2008 Zonin Soave

Italian Gambellara. Lemon gold. Pine in aroma and palate. A really, really good light-drinking wine that's affordable.

2009 Dopff au Moulin Alsace Pinot Blanc and Maison de Grand Esprit Les Petites Vignettes Alsace Pinot Blanc

This wine is a clear, lemon-gold in colour with the palest hint of lime. Pineapple and pear are in the aroma with some honey. In the mouth there is a sensation of clarity, like clear, fresh, mountain water, even something reminiscent of silk. It's dry but with some warmth and it's mid to long in length. My drinking companion thought it sherbet-like in the mouth, and medicinal. I thought it a very good, light summer wine that I'd be happy and confident to buy by the half dozen, especially since it's just over $12 at Dan Murphy's.

The $20 Maison de Grand Esprit Les Petites Vignettes Alsace Pinot Blanc was available  at the Cellars, Bangalow. It is pure gold in colour, like a verdelho or a wooded chardonnay, in a slim reisling-like bottle. It had a biscuity aroma, like a jam and coconut slice. It's longish palate is zingy and dry but with some honey. Deep and smooth. This too reminded me of cream silk, or a linen and silk mix.

2009 Paul Mas Marsanne

This is a brand available at Dan Murphy's. I love Marsanne, having been educated into it by the iconic AustralianTahbilk Marsanne of Central Victoria. The Paul Mas is cheap at around $7. On the back label, information is repeated twice. It is a lemony, limey gold in colour and there is honeyed apple with even some cinnamon in the aroma and on the palate. But it much thinner and less flavoursome than the Tahbilk. I probably will not return to the Paul Mas, since you can buy the Tahbilk at reduced price a DM's.

2010 Yalumba Y Reisling

This is a cheapish wine supported by wine critic Jane Faulkner in the Sydney Morning Herald's Saturday Sepctrum. I've yet to site the cheapish vermentino in the range. The reisling is a light- to mid-gold in colour. Unusual. Much of the reisling I've currently been drinking is very pale. It has pear in the perfume. And on the palate there's immediately banana and then citrus. It has good mid-length. It's a sophisticated wine for the price range= around $10. Very nice drinking. Distinctive. I initially did not like the change in the label for this series, which used to feature a big Y and no image. Now there are different images on the grape varieties, this one featurning a green and lime tree. But that suits the sense of freshness from the wine. And it's in that distinct and gorgeous, thin  relising bottle.

2010 Central Otago New Zealand Pinot Noir

From a cold climate, I was expecting this pinot to be good. the label says the region has 'sun-filled growing seasons and cool nights'. It's a lovely deep crimson red in colour with considerable transparency. Jammy on the nose. Warm, smashed strawberries. But my drinking companion said its aroma was 'appalling'. Musty. Ok, it wasn't fresh. We were going to decant it, but another drinking companion has said that decanting pinot isn't worth it. Of course, pinot has a lightish palate, and the warmness of this wine's aroma is repeated in the mouth - a kind of rusty, warmish, burnished taste. Surprisingly, it's slightly peppery, something you'd expect from a shiraz. I won't buy it again. At around $16.00, it wasn't cheap (ok, not expensive either). But perhaps not worth the money. More like an $8 wine.

2010 Crabtree Watervale Clare Valley Bay of Biscay Grenache Rose

This is a good rose. Put it on your small list of such. Beautiful bottle and label too - black and white, leaf image, grey-scale background printing. Leaf embedded on twist top. It's from relatively old vines: 1946 Bay of Biscay grenache and 1968 Brysyk family plantings nearby. Hand-pciked, retained on skins 48 hrs. French, cool tank fermeting. Wine maker: Kerri Thompson. It's a beautiful clear, blood-red colour.Some marshallow in the aroma (even peanutty) but not much. Even that descirption is a bit of a stretch. On the palate it's almost bitter, but not unpleasant because it is good to have a dry rose. $18 Sunrise Cellars Byron Bay. Thompson has her own website http://www.ktandthefalcon.com.au/kerrithompson.html and wine business KT. This Alpha Range Crabtree wine is a 'unique' collection of award-winning wines or so says the website. Bay of Biscay 'soil is a heavy sticky, black clay that holds moisture well. Not ideal for red wine making but ideal for our Rose'.