Pfeiffer 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon

Given the fact that the object of the exercise is to keep track of what I've been drinking ith a view to figuring out future orders it makes sense to complete a stocktake every now and then, and figure out some way of keeping track of what you've actually got.

I've had a couple of attempts at something along those lines over recent years, and each time the wheels have fallen off due to an inability to put things in place to monitor stock levels, and keep track of what's been consumed along the way.

Returning from the recent southern odyssey the first priority was clearing the decks for the new kitchen, which meant that for three or four days we were operating on reduced cooking facilities, which was a fair excuse for hitting the takeaway options and clearing leftovers out of the freezer and an even better excuse for making a bit of space in the wine rack by clearing out bottles that have been there for a while, which usually means they're the last survivors of dozen lots, so in most cases I've already got something along the lines of a tasting note.

With the new kitchen in place it was soon obvious that we were looking at a far better photographic environment when it came to capturing images of wine bottles, and much of the time since the electricians finished their end of the job has been devoted to the photographic side of recording what's on hand. That process isn't totally complete, but with the new database (Hughesy's Cellar) almost up to date and the possibility of a second (Hughesy's Wine Archive) under consideration, most of the stock that's been lurking on the floor of the office relocated to the wine rack and the ability to look at current stock levels by variety, a Saturday night rump with a potato casserole looked like a reasonable excuse to start a serious assault on the April Pfeiffer C2 Club selection.

With winter seemingly upon us and a stock of Cabernet Sauvignon around the dozen mark, starting with the 2009 Cabernet seemed a logical move, given the suitability as a food match and the possibility of needing to build up stocks.

Pfeiffer 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon (4.5* $22.50 Wine Club $20.25) Deeply purple in the glass, varietal mint on the nose with blackberry and rounded tannins across the palate, this worked well with the steak and delivered something to savour after the meal was done. Nicely structured, very easy drinking and a definite reorder candidate.

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.

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.