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.

Two excellent little numbers

While the retired lifestyle is supposed to deliver plenty of time to do things it doesn't take much to throw a spanner in the works and disrupt the old blogging schedule.

Now, the reader who's familiar with Hughesy's habits will probably leap to a totally unwarranted conclusion when I remark that a recent hiatus in blog activity coincided with a milestone birthday, but the arrival of my brother on the doorstep to assist with the celebrations associated with the milestone had a considerable impact on the publishing schedule.

We collected him from Whitsunday Coast Airport around Friday lunchtime, took a leisurely lap through Airlie Beach and Shute Harbour on the way back, entertained Mr & Mrs Actor over pizzas on Friday night, spent much of Saturday chatting and catching up, took another drive to Airlie for the long lunch on Sunday, took things fairly easy through the actual birthday on Monday and lost a fair chunk of Tuesday dropping him off at Whitsunday Coast, so there was a fair quantity of what might have been writing time gone….

Add to that the decision to acquire littlehouseofconcrete.net and a need to generate some content to start filling it, the start of the process of migrating content from MobileMe to the new site, and you'll see why we've got this backlog of data that needs to be delivered to the various LHoC sites.

There are these two little numbers from the Sunday Long Lunch at Déjà Vu, for example. After some recent experiences I was mildly apprehensive about what I was likely to find on the wine list, since there's nothing about it on the Déjà Vu website, and I suspected we might be finding ourselves in the land of the usual suspects once again.

It only took a brief glance to reassure me, however, and I was in the process of tossing up between a couple of options in the white department before settling on a Tasmanian sauvignon blanc.

Decisions in the rose/red section of the list were a bit more straightforward, since I'd spotted something that had attracted favourable attention during the Rose Revolution promotion earlier in the month and I had suspicions I'd sighted it in Halliday's Hundred the day before.

As far as the Long Lunch was concerned, at $44 for around half a dozen courses it's reasonably good value with one major reservation.

There were three of us at the table, and we found great difficulty demolishing everything on offer. It appears they've catered on the basis of tables of four, since I couldn't detect much difference between what arrived in front of us and what appeared on nearby tables with two and four customers.

Either arrive in a foursome or, if you can't quite muster the numbers, book yourself into overnight accommodation so you can do a carpet snake routine after a big feed rather than climbing back into the car for the homeward journey. I'm not sure whether five or six diners triggers a double helping, but if five doesn't you might find yourself slightly peckish at the end of proceedings.

As far as the food is concerned, the opening antipasto platter was excellent, the calamari that followed it some of the best I'd tried, the mussel dish superfluous and padded out with far more pasta than necessary, the pizza good but not great, the lamb quite excellent and the dessert excellent, though I wasn't able to finish mine (Madam looked after it, however).

And as far as the wine was concerned:

Dalrymple Vineyards 2010 Sauvignon Blanc (4.5* $25) Pale straw in the glass, and from the first whiff of the aromatic herbaceous nose I was firmly on side. Well balanced citrus and passionfruit across the palate, zingy acidity, and a lengthy finish here's a reminder that you don't need to go to New Zealand for high quality cool climate Sauvignon Blanc. One to look for on restaurant wine lists since it doesn't turn up in the local bottle shops (I looked).

Turkey Flat 2011 Barossa Valley Rose (5* $18) Grenache, shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, dolcetto blend that's salmon pink in the glass (looked great from the time the bottle arrived) fragrant aromas through the nose, watermelon and berry fruits on the palate and a well-defined balanced finish summer drinking doesn't get much better than this. Consistently at the very top of Australian roses says Mr Halliday, and there won't be any dissent from this quarter..

Madfish Gold Turtle 2007 Tempranillo

Anyone reading this who's familiar with Hughesy's buying habits and recent changes therein will probably grasp my drift when I mumble something about not asking questions about the source of this little six pack.

It is, as it were, a secret, and despite Mr Halliday's less than enthusiastic comments on the wine, it's a secret I hope is repeated, since Hughesy devours regular batches of Chilli con carne and this rustic style goes very well in that company.

Not bad with pizza either...

Madfish Gold Turtle 2007 Tempranillo (4* $25 Wine Club $16) Savoury notes on the nose, leather and chocolate across the palate, nothing to make you sit up and take notice (no Wow Factor here, folks) but a pleasant, rounded style that goes well with a couple of LHoc staples. Sufficiently impressive to have me thinking of signing up for the (apparently no obligation) Wine Club...

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.

Ross Estate 2009 Barossa Valley Tempranillo

While I've probably got enough wineries to buy from, and spreading thirty-something cartons across around twenty wineries isn't exactly easy, you do feel like trying something different from time to time don't you?

Then there's the prospect of something substantial for nothing, and the chance of picking up $5000 credit by signing up for a mailing list, not that you'd be holding your breath in a promotion that runs till the end of November.

There mightn't be a myriad out there when it comes to discount wine operations but there's definitely a great wing of 'em and the various ones we deal with (or rather the ones he deals with, I've been known to get a bit sniffy about some of these matters) has been a frequent topic of discussion when I encounter Jimbo on the morning walk, particularly when someone has encountered a new one that operates on a slightly different modus.

I'd noted the existence of VinoMofo, the nom de web for Wine Cru Pty Ltd, part of the cluster of sites operated by The Qwoff Boys that includes roadtovino.com and greatwineadventure.com.

They seemed to come up with an interesting offer every so often (actually they're coming up with an interesting offer on an almost daily basis) and there's no obligation to buy, so I figured I may as well register, get the daily email and suggested that Jimbo might feel inclined to do likewise. The thinking behind that revolved around (a) the $5000 credit promotion and (b) the thought that I could check with Jimbo when I spotted an interesting offer to see whether he was interested in part of it.

That way, I figured, I could get a few interesting wines onto the premises and still keep buying from the cluster of wineries I've been patronising for the past few years.

Basically VinoMofo sends out one offer per day, usually a dozen or a half-dozen priced somewhere between 40 and 60% off the list price. They charge freight (standard rate nationwide, which suits me fine) and it isn't an arm and a leg, so that's fine as well.

The way it seems to work (and if I'm wrong here feel free to correct me) involves hooking up a winery with a small parcel of wine they're keen to get out the door with enough customers to move all of it, and if there isn't enough interest to move a minimum number of cases (the Tip number) the deal falls through. Deals are open for three days, and the wine is shipped on the fourth, which is when the details appear on your credit card statement.

Occasionally if the day's offer sells out quickly (as happened with a recent Pants Off Friday 2010 Clare Valley Single Vineyard Watervale Riesling $25 > $9.50) they'll throw out another offer along the same lines (in that case 2009 High Scoring Clare Valley Riesling $22 > $8.50) which explains why we're looking at a couple of cases en route to split with Jimbo.

I had, however dipped the big toe in the water the week before for a six pack of this little number ($18 > $10.50) and based on an initial sample maybe I should've ordered a second box...

Ross Estate 2009 Barossa Valley Tempranillo (4.5* $18) From the first whiff of a savoury nose this one had me very firmly on side as I watched the Wallabies v Wales playoff for third at the Rugby World Cup. Brightly coloured, medium bodied, savoury notes on the nose, cherries and spice across the palate and silky tannins with a seductive mouthfeel it's an excellent match for the pasta and chilli dishes that feature on the Little House of Concrete menu. Impressive, and I could definitely have gone back for more. Hopefully there'll be a similar Vinomofo offer somewhere down the track, and if I happen to spot a bottle in a bottle shop when wwe're on the road I'm in!

Paulett 2010 Polish Hill River Riesling

Hindsight, as has frequently been remarked, delivers 20/20 vision, but at least I now know what I'll be doing should similar circumstances arise.

But, as I do so often, I'm getting ahead of myself.

As remarked elsewhere the approach of summer means that I'm turning my thoughts to Rose and Riesling, and there has been a fair bit of deck clearing and space generating in the wine rack as I try to cut down on the cases on the office floor in anticipation of incoming Gamay, Alicante Bouchet, Big Men in Tights and, of course, Riesling.

I'd been giving serious thought to a call to Kilikanoon for a mixed dozen - eight of the Mort's Block and four of the Mort's Reserve seemed like a sound concept - when a phone call from Pauletts had me revising the plans.

Given the $20 RRP for the current Polish Hill River, the $45 they're asking for the 2006 Aged Release and the POA beside the 2009 Antonina $290 a dozen freight free for an eight-two-two mix seemed like a rather good price, and it took all of about ten seconds deliberation before I was providing credit card details.

$250 for the Polish Hill River part of the package, around a notional ninety for the two Antoninas and somewhere between (on prior form) $18 and $24 for freight suggests a probable regular price of around the full $360, so $290 wasn't a bad deal at all.

It took a week or so for the wine to arrive, which was fairly impressive in itself (other shipments from the same post code have taken close to a fortnight) and I was licking my lips in anticipation after I'd had a glance at Mr Halliday when I'd put the phone down.

96s for both Polish Hills and a 97 for the Antonina and a comment that Neil Paulett reckons the Antonina is the finest riesling he has produced tends to do that to you.

There's a regular routine associated with incoming wines involving photographs and data entry into the Bento database, and while I wasn't quite ready to go through all that around three on a Friday afternoon I was inclined to have a look and a quiet gloat over the contents of the package.

I guess the top view that revealed a dozen similarly shaped bottles should have prompted an 'Ullo. 'ullo, what've we got 'ere, given the fact that the Antonina comes in a high-shouldered custom made container rather than the regular Riesling bottle we've come to know and love, but I grabbed random bottles from around the box, only to discover all of 'em sported a 2010 Polish Hill River label.

A quick phone call to the winery resulted in an instruction to take the box back to the Post Office and send it back C.O.D. They would, I was assured, have the right box on the road first thing Monday morning.

Proceeding as instructed I ventured downtown on Monday and did as I was told, noting along the way that there was a cost of around $65 for the shipment!

That is, as you'd note, rather more than the freight I'd been charged previously and suggests the Australia Post predominance in the wine shipping business comes on the back of significant discounts for large volumes. Steve Doyle quoted me a figure in the thirties when I put in an order for a Bloodwood dozen, and that was coming from Orange. Steve sends his stuff through another carrier…

Regardless of all that, and given the expectation that Pauletts wouldn't have been slugged the whole $65 when the box turned up on their doorstep, I was thinking that next time something similar happens I'll be asking them to take me on trust and send me another box containing what I ordered and bill me for what I actually received.

Now, having tried one of the 2010 Polish Hill River I'm wishing that I had. Hindsight, 20/20 and all that.

Paulett 2010 Polish Hill River Riesling (5*  $20) Pale straw that almost gleams in the glass, an abundantly fragrant nose that sits about half way between a firm statement that this is Clare Riesling and standing yelling it from the rooftops. Make that two-thirds of the way towards the rooftops.
Once it hits the palate there are the regulation citrus and lime notes, the characteristic minerality to match what's on offer on the nose and an elegant finish that's all class. Looking at this I should have kept that other box, shouldn't I? This one's up there with the very best the Clare Valley can offer, and I've still got the Antonina and the Aged Release to get to!