AceHighWine

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