The Vinsomniac - Stuart Robinson

An Australian Wine Blog

This Wine Blog

This Australian wine blog was formerly known as thewinewankers.com

I'm a wine drinker, and this blog is about wine, not just Australian wine.

If you wish to contact me, please do so here.
All content of this Australian Wine Blog © Stuart Robinson - The Vinsomniac. Powered by Blogger.

An Australian Wine Blog

Tuesday, 31 May 2011

Sommeliers Australia - South American Tasting

  20:50    

As part of my continued palate education, I attended a Sommeliers Australia event on South American wines.  Hosted by leading importers Jim Mcilwain (Southern Cross Wines) and David Castro-Stevens (Wines of Chile), the tasting showcased classic wines from Chile and Argentina.  Underagga T.H. Sauvignon Blanc 2009 From 4.36 hectares, 14 kilometres from the ocean and planted...

   / / / / / /

  No Comments

Monday, 30 May 2011

Charles Melton Shiraz 2001

  17:07    

Graeme "Charlie" Melton's poor French is well documented; luckily so his ability to work with classic Rhone varietals, such as this Shiraz. Praying to St Finbarr (poetic license here for he is the patron Saint of the Irish city of Cork) when opening this bottle, I...

   / /

  No Comments

Hahndorf Hill "The Blueblood" Blaufränkisch 2009

  14:45    

Until recently I'd not had the pleasure of tasting Blaufränkisch - literally blue Frankish - and then in one of those moments of synchronicity I tasted an Austrian example and then most generously this sample from Hahndorf Hill. I read that Blaufränkisch is so named in part because of its colour; the fränkisch part coming from a medieval attempt to classify grapes whose origins...

   / /

  1 Comment

Thursday, 26 May 2011

Deisen Mataro 2005

  12:17    

Good to see Mataro getting some shelf space in its own right, rather than as a component of a GSM blend.  That said, the best examples come from old vines, as the Teusner crew proclaim: "A young root is just no good!". This example from 2005 was clearly one of the early trend-setters in bringing a single variety Mataro to the party. It smells of Black Forest gateaux, with a dark mass of...

   / / /

  No Comments

Umami Alpine Valley Sangiovese 2008

  11:57    

Apparently Sangiovese is a highly adaptable grape, capable of changing radically, morphologically even, in terms of leaf shape, berry size etc. Max Allen in his "The Future Makers" states that early Sangiovese was thin and boring, and that clonal selection was of...

   / /

  No Comments

Sunday, 15 May 2011

Mike Press Adelaide Hills Shiraz 2009

  13:08    

Ignore the price, enjoy the wine.  Find some - it's sold out ex-winery - enjoy a couple of bottles now, but enjoy it in five years time. Beautiful perfume of sweet American Oak; mulberries, black fruits and a touch of cola.  Smooth, velvet glove-like palate....

   / /

  No Comments

Peppertree Coquun Shiraz 2009

  12:52    

A wine that benefits from some extended time in glass.  At first generous oak floods the palate and suppresses much of the goodness present.  Be patient, it's firmly rewarded. Black cherries, touch of Cherry Ripe, primary fruit up front.  Even a detection...

   / / /

  No Comments

Wednesday, 11 May 2011

Lucy Margaux Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir 2010

  07:23    

Polarising wines these. Good aromatics initially present themselves - richly scented red berries, Cherry and some stalky aromas. Entry doesn't deliver what one expects from the nose: it's lighter, earthen and a touch nutty - some might say like its maker. My personal preference would have been for there to have been a touch of primary fruit present, which for me the body was lacking. That said,...

   / /

  1 Comment

Tuesday, 10 May 2011

Monday, 9 May 2011

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)