Pinot Noir Tasting

Chambolle Musigny 2001, Burgundy
This was a lovely light style pinot. It had aromas and flavours of sour cherry and some stalky green characters. It was still very fresh with good length and the aromas just kept flowing as you smelt it.
When I came back to this wine later on it was one of my favourites. The stalky characters had subsided and the wine was very delicate in comparison to the heavier styles with some nice perfume aromas.
$58 wholesale.

Dalrymple Vineyards Pinot Noir 2003, Tasmania
Blackberry, pepper and vanilla aromas with some jubiness. This wine was quite rich and big for a pinot. It seemed a lot like a shiraz and seemed a bit unsettled and all over the place. Nice wine, but undecided as a pinot. RRP $32.

Frogmore Creek Organic Pinot Noir 2004, Tasmania
An organic wine with some raspberry and cherry characters. There was a hint of clove and spice on the aroma. A balanced wine with sharp acidity.
A nice wine, but not outstanding. RRP $32.

Wellington "Hoodies Reserve" Pinot Noir 2002, Tasmania
Black cherry aromas with blackberry and vanilla on the palate. Some stalkiness which became more dominant as the wine opened up. I found this wine too woody from the oak and the green stalkiness dominated the wine once it had been sitting there for awhile. RRP $55.

Stonier Reserve Pinot Noir 2003, Mornington Peninsula
This was my favourite wine of the tasting. It was quite closed at the start, but opened up to be a nice refined wine. The aromas had some clove, sour cherry and barnyard characters. A toasty palate with good length, tannins and acidity.
RRP $60.

Wither Hills Pinot Noir 2003, Marlborough NZ
Sour cherry aroma with some pepper and barnyard, mulchy characters. Palate had good length with raspberry and cherry flavours. A good wine, one of the better wines of the day. RRP $50.

Martinborough Vinyard Pinot Noir 2004, Martinborough NZ
A really crap wine. It was really green. Very methoxy pyrozene like. Someone said it reminded them of rotting green vegetables. RRP $78 (what a joke!).

Nuits St George 1996, Burgundy
Very disappointed that this wine was slightly corked. However, there was still a lot of wine character showing through and it showed potential to be the best wine of the day. Aroma showed sweet perfume with a dry well balanced savoury, smooth palate. Wine was holding up really well and I'd love to be able to try it again hopefully without it being corked!
$58 wholesale.

Kilikanoon Prodigal Grenache 2004, Clare Valley

This wine was really good. It had intense fruit aromas mixed with an almond marzipane aroma and tasted scrumptious. It was 15% alchohol, but the wine was big enough you didn't notice. Would like to get some of this wine, apparently at cellar door it sells for about $24 a bottle.

Bremerton Tamblyn Cabernet Shiraz Malbec Merlot 2003, Langhorn Creek

This wine showed all sorts of different characteristics from the different varieties. There were aromas of dark cherry, blackberry, capsicum, liquorice and olive. The wine was all over the place and didn't seem well integrated which I think is possibly a result of the stelvin closure. The wine has great potential and is excellent value for $13 dollars through the Bremerton Wine Club, but too young and needs some ageing to let the wine integrate and smoothen out more. I will look forward to trying this again in a couple of years.

Commissioner's Block Viognier 2006, Sunraysia

I thought I would put in a plug for a wine my boyfriend made which has just won a trophy at the Riverland Wine Show. Viognier is proving to be a variety that does very well in hot climates and this wine is a great example of that. It has some intense fruit characters and retails for about $10 a bottle so is a fantastic buy.
The 2006 Commissioner's Block Sauvignon Blanc is also great value for money too.

Binder Mitchell Dovetail SGM 2003, South Australia

A blend of shiraz, grenache and mataro (mouvedre). I thought I would mention this wine as it was an interesting example of the use of screw caps on a red wine. Initially this wine was fairly closed and one dimensional. It had some pepper and blueberry aromas and the mataro showed a lot of meatiness on the palate. The tannins were also quite powdery and the palate dominated across the middle. With some air the wine opened up more showing some lovely vanillin oak integration and the palate became smoother showing more balanced fruit. It was an interesting exercise and the wine was quite nice, but probably not as good value as some of the other wines we have bought of Grays Online.

De Bortoli Shiraz Viognier 2003, Yarra Valley

I didn't like this wine. It had too much brett character for me to enjoy so I only had one glass. However, the wine did open up with a bit of air to show more fruit character and Stuart was quite impressed by the wine.

Vignadel Sorbo Fontodi Chianti Classico Reserva 2000

An Italian Sangiovese. This wine had black olive, liquorice and leather characters with a bit of brett which added to the complexity. Unfortunately I hate olives and liquorice so this wine wasn't my cup of tea, but definitely an interesting example of an Italian Chianti.

Ciavarella Oxley Estate White Port, King Valley

Made from verdelho this port had dried apricot, almond and citrus aromas with an intense dried apricot flavour. It was an interesting wine, but very alcoholic and after a few sips I couldn't stomach any more. RRP $18.

Konrad Noble Riesling 2003, Marlborough

A botrytis riesling dessert wine from New Zealand. It was rich and intense with apricot nectar and nectarine flavours and aromas. It was scrumptious, very yummy! RRP $40.

K1 by Geoff Hardy Shiraz 2001, Adelaide Hills

A big fat shiraz. An intense wine with black and white pepper and blackberries. Fine, tight tannins, but slightly green. Reasonable wine.

Chateau le Bruilleau 2003 Pessac-Leognan

Some friends from France had been saving this wine for about 11 months for a chance to drink it and we were happy we were there when they opened it!
It was a nice savoury wine with aromas of pepper, chassis, cherries and barnyard complexity. A nice balanced palate with fine tannins. Variety is most likely a blend of Cabernet Merlot being from Bordeaux.

Wellington Gewurtztraminer 2005, Tasmania

Initially this wine seemed quite neutral, but opened up more with some nice floral aromas. In comparison to other Gewurtztraminers I have drunk it was not as tropical in aroma and seemed to sit somewhere between a sauvignon blanc and riesling in style. It was also drier than most other Gewurtz wines I have tasted.
However, I enjoyed the wine for a nice fresh white on a warm afternoon.

Xabregas Riesling 2002, Mt Barker

This wine showed some nice age with oily apricot characters and typical herbally riesling aromas. The palate was pretty fat for a riesling and not as acidic, but I thought it was scrumptous and quite enjoyed this wine.
RRP $22.

Frogmore Creek Sauvignon Blanc 2006, Coal River Tasmania

This was very similar to a NZ sauvignon blanc with an intense tropical guava aroma. Overall it was a bit green though and nothing too special. RRP $18.