Summit Estate Alto The Spanish Collection 2008

Summit Estate Alto The Spanish Collection 2008

  08:10    Stu.

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A wine born in Spain, of Granite Belt fruit from an Argentinean winemaker.  Paola Cabezas-Rhymer is not your typical Stanthorpe resident, check out her naked self on the Summit Estate home page for a start.   Yet with over a dozen vintages in a decade...

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Peter Lehmann Eight Songs Shiraz 2004

Peter Lehmann Eight Songs Shiraz 2004

  12:56    Stu.

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The first cellar door I visited in the Barossa was PLW - great CD, more like a boutique hotel and conference centre than some cellar doors, but the legend behind the name and man makes it a must see in my book. Everything I like about Barossan Shiraz - and this is...

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Eden Road "The Long Road" Shiraz 2009

Eden Road "The Long Road" Shiraz 2009

  12:33    Stu.

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A mix of fruit from selected Canberra and Hilltops vineyards.  Loving the work coming out of Hilltops. Meaty, juicy and peppery aroma as I have come to expect from this cool climate region.  Medium bodied, smooth on entry.  Some cola on the palate,...

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Samuel's Gorge "Cadenzia" Grenache 2008

Samuel's Gorge "Cadenzia" Grenache 2008

  12:19    Stu.

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In a rather uneventful sales career sales post-university, one of the things instilled in me was that people buy from people.  Get your product right, build relationships, and by and large folks will buy from you. So, I like the work of Justin McNamee, thus I...

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Blue Poles Reserve Merlot 2007

Blue Poles Reserve Merlot 2007

  15:39    Stu.

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The remainder of this bottle was kindly donated to me by Mark Gifford - proprietor, winemaker, wit, orator, dashing host - after attending a Blue Poles get together in Brisbane. So the wine was consumed when it had already been opened in excess of 24 hours - gives...

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Majella Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

Majella Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

  15:10    Stu.

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Tough vintage 2007, with frost wiping out about 1/2 the fruit; the quality of the fruit that remained was apparently high - but yields decimated. So from that, Majella have managed to craft a comely cabernet exhibit typical cassis, cedar and plum on the nose.  Yet...

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Golden Grove Estate Granite Belt Durif 2008

Golden Grove Estate Granite Belt Durif 2008

  14:47    Stu.

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Reductive on first opening, it eventually shook off its sulphurous cloak to reveal a black, brooding liquid, displaying some minty notes.  A creosote coated mint Tim Tam (waifer theen meent anyone?) springs too mind. Given that, I was quite surprised...

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Newton Forrest Estate Cornerstone Hawkes Bay 2000

Newton Forrest Estate Cornerstone Hawkes Bay 2000

  07:40    Stu.

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People have an emotional attachment to wine, possibly more so than any other beverage - and I am excluding other forms of dependency with that statement.  With this in mind, is it possible to maintain objectivity about a particular wine when so much of you can be...

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Kirrihill Tullymore Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Kirrihill Tullymore Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

  21:15    Stu.

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Received as a sample from new online market entrant WineXpress, this single vineyard Cabernet from the rather benign - compared to previous years -  2009 Clare Valley vintage, and Halliday 5 star winery, Kirrihill. Opening with blackcurrant, violets, a touch...

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Vine Drops The Collection Margaret River Shiraz 2008

Vine Drops The Collection Margaret River Shiraz 2008

  14:12    Stu.

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I also write these reviews  up on the wine community site The Grape Hunter and it was through one of their tasting panel reviews that I was introduced to this wine. I've met Vine Drops proprietor Nelson da Silva before at a Spitbucket session in Sydney - I didn't...

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De Bortoli Murphy's Vineyard Semillon 2004

De Bortoli Murphy's Vineyard Semillon 2004

  09:40    Stu.

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I've got a backlog of notes to write up, the dual consequence of having a small child teething, turning me to booze and denying me the opportunity to write up the notes. This bottle was purchased on a little family break up at Rainbow Beach from the colonial inspired...

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Ocean Eight Pinot Noir 2007

Ocean Eight Pinot Noir 2007

  05:41    Stu.

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The Aylward family founded Kooyong down on the Mornington Peninsula before selling up to Port Phillip Estate. With the proceeds from sale they created Kooyong. They produce two Pinots, this - a standard entry named after the 8th at the golf club - and the 'Aylward'...

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Deisen Grenache 2005

Deisen Grenache 2005

  12:15    Stu.

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Halliday's not a fan.  I can see why, but wine is more than what is purely just in the glass.  It's about stories, memories, set and setting - terroir of the mind or some such.  And for these reasons, I am. Deisen wines were first brought to my attention...

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#Gamay11

#Gamay11

  11:32    Stu.

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I recently had the great pleasure of attending a Gamay 'tweetup' organised by David & Wendy Lloyd of the Mornington Pensinsula's Eldridge Estate. David has 6 rows of Gamay on his estate, and indeed this represents a fair whack of the circa 20 tonnes of Gamay produced in Australia.  In 2010, David experimented with a couple of styles of Gamay, and the purpose of the tweetup was...

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