AceHighWine

Back from a weekend in Adelaide catching up with my brother and some of the ol’ beach volleyball crowd while the Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour was in town. A thoroughly enjoyable time was had in the seaside town of Glenelg and I implore anyone going to Adelaide to set aside some time in the city - and not to mention spend some quality time in South Australia’s wine regions!

Just stumbled across the link for the Western Australian Poker Meetup Group. If you’re a West Australian keen to get stuck in to the game of cards but aren’t sure where to start or feel a little too intimidated to play at the casino or pub games, consider giving this a whir.

In a tasting last night where too many wines were overpriced and quite frankly overdone to the point of looking like caricatures of the big, bold, predominantly South Australian blockbuster style of red, this came up smelling like proverbial roses: though in reality, it was more like a hedonistic, heady flurry of white pepper and grilled meats. The effects of this wine (a blend of shiraz, grenache, mourvèdre and viognier) in the mouth were almost instantaneous - I sat up a little straighter and my chicken-scrawl handwriting jolted to life, trying desperately to keep up with the stream of superlatives being relayed synapse-to-synapse from my brain. Incredibly balanced and poised and defined by shades of pepper, meat and ripe plums whose purity, clarity and restraint shone like a beacon. Finishes clean and dry with a lingering trail of succulence. Fine, elegant and lengthy - one of the best Henry’s Sevens I’ve quaffed in recent memory. And finally, does anyone else think the name sounds like a championship winning rugby side? 18 www.henschke.com.au

Complex and heavy handed bouquet full of pencil lead, polish and even hints of tar. If the opening credits don’t tell you this is juicy fruit-bomb territory, the palate does and in no uncertain terms. This is intense, crammed full of blackberries, plums and all kinds of dark-hued fruit, sprinkled with milk chocolate and balanced by delicious bursts of succulence that add seconds to the fruit’s impressive length. Still one of Australia’s most accessible (in terms of taste and being able to find some at the local bottlo) red wine bargains: unpretentiously warm-climate and fruit-driven in style and appeal. It might be a little too forward for some, but it’s hard to fault as a drink that satisfies from the start of the bottle to the end of it. 17 www.orlandowines.com.au

Christmas is a time of being busy, hence a lack of updates.

What’s been sitting on my “to-blog” list for a while is a recap of the highlights from a chardonnay line up a few weeks back: kind of appropriate because as the calendar makes its way into the business end of the festive season, chardonnay - along with beer and G&Ts - becomes one of my drinks of choice. Lightly chilled, the current stream of more refined, elegant and not-as-oaked chardies on the market are just as enjoyable on their own or with the lighter style of food we Australians enjoy over the summer.

I’ve also had a chance to taste most of the marquee Margaret River producers’ ‘06 chardonnays and its fair to say that while the late vintage could prove challenging for reds, it could turn out to be one of the great chardonnay vintages in recent memory.

Devil’s Lair Chardonnay 2006: Fragrant coconut on nose. A nicely medium-bodied wine with great texture. Juicy apple and stonefruit flavours with a shade of the coconut promised on the nose that finish long and juicy. An impressive follow-up to the awesome ‘05 and very much in the same stripped-back, minimalist style. 17. 2005 review

Tyrell’s Vat 47 2005: Dry and intense with a squeeze of lively acidity to give it real grunt. The palate is powered by peaches and tropical fruit that work their magic to create a tasty and succulent mouthful of flavour that finishes long with a burst of nut rounding things off. 17

Tyrells Vat 47 1996: The black sheep of the tasting, especially when you’re not expecting an older example of chardonnay to be snuck into the line up, but enjoyable never the less. Slightly polarising and perhaps offputting aromas of dry, salted fish but as a drink, an agreeable rounded ball of texture, nut, earthiness and salt with a little more nut thrown in the mix with all things nutty dominating the lengthy finish. I liked, though some weren’t as impressed. 17.5

Picardy Chardonnay 2006: Judging by the number of times I’m alone in my praise for it, I think I’m just going to have to come to grips that some people aren’t going to like Picardy chardonnay, especially when tasted blind in a line-up. This had all the same things going for it: gentle vanillin oak teases the nose, gorgeous “mealy” texture, attractice medium-weight cool-climate flavours of nectarine, pink grapefruit and stonefruit arranged neatly on a persisitent and juicy palate. Impressive length too. 17

Tappanappa Tiers Chardonnay 2006: Aromas of orange zest play the role of curtain-raiser to a mouthful of chardonnay bliss that has quickly established itself as one of the nation’s best. While the palate is a glorious combination of citrus and nut, these components are woven in such a manner to create a softly-textured and juicy flavour profile that last and last. 17.5+ 2005 review

There are three things I really love about the Amon-Ra: first, the name is cool, but that’s to be expected if you name a wine after Egyptian mythology’s King of Gods, and second, the artwork on the label - the all-seeing eye of Horus - is just so bold and iconic (if only the wine dripped a little more to the left, we’d have a pretty clever Polaroid on our hands).

Oh, and last but certainly not least, it’s a wee bit of a cracking drink! While it’s not the latest release of Amon-Ra, an extra year seems to have really put some razzle-dazzle into the ‘05. Intense, dense shade of purple to the eye, cedar and chocolate to smell. It drinks like a shampoo commercial: luscious, thick and silky, with outrageously clear cut flavours of plum and blackberry driven by fine, drying tannins. The mouthfeel is pure taxed-at-51-per-cent luxury and amazingly rich, dense and juicy. The flavours finish long with nut and coffee flavours weaving in and out. Quite frankly, a show-off wine that epitomises rockstar unfiltered, Barossa old-vine shiraz. 18.5

Also, the current release 2006 which was released in September: Lifted bouquet of plum with swirls of florals on the nose move smoothly into a tightly wrapped palate showing great balance between gorgeously ripe plum and toasty, chocolaty notes driven by an underlying sense of succulence. The aftertaste is deliciously juicy and long. Good wine from a cracker vintage. Will age beautifully. 17.5+ (with plenty of room to blossom).

It seems that every other month, I read online or in print, criticism about these big, bold, Barossan shirazes that smash it at shows and blind tastings because they’re just so obvious, cuddly and ripe. Sure, I enjoy the subtlety and elegance that the cooler climates offer, but surely there’s scope for appreciating both styles? Also, if Barossan winemakers suddenly started trying to craft something other than the warm-climate fruit bombs that they’re so good at, I suspect that many would be quick to criticise their efforts before suggesting that they stick to what they know. As far as I’m concerned, they know how to make good, warm-climate Aussie shiraz and I’m bloody glad they do. www.glaetzer.com

For the rest of the week, I’ll be taking Polaroids of the wines I’ll be writing up. In addition to wine and cards, photography is another interest of mine with instant photography being responsible for a good chunk of my debt. If you’re wondering why the funny borders - you might remember the classic white borders of Polaroid 600 film - it’s actually cheaper to buy expired Polaroid film than fresh, new stuff and I recently picked up a stash of expired film that was a mixed bag of promotional Polaroid film odds and ends.

And while on the topic of things that are a little different, today’s recommendation is this little beauty from McLaren Vale in South Australia. Aromas of nougat, agar-agar jelly, rose petals and strawberries denote this as shamelessly Moscatic. The powerful palate is driven by currents of rose, citrus, vanilla and strawberry but with enough of an acid rip tugging away beneath the surface to drag the wine from “cloying, sweet and kiddy” to between the red and white flags of balanced and serious. This is great stuff and a wonderful debut moscato from the Wirra Wirra mob.

I’m looking forward to cracking open a bottle of this at the end of our next Indian dinner and seeing how it pairs with some gulab jamun (milk dumplings in rose syrup) but regardless of whether enjoyed with food or not, this is terrific stuff and the perfect picnic wine with a low enough alcohol content - 5.5 per cent at “sea level” according to the label - to be gluggable straight out the bottle (but don’t because in addition to making you look like a heathen, it’ll taste like pants) while looking pretty and dainty enough to go with the ladies’ summer frocks. It’s a shame the design is so feminine as I suspect many blokes will keep their distance from this which is a bit of a shame really. 500ml bottles. 17.5+ www.wirrawirra.com

Michael Fragos – Chief Winemaker at McLaren Vale’s Chapel Hill winery - beat wine industry all-comers from across the globe to win the Wolf Blass Trophy for “Winemaker of the Year” at London’s highly-acclaimed 2007 International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC).

In a stunning performance, the IWSC judges also awarded Chapel Hill the Maersk Logistics Trophy for Australian Wine Producer of the Year.

In earlier judging, the winery also won the Penfolds Trophy for Best Australian red wine for its 2004 Chapel Hill McLaren Vale Shiraz, and the Warren Winiarski Trophy for Best Cabernet Sauvignon for the 2005 Chapel Hill McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon.

“I am absolutely ecstatic and proud of our achievements,” a delighted Mr Fragos said.

“For Chapel Hill’s winemaking excellence to be recognised over and above winemakers from more than 50 countries is an outstanding effort, and really cements our position on the world stage.

“The award is great recognition to the commitment and enthusiasm to the entire Chapel Hill team and our loyal group of grape growers.”

The International Wine and Spirit Competition was founded in 1969 and is regarded as the premier competition of its kind in the world.

This year’s competition attracted more than 5000 entries from over 50 countries.

/END PRESS RELEASE

www.chapelhill.com.au and www.iwsc.net