You don’t pop the question every night of your life, and at a cool $679, you don’t pop Krug Rosé every night, either. Exceedingly ethereal, ultra-restrained with the most sublime nuances that rise and linger amid dancing minerality and a pinpoint bead. It defies simple descriptors. Just say, “Yes!” $550 at WineStar.
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How can a wine of such monolithic proportions have such elegance, lift, poise and finesse? Laced with violets, cassis, rose petals, pepper, cloves, nutmeg and tremendous black fruits. Epic tannin presence and integration. Magical freshness and floral perfume, impeccable seamlessness and persistence. It’s as good as the 94, 85, 70, 35 and 24. The first […]
readThis is no ordinary CdR. In the Rhône appellation of Cornas there is none more famous than Clape and his just-landed CdR commands respect. Cellar it, decant it and serve it with robust main course fare. Remarkably youthful, with exotic spice, pepper, coal, graphite and mouth-coating tannins.
readIt’s not only that this is the best Vasse Felix chardonnay ever but that it sets a new benchmark for this rapidly ascending producer in focus, coiled-up restraint and longevity. Control, texture, linearity, persistence, drive and sheer sophistication like none that have come before it. $45 at Kemeny’s and Dan’s.
readA hauntingly entrancing vintage for what must be the most important pace-setting pinot in the country. It’s prettier and more elegant than ever, with a waft of rose petal and a bright red cherry and pink peppercorn palate, structured with firm, silky tannins. $27 at WineStar, $28 at Kemeny’s, $30 at Dan’s.
readThe cool reaches of the Adelaide Hills draw violet perfume from shiraz, with a background of glossy blackberry and black pastille fruit. Dad gets his name on the label but the entire Hardy family (Mum and all four kids) are behind this quality-driven operation in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges.
readWayne Dutschke is a grand master of Barossa shiraz, so imagine my amazement when his cabernet eclipsed all four 09 shirazes? Sami is engineered for the long-haul, with a deep core of blackcurrant fruit and tremendously classy French oak. Never has Sami paraded such grandeur or such longevity.
readIn the hierarchy of prestige sparkling, finesse is everything. This particularly elegant vintage ranks among Taltarni’s finest sparklings yet. A cool season has preserved natural acidity and a new Adelaide Hills vineyard has injected more purity and crunch than ever. $19 at Dan’s, $20 at WineStar & Kemeny’s.
readAustralians all let us rejoice, for Voyager’s almost free! With boundless violet perfume to share, its palate abounds in nature’s gifts of tobacco, capsicum and blackcurrant. In joyful strains then let us drink! Advance Margaret River fare! $19 at WineStar, $20 at Kemeny’s.
readIn these fleeting moments before the onslaught of 2011 sauv (steady!), be sure your 2010 punts have lasted the distance. Ninth Island is a Duracell bunny, zapped with such a charge of electric acidity that it will keep going for years! It could confidently stand in for sparkling to open proceedings. $17 at Dan’s.
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