2010 Archer's Point Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon

A 2010 Archer's Point Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon at the Lismore Wyrallah Rd BYO was, not surprisingly, good: smooth, velvety, as would be expected of a Coonawarra red, but around $12. Do buy it for winter. Soft but with depth, yet beautifully dark, and such a surprising price.

2012 Blue Cutting Road Adelaide Hills Clare Valley Sauvignong Blanc Semillon

This is surely like drinking lime silk. Medium-priced, a kind of lime lemon in colour, it smells of  a tantialising, delicious lime-lemon sherbet. On the palate, a lime silk. Go for it! Such a lovely wine, of a traditional combination, done really, really well, from one of the great, subtle wine regions of Australia. Under $15 at Dan Murphy's.

2011 Mitchelton Victorian Blackwood Park Riesling, 2012 Robert Oatley Great Southern Mudgee Riesling

At Dan Murphy's, Lismore, in the mid-cost range,  I found a very drinkable 2011 Mitchelton Victorian Blackwood Park Riesling which was smoother and, in that sense, more drinkable than the more elegant-looking 2012 Robert Oatley Great Southern Mudgee Riesling which was much more austere and challenging on the palate, as if it was being perversely deliberate in its uninviting-ness.

2011 Fishbone Western Australia Chardonnay

Although I like my Chardonnays traditionally oaked (buttery, apricot-y), which this wasn’t really, I am convinced of the goodness of WA Chardonnays by Clunes Cellars Jared Dixon whose very own (Margaret River) is forthcoming.

2012 Five Friends Orange Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

The 2012 Five Friends Orange Semillon Sauvignon Blanc was further evidence for me that Orange provides one of the most distinctively terroir-driven portfolios of wines in the country. The SB retained its grassy character, so my drinking partner and I both loved it, though I got a headache (he didn’t). (I tend not to rebuy headache-driven wines because they always fulfil their promise.)

2012 KI Gruner Veltliner, 2011 KI Arneis, 2009 KI Cabernet Tempranillo

I was on the deck of the cellar door of the K1 winery, Kupito (pronounced ky-po), on the margins of McLaren Vale, SA, late 2012. On the table were two platters of local food – relishes, cheeses, meats, crackers – and around the table were friends and friends of friends. Also on the table, or coming to it, were a bottle of NV Sparkling Salmon ($28), a 2012 Gruner Veltliner ($28), a 2011 Arneis ($22) and a 2009 Cabernet Tempranillo ($20).

Smells of pomegranate said one friend of the Salmon, while another said strawberries. Salmon red in colour, it had deep red roses on the palate. A third friend said it brought to mind one of the best descriptions of wine ever: it slipped down like a baby Jesus in red velvet jeans. That third friend said the Gruner was like embroidered lederhosen. But for me Gruner Veltliner has a clear, cold-water quality. Another friend said it was like gold kiwi fruit, and edelweiss too. He also noted the misspelling of terroir (as terrior) on the bottle, which reminded me of the misspelling of daiquiris (as daiquiri’s) on the federal parliamentary Liberal Party’s Christmas party invitation displayed on The Insiders (ABC TV).

Like the GV, an Australian-produced Arneis is still pretty rare, but K1 are doing both. A beautifully pale gold in colour, the wine looks particularly attractive in the long, slim K1 bottle with its elegantly understated black and gold label. The Arneis had apple and fig in the perfume, finishing with citrus. Largely no fruit on the palate, with the exception of peach, rather it tasted of almonds, herbs and flowers.

The Cab Temp is undeniably good. Spicy as well as chocolately, it has a satisfying but not daunting medium body and went well with the salted caramel chocolate two of the friends had brought with them from America. We had this wine on blankets on the grass around the pond, still in the beautifully big Plumm wine glasses (the full-bodied red wine ones).

 

2012 Baily & Baily King Valley Pinot Gris and Margaret River Chardonnay

Any wine grape that comes from a single vineyard and that’s suited to its terroir is set up with the best chance to succeed. That’s why I’ve enjoyed, from the ‘cheap’ shelves of Dan Murphy’s, Lismore, the Baily & Baily Folio series: 2012 King Valley Pinot Gris and Margaret River Chardonnay, because Baily & Baily choose ‘flagship varieties’, so they say, ‘from Australia’s premier wine regions’.

2012 Philip Shaw Orange The Gardner Pinot Gris and The Architect Chardonnay

The 2012 Philip Shaw Orange The Gardner Pinot Gris was grown at the Koomooloo vineyard which rises to a 900 m altitude. I bought it for just over $20 at Sawtell Hotel, NSW North Coast. Pale lemon in colour, it has lemon and pear in its perfume, with a combination of salt and white pepper on the palate, but, with food, becoming Very Vanilla. The image of the gardener on the label could be mistaken for a combat soldier or birdwatcher in camouflage, or a scarecrow – but not any gardener I’ve known.

The Architect Chardonnay, in the same series, is lemon-lime in colour, with honey-cinnamon stewed apple on the nose, and some of the velvet and apricot of warm-climate, wooded Chardonnay on the middle-to-long palate. Even though initially astringent, it still foreshadows some honey and marmalade. The architect image? A woman in peasant/servant clothing hauling, with a string, a whole Gothic household! (Sorry, don’t know the significance of this – but, at the very least, it seems kind of … feminist (?)).

Any wine grape, as with the above Philip Shaw, that comes from a single vineyard and that’s suited to its terroir is set up with the best chance to succeed. Orange, in western NSW, is looking very good.