2014 Vinaceous Salome WA Tempranillo Rosé , 2013 Estio La Purisima Rosado

Not able to be resisted are these two Rosés: a 2014 Vinaceous Salome WA Tempranillo Rosé made by Nick Stacey, and an equally terrific Spanish one, a 2013 Estio La Purisima Rosado made from Monastrell, Syrah and Merlot. Both of them very, very moreish. While the Vinaceous has a baroque label that includes a cabaret-side-show-alley look and a belly dancer, the Estio features gold stripes on its top, bottle neck and a spiral mosque dome on the label.

2013 Jules Taylor Marlborough Sav Blanc, 2013 Hunter's (Jane Hunter) Marlborough Chardonnay

This is really the best of NZ Sav Blancs. Elegant, not overdone, restrained. And the second is a 2013 Hunter's (Jane Hunter) Marlborough Chardonnay, with all the characteristics of a traditional Chardonnay that you'd want. Both, surprisingly, have very similar labels of ecu background and black print.

2011 Rosemount Riesling

Golden in colour, it has over-ripe pine in the perfume, with a little tartness that is also a little medicinal on a palate which has a lemon fizz/sherbet in the middle-to-end. It has a Barossa Valley address on the label. Under $15.

2013 Voyager Estate Margaret River Chenin Blanc

Chenin Blanc is the workhorse grape of volume wine production. But I really love it when produced well, in its dry form, so I'm glad to see that Voyager says it is 'close to [their] heart'. So pleasant do I find its drinking that it made my day when I saw it for the first time locally, at the Bangalow Cellars, Bangalow, NSW, Australia.

2012 Bordeaux Chateau De Cours and 2014 Cumulus Estate New South Wales Central Ranges Luna Rosa Rosado

Rosado is a lighter style made in a Portuguese tradition by a woman, Debbie Lauritz. But though the bottle features a pretty frilled-edge and colour-embossed label, the wine was too sweet – not all that sweet, for the web site says 'savoury style … with a touch of sweetness', just too sweet for me. The winery's site also recommends savoury food, but I would suggest dessert. By contrast, the Merlot-Cabernet Franc Chateau De Sours was too dry! And though that lovely salmon pink in colour, I expect with Rosé to have a sense of lusciousness and thence high drinkability, and not 'a long dry finish'. Just over and just unders $20.

 

2013 Viña Sol Catalunya White Wine

I am developing great respect for the Familia Torres Spanish wine makers. Their Cariñena Rosé is a scintillating, pretty much a to-die-for Rosé. Equally, their 2013 Viña Sol Catalunya White Wine is made from Parellada and Garnacha Blanca grapes. Light-to-mid gold in colour, its lovely perfume has notes of sweet, ripe citrus and warm cake, with a creamy pineapple and apple on the palate. Very, very drinkable. Available from the discerning Clunes Cellars/Wine Store whom I will ask to source more wine, probably from Torres, of these fragrant and delicious grapes. Just under $20. What I wouldn't do for a Garnacha Blana wine!

2010 Mt Benson Limestone Coast Wangolina Station Section 67 Semillon

If you want a Semillon that you can drink with pleasure, and yet never fear slipping out of adulthood back to childlikeness, the 2010 Mt Benson Limestone Coast Wangolina Station Section 67 Semillon is it. Mount Benson is a relatively new wine region situated between 'the coastal towns of Robe and Kingston in South Australia. This is sensuous and near-luscious Semillon. It smells of ripe pine, sweet soap and blossom. A clear, light gold in colour, in the mouth there's interest and length with corn, tang and fizz. A Semillon for adults who are uncomfortable being adults but don't want to admit it. The label combines a copper dot of W with classic, hand-writing and typewriter fonts; that sounds overwhelming, but works in black on white, creating interest, just the way the wine does.

2013 Rey del Mund Rias Baixas Albarino

We see lots of imports into Australia of Spanish wine. The 2013 Rey del Mund Rias Baixas Albarino is a startling gold in colour, the likes of which I haven't seen since viewing an old Chardi. You'd want that colour in a wedding ring, if you wanted a wedding ring at all. It has a dreamy, sweet pineapple perfume with an edge of looking-glass excitement, some sherbet in there too, and overall smelling like the sound of gold taffeta or silk swishing. On the palate it's crisp and fresh. You might have fish and chips happily with it. The label has black and gold baroque floral flourishes, but with a wild-west feel to the font style.

2014 McLaren Vale Hunt Chardonnay

I discovered a great Chardonnay recently for a very cheap price – but with limited availability under strange circumstances: the remainders of a 2014 McLaren Vale (South Australia) Chardonnay from Dowie Doole, exported by Tilley's Wines to the USA. It's a shame, because all of its features are attractive: in colour, a classic gold, but with the slightest of slightest pink tinges; the smell and palate intriguing, with fairy-floss, pine-lemon-lime in the former redolent of a sweet heaven, and a fantastical/whimsical edge on the latter of a high lemon-snow cliff-face, or peach. As a wine, it's carnivalesque sideshow alley without the agro. Tilley says they are recognised as a leading importer of characterful wines from small, family-run vineyards in McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills and Clare Valley. The label features the lovely leaping movement of a horse through the typeface of Hunt.

2010 Hunter Valley Brokenwood Mistress Block Vineyard Shiraz

The 2010 Hunter Valley Brokenwood Mistress Block Vineyard Shiraz's 'heaviness' as a bottle is in sync with its 'weightiness' as a shiraz. I am always on the lookout for 'smooth'. And although this has no aroma to speak of (Unless it is hay! And I love the smell of hay.), all is forgiven. But perhaps, on a revisit, there is a forceful fluttering of vanilla in aroma and on the palate. A faultless ruby colour with a slip-down palate. I can tell you: a red that you don't think about (in winter) as it falls effortlessly down the throat. My god: the definition of a gift. One could die and think: ok, all is good.

2013 Mad Fish Western Australia Pinot Noir

My most recent wine discovery is a very drinkable pinot noir at around $16. It's difficult to get a good pinot noir cheaply – but here it is: 2013 Mad Fish Western Australia Pinot Noir. Trust me, if you can, it's a drinkable pinot, and (relatively) cheap. The grapes are produced by Burch Family Wines from the cool climate Great Southern region of WA (pinot noir is traditionally produced in the cold), which equals the 'Porongurup ranges ... a small sub-region of cool climate elevated vineyards. The winters … are bitterly cold and the soils are extremely ancient … producing low yielding vines'. The colour is that clear red you'd recognise as pinot, with cherry and nuts in the perfume and honey and jam on the palate.

2014 La Vuelta Argentia Malbec Rosé

More black strokes on a white label can be found in the 2014 La Vuelta Malbec Rosé, the latest discovery in my competitive quest with my youngest to find great rosés. This Argentinian wine has a strand of vine curled on its label, is a pinkish blood-red, smells of cherry ripe, and slips down the throat like an effortless downhill run.

Vanasour New Zealand Pinot Gris

Pinot Gris is becoming so common that it no longer has a Palov's-dog effect of surprise. But Vanasour NZ Pinot Gris still makes you take notice. Clear and light in colour, with a very fine pink tinge. A strong coconut, guava perfume. Smooth and drinkable: initially lightly sweet, and, so, luscious, but dry going down the throat. It's so lovely that it's coming in second to my fave: Tar and Roses Pinot Grigio.

2014 One Road Adelaide Hills Chardonnay

A great growing place for Chardy is the Adelaide Hills. Eden Valley is near those hills, and anything from Padthaway we can take as great. Because of this provenance, the proprietary labelled 2014 One Road Chardonnay is very quaffable. A mid-gold in colour, it has an interestingly nutty perfume and long, textured palate which features savoury watermelon and light lemon. The label says Padthaway provides the stone-fruit flavour and Eden valley the citrus.

2014 Deep Woods Western Australia Chardonnay

I have talked about WA's very, very drinkable Deep Woods Rosé. For some wineries, all their work is good; for some, all not so good for me. And some are mixed. But Deep Woods is turning out to be an all-gooder, since their 2014 Chardonnay is also a very good-drinking, traditional Chardy. What I am trying to say is that with this you can't go wrong if you like a wooded Chardy.

2013 NZ Pencarrow Pinot Noir

I've just discovered a 2013 NZ Pencarrow Pinot Noir. I can claim neither explorer nor conquistador status for this discovery. I was at a tasting counter when a woman came approached, looked over the tasting bottles and chose discerningly what to try. She had the Pencarrow in hand – noticeable because of its vertical, centred label in grey. She said she had served it in n a restaurant on a regular basis. I knew I was on to a good thing – the affordance of anonymity, strangers and chance!

2015 Rogers & Rufus Rosè

I've found a Rogers & Rufus in a Northern Rivers bottle-shop: their 2015 Rosè. Rosè is all Rogers and Rufus make, and so far they haven't made a dud, and that includes the 2015. Although as I write this, I find I have only ever written up the 2011. The R&R Rosè had its first vintage in 2009, and I feel like I must have had the other, in-between vintages, familiar as I am with this wine. The 2015's most striking aspect is its very, very pale salmon-pink colour. And of course their good-looking bottle, with its (relatively) distinct cloth strip wrapped around the bottle's neck. As I said of the 2011, this has got to be one of the great Rosès. Only in press for one-four hours with fermentation from naturally occurring yeast, it, indeed has, as the website says, strawberries and cream and blood orange in a dry and textured wine. In the case of R&R, a Rosè is a Rosè is a Rosè.

 

2014 Toi Toi Marlbourough Hidden Treasure Pink Sauvignon

A recent oddity is a pink Sav Blanc, the 2014 Toi Toi Marlbourough Hidden Treasure Pink Sauvignon. A small amount of Pinot Noir wine was added to create the hue. Its perfume is a fairy-floss, with a base of grass as in a traditional Sav Blanc. Its colour is a traditional Rosé dark salmon pink. On the palate – well it's confusing: savoury toast and wheat. But a lovely thing to drink.  

2013 Glen Ewin Adelaide Hills Pinot Gris

On a trip to Adelaide we discovered a terrific – distinctively open and fresh – pink-tinged, easily priced 2013 Glen Ewin, Adelaide Hills, Pinot Gris. But I cannot find much info on it easily: it has slipped away, again, like a ghost imagined.

2015 Tar and roses Pinot Grigio

I have always sought out a pink Pinot Gris/Grigio since I tasted a Tasmanian one many years ago – 2010 – in the then newly opened National Wine Centre of Australia, Adelaide. It's like pursuing a dream, a spectre, a trace. One of my faves is Tar and roses Pinot Grigio. But the 2015 has changed on the palate, while still being a pale bronze, salmon rose, apricot pink, orange hinted extraordinary colour. The colour puce might smell like this wine: honey/mead and marshmallow. The honey/mead is repeated on the palate. It's drier than former years and my sister always thought it a little sweet. But it has become acidic, with some tannin, like an unripe tangerine or salted butterscotch/caramel. (Perhaps the winemakers, Don Lewis and Narelle King, are trying to match the wine with this latest craze = salted everything-formerly-sweet.)

2013 Hunky Dory Marlborough Pinot Gris

The 2013 Hunky Dory, a brand I hadn't seen before, Marlborough Pinot Gris, Gerwertztraminer and Riesling – is suitably sub-labelled The Tangle – and made by the Allan family. The idea of tangle is picked up in the motif of the label: a silhouette of a sleeping fisherperson, in a boat on a blue sea background. The wine had a lovely taste in the mouth: a sweetness, savoury and musk – a savoury musk stick. The palate followed in a similar fashion to the perfume of this 'light-white' coloured wine.

2014 Burns and Fuller Adelaide Hills Chardonnay

I am obsessed with trying Chardonnay from the Adelaide Hills because of one bottle I once had of Ashton Hills Chardonnay during the time of my father's decline. But a good one is elusive. While the 2014 Burns and Fuller Adelaide Hills Chardonnay has an ungainly, large black font featuring on the label with the Fuller the curve of the underlip of a half-smile, it is nevertheless is mid-gold in colour, with traditional apricot, and honey and coconut, in the perfume. It's a classic buttery Chardy, but it's a slated butter on the palate

2014 Rocca di Montemassi Calasole Vermentino

The 2014 Rocca di Montemassi Calasole Vermentino is low-key for a Verms. Some might think it smells of something unmentionable. But one could also think of coconut and nuts. A very, very light Verm in the mouth – so much so that one could mistake it for Riesling. The label is in a soft baby-blue, but otherwise unremarkable except for the cap the top of which repeats the blue with a white castle silhouette. This is a very underplayed Vermentino with no hint of depth or lusciousness.

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