Archive for category Australian Wines
V for Victory! Err… I mean Victoria (Part 2)
Posted by eatbikelove in Australian Wines, Producer Wine Tasting on December 20, 2013
Post the visit to Yarra Valley, it was now time to visit the other Pinot Noir and Chardonnay region in Victoria, Mornington Peninsula.
However, since we were in Melbourne, no morning will be complete without trying the famous Australian coffee (aka. flat white). So after a quick search online, we decided to visit St Ali which was closeby.
The place looked very cool and had a nice rustic charm to it.
Refreshed and woken up, it was time to set off to Mornington Peninsula. Our first stop was Merricks General Store in Merrick, the eastern end of Mornington Peninsula.
Merricks is actually a popular restaurant. It is a JV between 3 local wineries so natrually they have a cellar door to taste a massive selection of wines from 3 producers… a 3 in 1 bargain!
First up were 2 Viogniers from 2 different producers.
Elgee Park Viognier 2009
Nose: Not much nose to speak off. Perhaps the wine was served too cold?
Taste: A simple fruity and tangy texture.
Finish: Short finish of c5 seconds
Baillieu Viognier 2011
Nose: Lychee, sweet fruits
Taste: Fruity with a light to medium body
Finish: Short 5 second finish
Next up was Quealy Fruilano 2012
The Fruilano grape is a local grape from the region.
Nose: Light lemony nose, bit like a Sauvignon Blanc
Taste: Medium bodied
Finish: Short 5 sec finish
This was followed by Pobblebonk 2012 which seemed to pack a different selction of white grapes…
Nose: Fresh white flower, hint of honeycomb
Taste: Smooth white fruity balance. Low acidity
Finish: Short finish of 10 seconds.
Surprisingly Pobblebonk works and tastes great! I would recommend everyone to at least give it a try.
Quealy Moscato
Nose: Good muscat grape nose. Hint of greeness and cut grass
Taste: Bubbly with a nice hint of sweetness
Finish: Short 5 sec finish
Queally Musk Creek Pinot Noir 2010
Nose: Simple singular fruity nose
Taste: Medium bodied with strong acidity.
Finish: 10 sec finish
This is another one of those weird blends with an equally cool label to match
Nose: Red fruits, red berries
Taste: Good body and balance. The red fruit does carry over to the taste along with a low acidity
Finish: 10 sec finish
Baillieu Reserve Pinot Noir 2010
Nose: red and black fruits. Good perfume
Taste: Good balance, fruity and slightly tannic
Finish: 10 sec finish
Queally 17 rows Pinot Noir 2011
Nose: muted fruit nose and not that pronounced.
Good acidity but that seems to overpower the fruit at this moment.
Finish: Long 25 sec finish.
A good wine but 2011 wasn’t a good year so the fruit did not really shine.
We finally finished with a muscat rose
Nose: Sweet strawberries, lychees and roses
Taste: good body and balance. Decent sweetness but not overpowering.
Finish: 15 second finish.
After having a chat with the kind sommelier, he kindly informed us that Quealy is having a clear skins garage sale. That sounded perfect so off we went to pay the vineyard a visit.
We were greeted by a very observant front of house.
Quealy Balnarring Pinot Noir 2012
A simple and easy to drink Pinot Noir. Sometimes, there is no point in making wine too complex :-P.
After an extensive visit to the visit, then it was time for a quick lunch and then off to Montalto
This is what happens when you do not have enough wine!
Montalto Hawkins Hill Chardonnay 2011
Nose: Fruity- lemon, apple and white pear
Taste: Good backbone and structure
Finish: 15 second finish.
By this time my friend and I were Chardonnay’ed out. So we decided to visit a vineyard which had won a lot of awards but was off the beaten track.
Ocean’s Eight (No the proprietor is not George Clooney) supposedly makes fabulous pinot noirs and the vigneron allegedly trained in Burgundy… so this must be good…
The cellar door itself looks very pretty. It was simple (no french castles here) but still presented nicely.
We were served by a very nice (and good looking) young winemaker, but what really caught my eye were the burgundy wine bottles on the top shelf!
As for the wines, they are quite well made.
Oceans Eight Pinot Noir 2010
Nose: Red fruits, strawberry, red cherries and hint of spice.
Taste: Good fruit balance and low tannins. A typical cool climate wine
Finish: Decent 20 second fruity finish.
Aylward Reserve Pinot Noir 2010
Nose: Red fruits, cassis, hint of dark cherries
Taste: Fruity taste, good balance and overall a more elegant wine
Finish: 25 second finish
Aylward Reserve Pinot Noir 2009
Nose: Red cherries, hint of vanilla. fruit forward but still a very burgundian nose
Taste: Nice balance and a rounded texture. Silky smotth. Good fruit and a good tannic body.
Finish: 25 second finish
We were really trying to squeeze in as many cellar doors as possible now. We were very lucky to be able squeeze into Prancing Horse. A beautiful estate which winemaker was an ex-Accenture consultant. The owner (tony Hancy) told us that his Prancing Horse wine (the Pony) are currently being served on Qantas’ business class routes. Classy stuff! However that was not the biggest surprise, he also has a vineyard in Burgundy and was only too keen to crack opena few bottles to share (or compare).
Unfortunately to me, I felt Tony shot himself in the foot as the Morey St Denis was just sublime (when one ignores the price).
Prancing Horse, Morey St Denis, Clos des Ormes 2007
Nose: Red berries, raspberries, red cherries, hint of spice and light soya sauce
Taste: Lovely balance, beautiful fruit profile, good acidity and sweet tannins.
Finish: 20 second finish
Sadly, after I tasted this burgundy, it just did it in for me for all pinot noirs that day. No matter, Paringa Estate, which is just up the road, makes very good Pinot so hopefully they can salvage some credit for the Mornington Peninsula.
This was sadly our last stop in Mornington Peninsula… but what a view!
Imagine sitting down by the window, sipping wine and soaking in the magnificent view… ahhhhh bliss!
Paringa Estate Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2010
Nose: a bit of heat, Lemon fruits
Taste: Good rounded texture. The fruit envelops the mouth. Good balance and acidity.
Finidh: 15 second finish
Paringa Estate Peninsula Pinot Noir 2011
Nose: Strawberry, fruit forward nose, red fruits
Taste: Simple fruity texture
Finish: 15 second finish
Paringa Estate Peninsula Pinot Noir 2009
Nose: Dense red fruits, Cassis and hint of black berries
Taste: Smooth Texture, red fruit carries throughout the palate. Slight acidity but good tannins.
Finish: 15 second finish
Paringa Estate Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009
Nose: Dense and concentrated. Red berries, hint of cassis and liquorice.
Taste: Very good balance, sweet tannins and a super smooth texture.
Finish: 25 second finish
This wine is very elegant and is a bigger but finer wine than the non single vineyard version. Lovely wine! Shame about the price (over A$100 a bottle)!
This was a very successful trip and deepened my understanding of Aussie new world wines. It was now time to drive back to Melbourne and there was just one last drink to try before making the journey back…
… a well needed Piccolo.
V for Victory! Err… I mean Victoria (Part 1)
Posted by eatbikelove in Australian Wines on November 18, 2013
Some readers would know that one of my favourite grape varieties are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (aka Burgundy white and red wines). So a few friends suggested that I should visit the Burgundy equivalent region in Australia, Victoria state. Per their recommendatins, Victoria state has 2 famous Chardonnay and Pinot Noir producing regions, Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula. So, with a good buddy, we hired a car and off we went.
The first stop was Yarra Valley which is less than an hour’s drive away from Melbourne. So after getting a free car upgrade (to a BMW- although we were not informed that it was a 1 series), we headed straight into Yarra Valley.
The first stop was Yering Station, a famous cellar door in the heart of Yarra Valley with excellent views.
As an introduction to Yarra Valley, this is a great starting point as they have so many different varieties of wines to try. The biggest difference in visiting Cellar Doors in Victoria (compared to Hunter Valley) is that there is generally a nominal fee (between A$5 to A$10) charged per person to taste the wines which is refunded when one makes a purchase. I find this is actually better as it removes my ‘guilt’ factor of tasting wines for free and then feeling compelled to at least buy a bottle as a token of my appreciation.
The following are my notes of the wines tasted:
Yering Station Chardonnay Reserve 2010
Nose: Lemons, mineral nose with a hint of oak.
Taste: Good body and structure. Medium full bodied with good acidity and length.
Finish: 15 sec fininsh.
A good decent wine. but is it worth A$90 a bottle??? The pricing is very very high!
Yering Station Shiraz Viognier 2010
Nose: Black fruits, blackurrants, cassis and blackberries.
Taste: The fruits in the nose does follow on into the palate. There pepper and a hint of Asian 5 spice. Good tannic body.
Finish: 15-20 sec finish.
A decent bottle of wine but sadly the price is just wrong at A$90 a bottle! or its just me being skint…
Yering Station Pinot Noir 2010
Nose: red berries and red fruit. raspberries with a hint of violets, herbs and cassis.
Taste: Good body and structure. The wine is fruity but has the tannic backbone to age.
Finish: 20 second finish.
A very good bottle of wine but I’ll leave it to each individual to decide of A$90 a bottle is a fair price to pay. For me, I might be in the enviable position of having access to great burgs at a significantly cheaper price.
Yering Station Shiraz Viognier 2006
Nose: Red and black fruits with a strong cassis nose. Hint of vanilla.
Taste: This wine has good acidity and even though it is aged, it still retains some fruit freshness. The aging process has definitely developed the wine to be smoother but there is still sufficient tannic structure to age.
Finish: 20+ second finish
A good bottle of wine. Again at A$100 a bottle, my friend would happily drink his Barossa valley reds which are at least half the price. but then again, this is Yarra Valley…
So after the first stop and thinking that I need to win the lottery to be able to enjoy Yarra Valley wines, we went off to our next stop Tarrawarra.
Immediately one could sense that the wines here are a lot more down to earth (thank goodness!)
Tarrawarra Chardonnay Reserve 2011
Nose: Slight lemon peel, hint of butter and white fruits
Taste: Light to medium bodied. Low in acidity with white flowers.
Finish: Short finish of c10 seconds.
Tarrawarra Estate Pinot Noir 2011.
Nose: Simple, light nose. Rose petals and red berries.
Taste: Light bodied, fruit forward. Acidic with tannins dominating at the moment.
Finish: 10 second finish
Tarrawarra H Block Pinot Noir 2011
Nose: More subdued, less fruity
Taste: More acidic body, less fruity but compensated with additional structure.
Finish: 10 Second tannic dry finish
Tarrawarra Reserve Pinot noir 2012
Nose: Red Berries
Taste: Has a bit of a syrah texture.
Finish: 15 second finish.
Good red wine.
The wines in Tarrawarra is very good and the prices are a lot more reasonable compared to Yering Station.
After Tarrawarra, the next stop was an interesting cellar door with 2 labels (Innocent Bystander and Giant Steps). Their building looks really cool and it houses a fantastic restaurant on site as well.
Giant Steps is the premium wine so it makes sense to get straight to the good stuff :-P.
Giant Steps 2012 Sexton Chardonnay
Nose: White flowers, hint of honey and lemon
Taste: Good balance, fruity, very smooth and slight acidity.
Finish: 15 second finish
Giant Steps 2012 Tarraford Vineyard
Nose: White fruits, honey suckle, hint of vanilla and lemon
Taste: Good acidity, lemon fruitiness, mineral and good structure
Finish: 15 second finish
Giant Steps Arthurs Creek Chardonnay 2012
Nose: White fruits
Taste: A fuller and much bigger wine.
Finish: 20 seconds finish. All in all a bigger wine.
Mea Culpa Chardonnay
Nose: Butter, pear, white flower and hint of honey.
Taste: Medium bodied, fruity, good balance.
Finish: 25 second fruity finish.
Giant Steps Sexton Pinot Noir 2012
Nose: Red Fruit, dandelion and violet; raspberries and very herby nose
Taste: Medium bodied slight acidic structure
Finish: 10 sec finish
Giant Steps Gladydale Vineyard 2012
Nose: Red berries with a hint of dark fruits and cassis
Taste: Smooth texture, a bit of heat. The red fruits do come thorugh with a slight acidity.
Finish: 15 second finish
Giant Steps Applejack Vineyards 2012 Pinot Noir
Nose: Raspberry, good red fruits with a hint of minerality
Taste: Good balance and structure with red fruits.
Finish: 15 seconds
Mea Culpa Shiraz 2012
Overall a medium bodied wine with good balance and a 15 sec finish.
We were very lucky to secure a cellar door visit to one of Yarra Valley’s most famous vineyards, Yeringberg, which was also the highlight of the trip.
The underground cellars at Yeringberg.
Yeringberg Viognier 2012
Nose: Very fruity nose of white fruits and white flowers.
Taste: Simple light medium bodied
Finish: 10 sec finish
Yeringberg Chardonnay 2012
Nose: Lemons, white fruits.
Taste: Good balance with the fruitiness and acidity balancing well.
Finisg: 15 second finish
Yeringberg 2011 Pinot Noir
Nose: Raspberry and red fruits with a hint of crushed strawberries
Taste: Good fruit and low acidity (which is reflective of the vintage)
Finish: 20 second fruity finish
Yeringberg 2011 (the flagship wine)
Nose: Blackcurrant, cassis and a hint of acidity
Taste: Good fruit length, slight tannins with a smooth acidity.
Finish: 15 second finish
Yeringberg 2010
This is essentially similar to the 2010 but is much more rounded and has a longer 20 second finish.
Final stop for the day, Colstream Hills which used to be owned and managed by James Halliday.
Coldstream Hills Chardonnay 2012
Nose: Lemon acidity, butter, honeysuckle and white fruit
Taste: Good balance and fruity with a hint of acidity
Finish: 10 second finish
A good wine for an aperitif.
Coldstream Hills Deer Fram Vineyard Chardonnay 2012
Nose: Lemon zest, similar to the chardonnay but with a bigger concentration of fruit.
Taste: Medium bodied with good acididty
Finish: a smooth long 25 second finish
Coldstream Hills Rising Chardonnay 2012
Nose: White fruits and lots of minerals!
Taste: Significantly more acididc thhan the Deer Farm. less fruity with lots of minerality
Finish: 20 second finish
Coldstream Hills Reserve Chardonnay
Nose: Butter and popcorn, white fruits with a hint of lemon
Taste: Good balance and fruit with a hint of lemon acidity
Finish: 15 secodn finish
We tried to visit the last cellar door (Yarra Yering) but sadly was 5 minutes too late. Ah well, at least we managed to soak up the view prior to heading back to Melbourne.
My friend went all jumpy during dinner when he saw the wine menu and managed to persuade me to share a wine which was on his ‘to drink’ list.
I guess you can take a Barossa Valley wine lover to Victoria, but sadly you can’t keep him from wanting Barossa wines…
Rockford Basket Press Shiraz 2010
Nose: very dense nose, blackcurrant, cassis, blackberries. Hint of flint, black cherries, hint of vanilla from oak
Taste: wow! Powerful wine but well balanced and smooth. All the fruit from the nose is transported to the wine. A bit of heat.
Finish: 30 sec+ finish with a hint of mocha and lots of fruit!
A wine that must go with food, I recommend steak.
The next post will cover the Mornington Peninsula. Watch this space… :-D!
Good Wine Hunting
Posted by eatbikelove in Australian Wines, Uncategorized on August 17, 2013
most of my friends know that I am a old wine wine persion, heck some might even say I am a Franco-phile when it comes to wine. Well, a good friend of mine decided that I needed a ‘proper’ education in Aussie wines. So as I was in Sydney for a short period, the natural and easiest to go wine region was Hunter Valley, famous for their semillon wines.
To prepare me for this new world wine education, we started with the most important element, a ‘flat white’ and banana bread. 😛 
After filling our tummies, we ended up at Polkobin Brothers to rent bikes to visit the cellar doors in the valley. Polkobin Brothers vineyards is an actual vineyard but they also have a separate business renting out bicycles (Grapemobile). They were kind enough to pick us up from our hotel and their bikes were good quality. http://www.pokolbinbrothers.com.au/
They even give us a quick tasting so we could compare wines immediately (or ‘fuel’ us to get started). I highly recommend their Sparkling Moscato. It is light, fruity and lovely!
So the first cellar door we visited was Waverley Estate, which emphasize and pride themselves in selling aged wines. (Something which is very usual in the old world).
Their aged Shiraz are good! Although the most interesting wine I tasted was their Chardonnay. The fruity texture reminded me of skinless tomatoes. A very interesting note.
They are also very famous for their fortified wine, which they recommend having it with raisins. I would however recommend pouring this over some vanilla ice cream (raisins and sultanas are optional). Delish!
Next Stop is to another famous vineyard, Brokenwood.
The Cellar Door was busy but everyone seemed to be having a good time and enjoying themselves.
After trying their Semillon, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir (wayyy to acidic), Shiraz (not my style and perhaps a bit too ordinary) and finally their Sticky Wicket Semillon, I found their Pinot Gris the best. It is light and crisp with a good lemon acidity like a decent Pinot Gris.
Juist opposite Broken Wood, is one of the grandest cellar door complex in Hunter Valley, Tempus Two,
The complex has a very good cheese shop which stocks decent ice cream as well.
The Tempus Two cellar door however was very busy and I felt the service we received was sub-par. We were acknowledge but also ignored at the same time for 10 minutes. It most certainly felt too commercialized and a bit soulless (where is the passion???). Hopefully we were just unlucky and they are generally a lot better than that.
The Cellar door next door, Meerea Park however was brand new (yes the place still smelled of new paint) with very good wines. They also have interesting wine names such as this ‘Hell Hole’
their Shiraz was very good and good value.
After all the tastings and cycling in the dark back to Polkobin Borthers to return our bikes (followed by more Moscato), it was then off to dinner at Muse which I think is definitely one of the best restaurants in Hunter Valley. The food coupled with exemplary service made it an evening to remember.
The best was their fireplace which really warmed the place up during dinner and perfect for an after dinner laze with coffe/tea and petit fours. Highly recommended.
The following morning, after being greeted with kangaroos, we started with De Iulius Wines, one of the vineyeards which has won numerous awards with their Shiraz. I can understand why as their Shiraz, whilst young and fruity; had a mellow texture which was very enjoyable. Their Cellar Door is also guarded by cool bronze guards on stilits.
Selections of very good shiraz’s. I would say that they are at the mid way point between powerful Barossa Valley ‘fruit bombs’ and old world Rhones.
Their late pick semillon is also good value. It was not too sweet and had a good body and weight for a dessert wine.
Next stop was Tyrell’s wineries which is one of the oldest wineries in Hunter Valley and famous for their Semillon
The estate’s view is magnificent.
The Semillons are very good and they are most famous for thier Vat 1 Semillon. Highly recommended.
After losing ourselves with the beautiful views, we then headed to the Small Winemakers Centre (next to Tempus Two’s Cellar Door). They carry wines from various small producers of which Andrew Thomas is the most famous producer. Andrew Thomas’s most famous Shiraz is called the ‘Kiss’. It is a beautiful wine but to me was a bit too powerful.
Then it was off to a very famous Australian winery, Tower Estate. It has a beautiful cellar door and we were greeted by a really cute butler.
Tower Estates make beautiful wines. They do not sell at any bottles shops as they sell out quickly. As they have vineyards all across Australia, we could try wines that weren’t from Hunter Valley, such as this Pinot Noir
The Pinot Noir is very new world in style. I never knew pinot could get so fruity and powerful but if that is the style you like, this Towers Estate Pinot Noir is just for you.
Their Chardonnay however was surprisingly good. It lacked the complexity and minerality of a good Chablis or Cote de Beaune white but is fruity and nice.
To me, their best wines was the pink moscato. It is very nice and resonably priced at A$20 a bottle, until I realised it was only 500ml, where did my other 250ml go?
We were making good progress and after a quick bite, we were off to Peacock Hill Vineyard which makes a good ‘Sauternes’ style ice wine.
The way they make this wine is very interesting. They claim that it is similar to ‘ice wine’ but it is not made in a traditional sense. What they do is to pick the grapes (semillon and Sauvignon Blanc) as usual (after botrytis) and then freeze them prior to extracting the juice. The end result tastes more Sauternes than Ice wine but is still quite a good sticky.
Two more vineyards to go but these are the local heavy weights, startign with Audrey Wilkinson which has a knockout view!
I could easily just sit there for a whole afternoon and admire the view!
The Cellar Door was busy and they had an interesting museum next door with some interesting (and expensive) wines on display.
Most of the wines were ok but to be honest, my palate was long gone after tasting so many wines. I did come across a very interesting bottle which was their Vin de Vie, a sweet wine that has an almost port like texture.
The final cellar door fo the day, Mount Pleasant. This cellar door is owned by the McWilliams family and they have a lot interesting brands and vineyards all over Australia.
We went straight for the good stuff. Some of their wines have won sooooo many awards the gold throphies on the labels were making us blind.
My favourite and at a great quality to price ratio was their Shiraz Pinot Noir. This is so different and i think one would get shot at if they ever attempted this with Rhone Shiraz and Burgundy Pinot Noir.
So after a great weekend trip and visiting numerous Cellar Doors, I think I understand Aussie wines a little bit better (starting from a base of zero :-P) but my heart is still France…
Winston's Wine World 
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