A full pink-red colour, but don’t let this slow you down because it’s dry and refreshing and – dare I say – even a touch sophisticated. Rose petal perfume, subtle strawberries, raspberries and pink pepper. 18 months after harvest, it’s still fresh, youthful and perky. You should try it. Seriously. $7.50 at Dan’s.
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I tasted the new NV rosé at Bollinger last week, based on the 06 and 07 vintages, and it amazed me as it did in the same room a year prior. Gorgeous elegance of rose petals and strawberry hull, beautiful minerality and the utmost poise. How can the bold Bollinger recipe create such delicacy?
readMonumental power and concentration of cassis, black fruits of all kinds, dark chocolate, coffee, cherry liqueur and spirit. It’s still disjoint but it’s got the tannin backbone to go the distance, so give it another decade, then sit back and marvel. $80 at WineStar.
readA decade of drastic chainsaw pruning and new small fermenters have given Wynns a new detail, reflected in its exciting new single vineyard and subregion wines. Early picking is the key here, highlighting firm, textural, chalky tannins, pepper, mixed spice and blueberries. $35 at Kemenys, $36 at Dan’s.
readSam Connew’s talents are increasingly reflected in Tower’s releases after her late 2009 kick-off. She didn’t pick this wine, but her deft touch is evident in its upbringing. Focused black plums, berry compote and dark chocolate, firmly structured, textural tannins and classically linear 09 acidity.
readBlack Label has legendary longevity (I’m still awaiting 1994s in my cellar) and the tight 2009 vintage pulls it away from the overt, expressive styles of late and back to the classic, monumentally structured demeanour of old. Sinewy, taut dark berry fruits lurk. $20 at Kemeny’s, $22 at Dan’s, $24 at WineStar.
readTwo weeks in Champagne taught me profound lessons about minerality and acid integration, and this was the first wine back home that I could relate to, thanks to its fine-grained texture, lingering, tight acidity and cool, calm apple and pear fruits. Consummate Grosset precision. $28 at WineStar.
readThe Tulloch Hunter sem trilogy has landed and it’s worth paying to trade up to Julia. She’s an early maturer this year, with an expressive fragrance of guava, rose petals and lime and a taut lemon, lime and granny smith apple palate drawn out by an undercurrent of fine, linear acidity.
readBernoota is an assault weapon in the bargain red stakes, blowing all else out of the water with explosive mint, plums, liquorice and dark choc oak. I tasted it the day I arrived home from Champagne and found it slick, polished and definitively Aussie. Careful where you point that thing! $19 at WineStar & Dan’s.
readRob Mann has streamlined Marmaduke from the all-terrain blends of the past to a high-performance dragster. Powered by juicy black cherries and blackberries, kept on the road by firm, fine, peppery tannins, tuned by a brilliant vintage, this thing outdrives every Marmaduke to date. $15 at WineStar.
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