Voyager Estate 2009 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon

While it would have been interesting to have left the last survivor of this dozen for the warmer weather that's probably just around the corner a combination of a surfeit of Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc, SBS and SSB blends along with a severe case of cases on the floor in front of the wine rack meant that this one was a prime candidate for Operation Room in the Rack.

Voyager Estate 2009 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon (4.5/5 $24) One of the best examples of the standard Margaret River white blend I came across when we visited reduced to $18 and freight free was a no-brainer in October last year, and it's a minor miracle this last survivor has lasted eight and a half months in the rack. Pale straw colour, regulation elements present on the nose, with fresh zingy acidity balanced in with the fruit on the palate and a gentle, textured almost understated rounded finish made for a great drink, and prompt a mental memo to scour the horizon for the 2010. 93 from Halliday.

Olssens of Watervale 2006 The Second Six

They don't make 'em like that any more. They can't get the wood, y'know.

Or, I suspect, in this case the Carmenère.

I've written elsewhere about the circumstances that brought us to the Olssens of Watervale cellar door, but it's worth reiterating that the drive is the sort of thing that's likely to deter any but the most determined traveller.

The continued absence of a website seems almost inexplicable in the twenty-first century and it took a while for an order to go in, but given the fact that a consultation with Mr Halliday's tome revealed a range that largely sat in the $20-$30 bracket and was consistently rated in the 93-94 range I was always going to get there eventually.

The highlight of the visit to the cellar door was my encounter with The Olssen Six, one of the few examples of a Bordeaux blend to feature all six of the classic Bordeaux varieties. There are others that go close - the Cullen Diana Madeline being one notable example - but four out of six or five out of six ain't six out of six. You're not going to get that perfect six unless you can lay your hands on some Carmenère, and it seems, from what I can gather, that there are a mere half-dozen or so vineyards in Australia where the variety is grown.

I've still got five bottles of The Six lurking in the cellar fridge with the next rendezvous with one pencilled in for some time around 2014. My note from the bottle we sampled in October 2010 reads:

Olssens of Watervale 2006 The Olssen Six (5/5 $60) Possibly unique blend of  Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Carmenère and Petit Verdot. From the first whiff there's a considerable Wow! factor. Intense, focussed, layered and elegant, a wine to savour at length and leisure.

At around $30 cheaper, its little brother doesn't have quite the same depth but there's plenty on offer here as well.

Olssens of Watervale 2006 The Second Six (4.5/5 $28) Deeply red in the glass, with complex notes across the nose and an acrobatic balance of red and black fruits across the palate this doesn't pack quite the same punch as its sibling but comes across as well weighted with a pleasing depth of flavour and a lengthy finish which, again, encourages the drinker to take some time over the end of the bottle.

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…

Coldstream Hills 2004 Limited Release Shiraz

Here's one that takes me back to the trip that shaped Hughesy's drinking habits over the next couple of years. Those habits have been modified, as subsequent trips have added new elements to the LHoC Wine Rack mix, but this week-long sojourn through the Yarra Valley, Tahbilk, Glenrowan, Rutherglen and Beechworth sorted the basic elements for the on-going and ever-evolving mix.

The day after we visited Coldstream Hills, for example, we got to Tahbilk and became aware of phenomenon known as the freight-free wine club, and subsequent visits to Baileys and Pfeiffers added the first of the regular delivered winery-based tasting dozens.

There were others before that, of course, the original incarnation of The Rothbury Estate, the old Hunter Valley Wine Society and The Wine Society, but these were the first winery-specific tasting dozens if you catch my drift.

And much of my reaction as we worked our way through the northeast of the state was, I suspect, shaped by my reaction to what we found as we made our way around a small subset of the hundred and fifty-odd wineries in the valley.

Now, I'm the first to admit that those reactions might have been different if we'd been there some time other than the week between Christmas and New Year, and if we'd done the sort of detailed pre-trip research that preceded visits to northern Tasmania, the Clare Valley and Margaret River.

In any case I was underwhelmed by almost everything I encountered in the Yarra, with the notable exception of Coldstream Hills, where we found an almost deserted tasting area and a range of wines that invariably had Hughesy inserting the hooter for a lengthy savouring of the aromas prior to an actual sip.
I'd been to places where the odd wine or three had a magnificent nose, but this was the first place I'd encountered where everything smelt sublime.

We were flying back, so we weren't going to be carrying too much with us and Madam's birthday provided the excuse to crack the last remaining survivor of that particular trip, which predated  the Wine Purchases spreadsheet that began when the Allocated Pension kicked in in March 2007.

Coldstream Hills 2004 Limited Release Shiraz (4.5* $35) Cherries, plums, pepper and spice on the nose that mightn't be as powerful as I recall it being four and a half years before, but still packed a punch. Elegant across the palate with a rounded mouth feel and a finish that ran on and on. Savoury, balanced and tightly wound around an oaky core that's a rather good example of what cool climate Shiraz is all about.

Bloodwood 2009 Chardonnay

Here's one I've tried a number of times in environments that aren't condusive to producing a tasting note.

After sampling it in the winery, over Chinese in Canberra, with an Idian takeaway in Springfield Lakes and at the Bloodwood dinner at the QB, but when Warbo and the Dragon Lady landed on the doorstep bearing a bottle of Piggs Peake Wiggly Tail Marsanne, which made 2/2 wines favourably comparable to the Tahbilk take on the variety in twenty-four hours. With a price tag in the mid-twenties, however, I'm inclined to repeat the value for money Tahbilk factor as stated here.

I needed something to follow that one, and given the fact that our visitors had missed the Bloodwood dinner...

Bloodwood 2009 Chardonnay (4.5* $27) Clear pale yellow in the glass (Warbo: "Very light for a Chardonnay"), citrus notes on the nose and peaches and grapefruit across the palate and definite varietal character this is an impressive new style Oz Chard that'll be on the reorder list on a semi-permanent basis.

Regulation disclaimer: Given the fact that Steve and Rhonda Doyle are personal acquaintances rediscovered after an almost forty year gap, the reader might think I'm exceeding the bounds of something or other.

On the other hand, Halliday rates them a five star operation, rated this as a 92 and having tried the wine in a number of situations with a variety of people whose tastes probably do not coincide without hearing a negative comment I rest my case.

Pfeiffer 2010 Gamay

With the announcement of Apple's new iCloud throwing huge question marks across my current website arrangements, I've got absolutely no qualms about grabbing some of the content, giving it a working over and recycling it in an environment that'll presumably be there when MobileMe goes bellyup in twelve months' time.

Given the weather conditions outside as I sit tapping away on a pre-dawn June morning summer is distant memory and a vague prospect somewhere down the track but the subject of summer drinking is something that's a recurring theme.

Given our location in the more-or-less Deep North of Australia it should probably come as no surprise to learn that the climate hereabouts has some impact on our drinking habits.

Living where winter days are usually accompanied by clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid-twenties (Celsius) a full bodied red wine is more likely to accompany steak or pasta rather than a roast or a big warming bowl of stew. It’s not that we don’t like roasts and stews, the climate predisposes us to travel in other culinary directions.

Winter 2011, however, has been a rather welcome cracker in the chilly nights department, with weeks rather than days of temperatures hovering over and regularly dipping below the ten degree mark, but we're talking generalities here.

And in summer the bowl of pasta or the steak and salad don’t really work all that well in conjunction with a really hearty red. They can, but the external temperature doesn't predispose you to reds at room temperature, I'm reluctant to kill some of the flavour through over-chilling or playing around with some variation on whack it in the fridge and then give it a chance to crawl back up to the ambient temperature, and Madam's been known to be critical of the overuse of the air-conditioner.

The steaks don’t go that well with whites either, so we’ve got a problem unless we can unearth some red wines in a lighter style that can handle a spell in the fridge.

The most obvious option is to choose a Rosé. Unfortunately there’s no stylistic consistency and the name covers a multitude of possibilities, some of which also coincide with styles that I’ll be mentioning a little later on.

So I could head to Portugal and go for one of the big names like Mateus or Lancers. I’ve tried both in the past and, while they’ve been acceptable, they’re nothing to write home about either. There are probably other Portuguese labels that would turn up in city bottle shops, but we’re not in a big city are we?

Another low-cost option in those circumstances would be a lambrusco, and if we were still buying from the local bottle shops we’d probably have a bottle or two of the De Bortoli’s version in the fridge.

There are other options open as you move up the price brackets, of course, and on visits to Stanthorpe, the South Burnett, the Hunter, the Yarra Valley, north-eastern Victoria, the Tamar Valley, Clare, the Barossa and Margaret River  we’ve been keeping our eyes peeled for anything that fits the general description of light reds you can keep in the fridge.

One of the earliest was a Dusty Chill from Dusty Hill Wines in the South Burnett, and we managed to track down another couple in the Hunter  but we’ve had more success as we headed further south.

We’d encountered the Brown Brothers Tarrango before we headed to the Rutherglen/King Valley area in early 2007, and, while I was there to follow the Muscat Trail, we found a couple of gems at the other end of the spectrum. Most significantly, we ran across Pfeiffer’s Wines just outside Rutherglen and signed up for their Wine Club, which delivers a dozen freight-free to our doorstep twice a year.

One of the main reasons we signed up was the Gamay, a delightful wine made from the grape variety that produces Beaujolais, although their Ensemble Rosé ain’t too shabby either.

And each subsequent excursion has yielded something interesting to add to the list. There's the Rockford Alicante Bouchet for a start, a little number that has the added advantage of being low (9.5%) alcohol, so you can knock over a bottle at lunch without going nye-nyes in mid-afternoon.

There have been a number of others, and they've often turned up on special ex-winery freight free at attractive prices. I'll cite the example of the Lenton Brae No Way Rose (by the dozen @$150) and rest m'case, m'lud.

But regardless of those offers there are a couple of year in, year out staples that you'll find stacked in the LHoC rack and chilling in the bar fridge. The Rockford Alicante Bouchet's a certain starter, and you can more or less count on the Brook Eden Pinot Rose, though the quantity's going to vary there, depending on how much I like the Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and the Pinot Noir.

And then there's this one that went rather well with last night's pasta leftovers...

Pfeiffer 2010 Gamay (4.5/5 $18/ C2 $16.20) Regulation cheery cherry red in the glass, whiff of berries on the nose and the usual fresh fruity style across the palate. They've done it again. Integral ingredient in the Little House of Concrete summer drinking strategy. Would be 5/5 if you rated it on latest expression of almost absolute reliability.