The Vinsomniac - Stuart Robinson

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This Australian wine blog was formerly known as thewinewankers.com

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Wednesday, 23 March 2022

Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard 1.5m Chardonnay 2021

  16:30    

A sheeer delight from the get go, with grilled peach and toasted hazelnuts. There's a creaminess, almost a milky panacotta like offering, with perhaps a little herb - sage - steeped.

The palate is crisp, taut - a certain minerally quality and intensity through the mid to back palate. A touch of struck mack funkiness and a delightful line of grapefruity acidity tidying up the finish. Yes, this is good. 94

Tasted on: Friday 18th March
Source: Sample
Price: $55
Alcohol: 13.8%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: https://tapanappa.com.au/

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De Bortoli Organic Shiraz Field 2020

  08:30    

This is De Bortoli's first certified organic wine, off of their Hemley vineyard. Presently they've 6.2% of their Riverina vineyards certified organic, with a goal to make that 10% by 2025.

Billed as a 'field blend', but is also 100% Sguraz. Anyway, the wine in question is rich, ripe, plummy - there's a depth here, a suggestion of clove and cocoa nib spice too.

Medium to full palate: lighter red fruit against a darker fruit backdrop. Powdery tannin through the mid palate, lick of acid.

Solid Shiraz from warmer climes, in a middleish bodied package. 89

Tasted on: Friday 18th March
Source: Sample
Price: $17.50
Alcohol: 14.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: www.debortoli.com.au

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Tuesday, 22 March 2022

Terre à Terre Crayères Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2020

  16:30    

Melon meets something like a white pepper and sandalwood nose. Exotic, you might say; deriv,tive you would not.

Texture meets a subtle grapefruit acidity. For those familiar with the variety, here it's more of note to state how this example stands out from that crowd. It's judiciously picked, fermented and bottled to ensure its a far cry from the astringent examples you might be used to.

What it is, is poised, balanced; a fruit presence is juxtaposed against savoury elements derived from both a picking regimen and fermentation vessels.

Excellent intensity and a sustained finish that would no doubt have any wine lover re-appraising Australian Sauvignon Blanc. 93

Tasted on: Sunday 20th March
Source: Sample
Price: $50
Alcohol: 13.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: https://terreaterre.com.au/

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Rock of Wisdom Shiraz 2021

  08:30    

Possibly the most straightforward - think regionality and varietal - of the three releases, this does not detract from its quality.

Plum, Mulberry - the palate sees more of the fruit than the nose might suggest.

It's medium, maybe just veering to full. It has the 'just there' touch of the winemaker's - allowing the fruit to shine over artifice - moderate texture flow and spread with a suggestion of structure to lift things. 91

Tasted on: Monday 7th March
Source: Sample
Price: $35
Alcohol: 14.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: https://rock-of-wisdom.myshopify.com/

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Thursday, 17 March 2022

Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay 2021

  15:30    

Ripe peach with a throw of toasted oak in the frame. Toast latterly morphs to a spice, grilled hazelnut, a peppery top note.

A little creamy texture whips across the palate, oak spice backing that up with an expansive move through the finish. A phenolic touch adds further dimension to the wine's conclusion. Depth, length and interest. 92

Tasted on: Tuesday 15th February
Source: Sample
Price: $45
Alcohol: 14%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: https://tapanappa.com.au/

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Wednesday, 16 March 2022

Clandestine Vineyards Tempranillo Rosé 2021

  08:30    

Geographe. Single vineyard. 6000 bottles

Toffee apple, hints of rose and berry.

The palate is where I like Tempranillo based roses, this example offering a dry and assured palate threaded with a spine of perpetual acidity. There's a phenolic flourish to add width to that length.

It's moreish, thirst quenching and quite compelling in its proposition. Superb wine. 93

Tasted on: Friday 26th November
Source: Sample
Price: $19
Alcohol: 12.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: https://clandestinevineyards.com.au/

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Tuesday, 15 March 2022

Natural Wino Co Organic Lightly Sparkling Rosé 2021

  21:35    

Light Berry kiss with a grassy undertow. 

Strawberry mousse like flavour on initial entry, a subtle petillence adds a bit of energy and drive.

There's a lightness - perceived perhaps, for it's lower in both calories and alcohol - to the body and it sits well across the palate.

Delightful way to start, an afternoon cleanser. 89

Tasted on: Saturday 5th March
Source: Sample
Price: $20
Alcohol: 8%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: https://www.thenaturalwineco.com.au/

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Storm King Wine Co. Vermentino 2021

  08:30    

Storm King Wine Co. is Ray Costanzo's (Golden Grove) side project with wife Jen. The label is named after the body of water just outside Stanhope, where the couple live.

This evocatively perfumed Vermentino spends 10d on skins with daily plunging. It speaks of pear, marzipan, with a little muskiness around the periphery.

Detailed and precise across the palate, a fine phenolic edge bolsters the wine and adds width and breadth to the fine acidity running long across the palate. Oozing quality and finesse, the Winemaker's play book has been well deployed here. 

An opportunity for many to re-assess the Granite Belt wine region and what it can deliver, for this wine is not just detailed in its own presentation, the winery has gone to extraordinary efforts in how it is presented, not just with the labeling but also the packaging. 93

Tasted on: Sunday 13th March
Source: Q Wine's Hand-me-downs
Price: $55
Alcohol: 12%
Closure: Diam
Website: https://www.stormkingwineco.com.au/

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Monday, 14 March 2022

Rock of Wisdom Grenache 2021

  08:30    

Old Vine Grenache, from Peter and Sofi Hiscock.

There's a complexity here that combines a youthful aura married to the depth of flavour that old Vine material brings.

The fruit - raspberry, even a suggestion of blue - sings and works in tandem with that depth of flavour and pull of tannin. There's a throw of acidity that somehow belies its 14.5%

Give it some time and air, for it then further reveals itself with something like chicory root character  bound up with burnt orange peel. It's a fascinating exercise in old Vine Grenache with a youthful vogue, interest factor is high. 92

Tasted on: Friday 4th March
Source: Sample
Price: $35
Alcohol: 14.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: https://rock-of-wisdom.myshopify.com/

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Thursday, 3 March 2022

Clandestine Vineyards Pinot Noir 2021

  08:30    

First Pinot Noir from the Clandestine crew, unsurprisingly sourced from the Adelaide Hills - where their
excellent Pinot Grigio hails.

It's a riot of dark fruit, Plum and black cherry. Yet for that its lithe and supple, a delicious wave of fruit sweeping across the palate.

A fine rasp of tannin, flash of acid for freshness, a generous tail of flavour that is seemingly perpetual in manner. It sees some winemaking love, by way of whole bunch (15%) and some new oak (30%) adding to an overall packaged that is is delicious, balanced, moreish - overall quite a dangerous combination. 91

Tasted on: Thursday 20th January
Source: Sample
Price: $24
Alcohol: TBC
Closure: Screwcap
Website: https://clandestinevineyards.com.au/

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Wednesday, 2 March 2022

Mr Mick Sangiovese 2021

  20:58    

Youthful take on Sangiovese - Nuovo, as perhaps it might be best stated.

Smells primary, of fresh summer strawberry, cherry and blackcurrant, augmented with a touch of baking spice in the mix.

The palate is slick, glossy and fair glides across the palate in an energetic manner.

It's a lighter take on Sangiovese, but unmistakabley carrying the markers of that great variety. Light, lithe, playful - and quite smashable. 90

Tasted on: Wednesday 9th February
Source: Sample
Price: $17
Alcohol: 14%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: www.mrmick.com.au

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