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.

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.

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!

Cullen 2010 Margaret River White

Well, here's another string to add to the Summer Drinking bow…

We're already looking at a regular mix of light reds and Rose, Riesling and the odd Semillon Sauvigon Blanc or SBS, drawn from Brook Eden, Rockford, Pfeiffer and Pikes, with maybe a bottle or two of the Brook Eden Pinot Gris ond Rockford White Frontignac thrown in for a bit of variation.

There'll be a six pack of the Hay Shed Hill Block 1 SSB thrown in for something towards the premium end of the spectrum and, of course, there's plenty of other wine sitting in the rack that will need to be removed to make room for incoming summer supplies.

Based on a slight degree of disappointment with the Margaret River Red I hung off this one for a bit, but a retry of the red had me sneaking the previoous rating a bit higher, bunping the 3.5 I could buy this up towards a 4* I should buy this. I'm still not !00% there, but if I'm going to line up for more of the White, and given the fact that I don't quite need a dozen of these, I'll probably be in for a couple more of the reds.

Time to whack a bottle of the Red in the fridge to see how it handles that option, and I'd better get a Mangan Vineyard Semillon in there as well.

Cullen 2010 Margaret River White (4.5/5 $19) A variation on the traditional Bordeaux blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon with a splash of Chenin Blanc, a dash of Chardonnay and a touch of Riesling, it's still basically a Margaret River SBS with added complexity from the additional elements. Those extra dimensions come across on the nose, with enough elements in there to keep you sniffing for a while as you have a go at identifying them. They deliver across the palate as well, with a rounded elegance coiled around a core of soft-edged acid. An interesting blend for the short term with depth on the palate that's remarkable in a wine that registers 12.5% alc/vol. I may well be looking for more of this one.

Rockford 2006 Handpicked Eden Valley Riesling

Having disposed of the caught them just in time 2003 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Riesling, and continuing with the Thai flavours around dinner time, I was inclined to see how the other cork-closed bottles in the bar fridge were going.

The rediscovery of the Art Series was, as previously recounted, a byproduct of the knowledge that we had at least one bottle of Rockford 2006 Handpicked Eden Valley Riesling in there, and it was a wine we'd tried back in December 2009, with remarks to the effect that it had a very pronounced lemon flavour, a palate that could almost be described as lemon on steroids. Very nice, but very pronounced at the same time. There were still definitely Riesling characteristics lurking behind the lemon, but the expected lime notes were more or less conspicuous by their absence, so I was rather interested to see what another year and a half had done to it.

We are, after all, about to turn the attention to the pre-summer stock up, which will include most of a box of the Alicante Bouchet, so the question's going to be what do we get with it?

Based on this one, there'll definitely be some Riesling in the order.

Rockford 2006 Handpicked Eden Valley Riesling (4.5* $19) Twenty-one more months in the bottle hasn't done much to dim the colour, which was still fairly bright straw yellow, but the lemon on steroids we'd noted back in December '09 had rounded nicely through the nostrils and across the palate, the aged (no, make that mature, five years isn't quite aged) characters are coming to the fore and while there's no rush to knock over t'other one, it'll be lucky to be still sitting in the fridge this time next year. Include the current vintage in the next order? Definitely?

Leeuwin Estate 2003 Art Series Riesling

Well, here's one that underlines the need for accurate records and careful monitoring of stock.

There are excuses, but, really, leaving two bottles of a fondly-remembered favourite to the point where they're starting to slide is, to all intents and purposes, unforgiveable.

I can start by blaming the cork closure, and the care I took to ensure that anything in the bar fridge that boasts one lies on its side.

The shelving in the bar fridge is such that the best way to maximise capacity is by piling everything that's lying horizontal atop a single shelf, which in turn means there are eight or nine bottles lying in a configuration that makes the bottom layer difficult to extract without a complete remove/restack operation.

And while I've been fairly meticulous in keeping track of what I've bought since that $50 box of Tahbilk Everyday Drinking 2004 Sauvignon Blanc back in late March 2007 there's nothing on a spreadsheet that runs down to Row 543 and reveals a long term average per bottle of $11.18 that refers to Leeuwin Estate 2003 Art Series Riesling.

There are a couple of entries for 6 Assorted bottles from Magees from around Christmas 2007 that could be right, but, really, after close to four years there's no way of knowing.

What I do know is there were three cork closed bottles on the bottom of the pile, and at least one of them was a Rockford Eden Valley Riesling that had managed to avoid an entry in the Bento database and would probably have gone rather nicely with last night's Thai curry.

Restacking that section so I could get at the Rockford produced two bottles of 2003 Art Series, and a quick check with Mr Halliday revealed a Drink by 2009, so there was a fairly hasty redrawing of the evening's drinking arrangements. There are leftovers from last night to be consumed this evening, so we'll be waving a not quite teary goodbye to its brother tonight.

Leeuwin Estate 2003 Art Series Riesling (4* $n/a) It might have started out light, delicate and fresh with passionfruit aromas but from the first whilff it was fairly clear that we've caught this one just in time. There was a fair dose of the aged Riesling kero notes on the nose and across the palate, but they were almost muted, as if someone had taken a plane to anything resembling a rough edge. Interesting as an exercise in drinking a Riesling that's reaching the end of its development, but not, once the other bottle's gone, one that I'm keen to repeat.

Tahbilk 2006 Riesling

When I set out to compare and contrast the Gold Medal and Trophy winning Tahbilk 2010 Everyday Drinking Riesling, by grabbing a Special Offer Riesling Vertical 6 Pack back in February I wasn't expecting to find the six pack still there on offer at the end of August, but there it is, large as life and cheap as chips at the bottom of the Web Specials page on the Tahbilk website.

Not, I suspect, for very much longer.

On the morning walk one day last week I was discussing impending wine purchases with Jimbo, and was considering a box of Riesling from Kilikanoon, an exercise that would have set me back around $270 for a mix of Mort's Block and Mort's Reserve (nine of one, three of t'other).

That plan got relegated to the back burner when I sighted that Vertical six-pack still there at Tahbilk.

We're talking everyday drinking here, and the Kilikanoon order would have been working that territory, with the Mort's Reserve as a compare and contrast exercise since I was quite impressed by the difference when we were at the winery back in November 2008.

There's an order for a mix of the latest releases from Grosset going in later this week, so we'll be OK for the premium end of the Riesling market for a while.

For everyday drinking, however, I find it difficult to go past $75 freight free for half a dozen bottles going back this far, which explains why the Tahbilk stocks are about to go down by a couple of boxes, and when I run across Jimbo later this morning I'll be pointing him in the same direction.

Apart from the '09 and this one, the rest of the box slipped by without generating a tasting note, but that's part of the territory when you're talking everyday drinking, isn't it?…

According to the website, this one picked up Gold and Silver medals, though it doesn't indicate where.

When I took a gander at the ubiquitous Wikipedia, I also noted that Riesling (and I quote) is highly "terroir-expressive" … clearly influenced by the wine's place of origin. Well, we knew that, didn't we?

We're not talking Clare, Eden Valley, Tasmania or Great Southern here, but it's a wine that ain't too shabby.

Tahbilk 2006 Riesling (4.5* $n/a) Pale straw in the glass, and from the first sniff there was the familiar petrol notes that you come to expect in quality mature Riesling and the same notes came across when the wine hit the palate. Not, perhaps, in the same bracket as mature examples from premium growers in more highly rated regions, but mature Riesling of this quality at this price point (a notional $12.50 as part of a vertical half-dozen) and this quality underlines extreme value on offer if you know where to look.

Tahbilk 2009 Riesling

Having invested in a vertical six pack of Tahbilk Riesling to compare and contrast with the Gold Medal and Trophy winning the 2010 Everyday Drinking Riesling, the two bottles of the 2010 Riesling managed to sneak past without generating a tasting note. Pleasant enough drinking, as I recall, but not exactly the sort of thing that has you running out in search of a box, if you catch my drift.

I'd described the 2010 Everyday Drinking Riesling in these terms:
It may well be Riesling, Jim, but it's not quite Riesling as we've come to know and love it… While initial exposure to the 2010 Everyday Drinking Riesling failed to produce what I've come to expect in a Riesling, as an everyday drinking glass over lunch it works perfectly well. with lively acid and plenty of zing.

Rangoon Lime Chicken seemed an obvious candidate for something in the Riesling line, so a bottle of this one emerged from the fridge.

Tahbilk 2009 Riesling (4* $13) Clear varietal notes on the nose and across the palate without the more pronounced acid you find in the higher end Clare and Eden Valley Rieslings, but smooth and well rounded and an almost ideal everyday drinking style at the price. A definite value for money freight free candidate for a reorder when the time comes assuming stocks have lasted (currently a Wine Club Web Special, so may not last long).

Leeuwin Estate 2008 Art Series Riesling

 The predictable end of financial year stock clearance offers haven't exactly been flowing into the Little House of Concrete, but the impending arrival of a couple of cases from Fermoy Estate to join recent deliveries from Tahbilk, Baileys and The Wine Society means that we need to concentrate on getting things out of the wine rack to make room for what's sitting on the floor in front of it. The easiest way to do that, of course, is to clear out some of the wines that are there in multiples, but last night's dinner needed something in a Riesling and this one was, conveniently in the bar fridge, so…

Leeuwin Estate 2008 Art Series Riesling (4.5* $22) After a couple of younger Rieslings from other regions where the citrus notes were far more pronounced the relatively restrained nose and the semi-aged notes across the palate (that hydrocarbon element's there again, but lurking below the surface rather than muscling its way to prominence) made a rather pleasant change. In the mouth it sat comfortably in between the citrusy zing of a young Riesling and the overt developed characters you find in the aged versions. There's a tendency to see that transition from youth to maturity as leaving a void that detracts from the drinking experience, but there was, I thought, plenty going on here. Thankfully, there's still another bottle to go.

Leeuwin Estate 2007 Art Series Riesling

Back in the days when the Horseshoe Bay Cafe provided some of the best food along this stretch of the Queensland coast I developed a taste for Art Series Riesling, which was a permanent fixture on the wine listand it's a something that has lasted through subsequent encounters with the variety. Things may have moved on over the years, but this one (at the el cheapo end of the Art Series spectrum) remains a favourite.

Leeuwin Estate 2007 Art Series Riesling (4.5* $23) Pale straw in colour, lemons, lime and the developed Riesling hydrocarbons on the nose and apples and minerals across the palate deliver an enjoyable drinking experience that underlines the need for restraint if you're going to enjoy bottle aged Riesling. Would quite possibly go further, though Halliday described it as a Peter Pan (as in may never grow up). If this is eternal youth I could do with a bit more of it…

Pikes 2010 Traditionale Riesling

 As remarked elsewhere, if the call from Pikes just after we'd returned to base from points south 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.

After all, I've subsequently ignored an offer of a reasonable Clare Valley red, marked down from $22 to $10 a bottle (plus freight) and my response to another offer from Margaret River will be tempered by what happens when I encounter a couple of acquaintances later this morning. Possibly two dozen, possibly four, possibly more

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

Pikes 2010 Traditionale Riesling (4.5* $23) There's a pale green tinge to the straw in the glass and, as with the 2009 the traditional Clare Valley citrus on the nose along with some apples and stone fruit, lemons and slate on the palate, with a balanced acidity that palate, balanced style that suggests medium-term cellaring, though I expect I'll be looking to restock with this one or something similar by early August. Halliday, incidentally, gave it 94. At $18 on special, that's good buying and has me wishing I'd grabbed a bit more at the price.

Helm 2010 Classic Dry Riesling

The winery part of our recent southern trip was built around two premises - a visit to Bloodwood in Orange and an exploration of some of the wineries in the Canberra District, and with limited windows for sampling and tasting it's hardly surprising that we headed for places that were highly rated.

Given the district's emerging status as a producer of premium Riesling we were always going to include Helm Wines on the very short list of places to visit since I've seen comments ascribing much of that emerging status to Ken Helm's advocacy of the district and the variety, and the fact that his establishment was the first stop on the circuit meant that the bar was set very high.

Number Hughesy among the extremely impressed.

Helm 2010 Classic Dry Riesling (4.5* $28) Apples and pears rather than lemon and lime on the nose, though those elements are there underlying that top layer. Across the palate it's the same, complex expressions of the characters you associate with quality Riesling that combine to produce a floral, structured style that's almost perfectly balanced with a lengthy finish. Precision winemaking that is worth every cent. Will definitely be keeping this one in stock at the LHoC while stocks last.

Jim Barry The Florita Riesling 2007

I've frequently quoted the old adage that if you open a can of worms, the only way you can re-can the worms is to use a larger can, but had no idea the same principle applies to wine fridges.

There's no doubt that the model lurking in the laundry is far too small for Hughesy's cellaring needs, but I suspect that regardless of capacity any model is going to be too small for my ambitions, so I try to make do with what's there.

Remodelling the kitchen meant the bar fridge needed to move to the laundry, which, in turn, meant the wine fridge needed to be repositioned to make room for the space invader, which in turn meant the thing needed to be emptied.

A simple enough exercise, you might think, but when I had refilled the little devil I found I had a number of bottles that didn't fit.

It's all in the actual arrangement, I guess, and obviously last time around I'd got it right. This time I'd reshuffled things, so, what to do? Empty it again and have another go? Or do a slight reshuffle and take out anything that seemed to be getting close to the Halliday drink-by date or rated below the low nineties in the same source?

It may come as no surprise to learn that I went for the latter option, and one of the obvious candidates for removal was this little number, rated at 89 with a drink by 2014 appended.

Now, it's not as if I'm inclined to view Halliday as the be-all and end-all, but it's good to have a pointer, and I'd rather be trying this one now rather than going for the '05 or '08 which James has going into the 2020s. It's not as if those single bottles are going to last that long, you understand, but they'd arguably have what it takes to go close to the distance.

Actually, talking of distance, here's an example of how far we've travelled in a few short years. Visiting the winery I'd written (in the ensuing travelogue):

a stellar wine made from free run juice (about 40% of the available volume) that was 100% Riesling without a trace of skin, stem or stalk. Quite simply, a fantastic wine.


Two and a half years later:

Jim Barry The Florita Riesling 2007 (4* $40) Maybe I've been getting into a few too many aged (or relatively aged) Rieslings lately, but while this bottle ticked all the appropriate boxes I was comparatively underwhelmed. Definitely developed Riesling, that whiff of hydrocarbon on the nose, pronounced Clare Valley minerality, full of flavour and a very pleasant drinking experience but lacked, I thought, the Wow! factor noted when we visited the winery.

Signs of a changing palate? Perhaps, but I'd put it down to a mixture of that, preconception and recent samples of very good Riesling with a few years bottle age on them. Definitely 4*, but, really, I was looking for something that was closer to 4.5, and had I been in a position to taste this now with a view to buying on this tasting I'd be giving it the flick pass.

Tahbilk 2010 Everyday Drinking Riesling

It may well be Riesling, Jim, but it's not quite Riesling as we've come to know and love it.

Alternatively, maybe it is and I was a tad premature samplinga bottle less than twelve hours after it landed on the premises after the lengthy road haul from Nagambie Lakes to Bowen.

Having read in the latest Wine Club brochure from Tahbilk that this Everyday Drinking Riesling ($6.95/bottle) had picked up a Gold Medal at the 2010 Hobart Wine Show and gone on to take out the Trophy for Best Riesling of the Show, it's hardly surprising that when it was reorder time for Everyday Drinking Whites I went the Riesling rather than the regular $55/dozen cleanskin.

For comparison and contrast I also went for the Riesling Vertical 6 Pack ($75, not bad value for a double of the 2010 and single bottles from '09, '08, '07 and '06), none of which has found their way into the fridge yet.

While initial exposure to the 2010 Everyday Drinking Riesling failed to produce what I've come to expect in a Riesling, as an everyday drinking glass over lunch (my standard four days a week lunch tuna and bean salad's nothing really out of the bag) it works perfectly well. with lively acid and plenty of zing. 

Undoubtedly more will be revealed in the fullness of time, particularly time to recover from the transit trauma, and eleven and a half bottles will provide ample opportunities for that to happen.

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.

Leeuwin Estate 2005 Art Series Riesling (Relocated)

When we visited Leeuwin Estate in August $260 for a dozen Art Series Rieslings across six years seemed like a reasonable way to build s small stock of older Rieslings while I waited for the stocks of Holm Oak and Grosset to round out. We've got through the '03 and '04 and this was the last of the...

Leeuwin Estate 2005 Art Series Riesling (4.5* 19 points $n/a) Near-sparkling pale gold, aromatic with developed Riesling character in spades through the nose and across the palate, youthful acids have rounded out into complex elegance with a lengthy finish. Delicious, and a powerdul argument for keeping a couple of bottles in the cellar (assuming you can keep your hands off them). 

Brook Eden 2010 Riesling (Relocated)

Given my financial druthers I could well be persuaded to operate a two-house lifestyle, wintering in northern Queensland and spending the summer months somewhere like Tasmania's Tamar Valley, which would give me ready access to the likes of this rather classy Riesling without the arm and a leg $35/dozen for freight!

Brook Eden 2010 Riesling (4.5* 18.5 points $22.50) Pale straw, almost transparent in the glass, with generous notes on the nose and a crisp finish once the lime characters have passed over the palate. Very tasty lunchtime style and the rest of the bottle went down with last night's Thai style curry. Reorder (along with the Pinot Gris and Pinot Rose) duly placed.