2016 Vinoque Yalla Valley Nebbiolo Rosé

Nebbiolo is unusual grape to use for Rosé, but that seems to be the way things are heading for Rosé-making: think Rosemount’s 100% Chambourcin Rosé success. The 2016 Vinoque Yalla Valley Nebbiolo Rosé is from De Bortoli’a Dixon’s Creek estate planted in 2007. De Bortoli are usually a sure bet for Rosé. While gorgeously pale, bronze pink in colour, its palate is a little too sharp and tart for me. Exciting to see, nevertheless, especially with its elegant, spare label in black-and-white with bronze pink for the branding.

2015 Lightfoot & Sons Myrtle Point Pinot Noir

Another disappointment for the price was the 2015 Lightfoot & Sons Myrtle Point Pinot Noir. So, as a result, I’ve yet to relive my long-ago Gippsland experience of terrific Pinot Noir. While ticking all the quality-ensuring boxes – single vineyard, wild ferment, unfined and unfiltered – I was unmoved. 

The Stag Yarra Valley 2016 Chardonnay from St Huberts

The single engaging aspect the aroma of The Stag Yarra Valley 2016 Chardonnay from St Huberts is its soft, ripe peach, alongside, for this drinker, something more unsavoury, off-putting and unmentionable. It’s typically gold in colour, but, in this case, milder. And though it has classic stone fruit on the palate, it’s also a little severe. Nevertheless, with a deep and rich palate, again it would be good with fried or roast chicken. Overall, though, it’s disappointing for the price. 

Sigurd 2015 Fjörd Adelaide Hills Chardonnay

Daniel Graham’s Sigurd 2015 Fjörd Adelaide Hills Chardonnay would be glorious with food, though the food would have to be equally bold (maybe Southern-fried chicken), for the Chardy, bold in its goldy-gold colour, has a bold, textured palate of ginger and vanilla with a memory of the traditional peach/apricot which zipped out of the opened bottle as its perfume, and the stone fruit being underscored by cinnamon. Daniel Graham, like Jared Dixon of Jilly wines, are part of a cork-and-wax revolution, returning bottles of wine to their traditional packaging. This Sigurd Chardi’s label mimics the Adelaide Hills in high summer with a yellow sky, as if in early sunset, as a backdrop to white/pink hills, on a stout, dark and heavy bottle.

2015 Andrew Pearce Masterpiece Victorian Rose

The 2015 Andrew Pearce Masterpiece Victorian Rose smells more vegetal than floral. It is pink-tinged tomato in colour. On the palate, it also has a touch of Turkish delight. But being acidic, tart as well as dry, it is not absolutely luscious.

2013 Vine Keeper Hunter Valley Verdelho

I've always thought of Verdelho as autumnal – an in-between season – perhaps because of the onomatopoeia in the words, but perhaps also because Verdelho is usually thought of as thick and rich, like a buttery, wooded Chardonnay. But a Verdelho with an angelic lightness – a soft coconut on the palate – comes from the Hunter Valley (the 'home' of Verdelho, along with Queensland's Granite Belt): Vine Keeper 2013. The label has enough distinction to make it noticeable: the top rough-edged, but the whole in predominantly pea-soup green and white, with grey touches, and a grape vine stretching out into the air. With vine and rose images on the back, the label notes this is a long-term vegetal coupling. If the roses thrive, so will the vines.

2015 south Australian Jerico Fiano

One definition of impossible for me is going past a Fiano I have not tired (equally a Chenin Blanc). This distinctive Fiano has a perfume of banana, perhaps musky and milky, custard-like and elderflower-ish. This gold Fiano's robust palate is creamy, textured and long. It might be good with truffle, pumpkin or chicken risotto.

Fontanet Less Terrasses Rosé and Grenache Blanc

So a great Rosé I have come across, a French import, though nevertheless from a local bottle shop, is the Fontanet Less Terrasses. On front page of the website at http://www.fontanet.nl/, you can see the exact colour: what Lucozade used to look like: neon orange! Once again, neither year nor exact French region nor grape varieties are on the bottle, but the website says Languedoc-Roussillon, and Syrah and Grenache. Further Internet information says it is produced specifically in Saint Saturnin and grapes include Carrignan and Cinsault. The perfume is gorgeous, with strawberries, cream and Turkish delight. Because of the colour, I thought of the delightful the palate was blood orange. The white from the same label is not nearly as nice – even though it is a Grenache Blanc, a grape I adored when I first tasted it in a Spanish wine.

2013 The Bold as Brass Currency Creek Tempranillo

I do sometimes think that some grape varieties never disappoint, Tempranillo being one of these. Can Tempranillo ever be bad? Well, definitely not when it's from the Barossa. The Bold as Brass (a brand of Pinnacle Drinks) Currency Creek (I thought it had no year, which is very annoying, but relooking at the bottle for this column, I've just seen the 2013 crammed in the lower corner of one black-and-white stripe) smells smoky, cigar-ish, nutty. The colour is the usual gorgeous ruby-regal red. The smooth palate would match a light-ish red meat, or red beans. 

2014 Margaret River Si. Vinters is a Semillon-Chardonnay

The 2014 Margaret River Si. Vinters is a Semillon-Chardonnay blend. Given the varieties, it's a distinct gold in colour. It has a honeyed perfume. And while it retains the studied severity of Semillon, that is softened by the Chardy. Si. Vinters has reinvigorated my appreciation for this blend, because, as one website says, they're 'easy bedfellows' for 'complexity, ready consumption and interest'. Of note is that part of its fermentation took place in that alternative and newly revived container, concrete eggs related to ancient fermentation vessels, and it is an unfined, unfiltered wine.

2015 Simão & Co. King Valley and Glenrowan white

A drinking companion and I tasted a 2015 King Valley and Glenrowan white from a label new to me: Simão & Co. According to the website, Simão is the Portuguese interpretation of Simon, the winemaker, who has worked in Portuguese vineyards. It's an odd label of white polka-dots on pale blue. This blend of Riesling, Sav Blanc and Gewurtztraminer is very pale in colour, with a subtle nose that's fairy-floss sweet. On the palate, it's dry and crisp, with cleansing citrus from the Riesling. My drinking companion said the lychee of the Sav Blanc comes through, but it's not a New Zealand Sav Blanc. It's sharp, although tastier as it warms, but it remains astringent, with a long palate, but not as exciting as I would expect such a blend to be. It's probably a food wine, for crab perhaps.

2015 Margaret River Pennington Estate Rosé

I drank, with pleasure, a 2015 Margaret River Pennington Estate Rosé at a local hotel, that's a lovely crimson colour. There's honey, melon and nut in the perfume and honey and cream on the palate. A dry Rosé that is mouth-filling and delicious. 

Stoneligh Rosé

Many of you would know the New Zealand Stoneleigh label for its Sav Blanc. But I came across its Rosé in a local bottle shop. Being Pinot-Noir based, usually a very reliable variety for Rosé, it has a lovely salmon colour and smells of strawberries and cream, expected too, but on the palate it’s a bit like cold tea and it isn't quite sure if it's sweet or dry

Chalmers 2015 Montevecchio Bianco

I found Chalmers 2015 Montevecchio Bianco at a local restaurant. Chalmers have a vineyard in Colbinabbi, in the Heathcote region. Chalmers planted vines there in only 2009, but this range started producing in 2011. If anyone asked, I'd say, yes, Chalmers are a reliable label, though I've only drunk the Vermentino and Fiano – separately. The Montevecchio Bianco is blended from both, with a small percentage of Moscato Giallo. Faulkner, quoted on the Chalmers website, says that the vineyard's strong identifier is that it has a 'diversity of plantings [of] Italian varieties'. The Bianco is aromatic, yet clean and dry, in a workable combination. It's strange that the Chalmers website has no link to the Montevecchio one.

2014 Harcourt Valley Grenache Rosé

'The site represents the future': so says the ever-interesting Australian wine critic, Jane Faulkner, referring to the Heathcote wine region in Victoria. That region is my big discovery this month, and in particular Harcourt Valley Grenache Rosé. It's one of the best Rosés I've ever drunk: very quaffable, said a friend. The 2014 is near-ripe tomato in colour, with the smell of oats, and a delicious, dry palate. Though only around $20, the label says Harcourt Valley Vineyards produce, in a boutique, family-based business, premium wines in small batches. The winemakers are Barb, Quinn and Kye Livingstone. The label is memorable: a tree in gloss black, the vineyard name, then the tree roots in matt brown, all on a white label. Unfortunately their website doesn't work for me when I go to the selection of individual styles under 'Wines'.

Oltretorrente Cortese

In Oltretorrente Cortese Colli Tortonesi, Oltretorrente is the company and Cortese the grape (south-east Italian grape, Piedmont). I worked this out from the website, because it's difficult to tell from the label which is partly unreadable because of tiny, orange text. It is almost the colour of lemon water, with nut in the aroma and some pear and lemon there too. It's clean, light and refreshing on the palate. You'd want quite simple food: peanuts or a light fish like whiting, or maybe steamed chicken, maybe pesto pasta, or spinach and fetta pastries. It's delightful in its lightness and freshness. There's no year on the label, but the profile of a man's face.  

Konpira Maru's Garga Nola

Konpira Maru's Garga Nola is made with Garganega (Soave) and Noisola (northern Italian grape, Trentino). I would have expected to like this because of the Soave, but, of the two wines, the Vermentino and Garga Nola, the Verm is the better. The GN is again a little cloudy but nevertheless gold in colour, has a perfume of dense mead and honey, but I found it Retsina-like on the palate. This label features white on red.

2014 Spanish Lovers Not Toreadors Ribera Del Duero Rosé

2014 Spanish Lovers Not Toreadors Ribera Del Duero Rosé's colour is very overripe-fruit red and it smells of late-picked strawberries too. It's dry and good with food. It's a kind of work-horse Rosé, too dry to be luscious. José Moro is the winemaker.

2015 Derwent Estate Rosé and 2015 Tasmanian Moorilla Rosé

The Tasmanian 2015 Derwent Estate Rosé is made from Pinot Noir grown on limestone soil. A little red boat is a feature on a relatively clean and elegant label. It's blood red in colour with strawberries and cream in its perfume. It's dry but nevertheless luscious on the palate, with strawberries and then some cream repeated. The 2015 Tasmanian Moorilla Rosé has a cheesy, milky perfume with red roses too. It's a beautiful pink-red colour underpinned with a soft salmon pink. Quite dry, but that softens with food.

2014 Bertaine et Fils Vallee de L'Aude Rosé

The 2014 Bertaine et Fils Vallee de L'Aude Rosé comes from the foothills of the Pyrenees. The label says it is the famous French style of Rosé: 'romantic and sweetly perfumed with elegant light berry flavours and lingering only on a soft, dry finish'. This is a deep salmon pink in colour, with musk in the perfume. There is a sense of sweetness on the palate but what I mean by this is: dry but cute. The label is done in old-style Parisienne block black print, as if from the 19thC, and looking newspaper-ish, on a big, square bordered white label.

2015 Philip Shaw Orange Pink Billy Saignée

The 2015 Philip Shaw Orange Pink Billy Saignée has a beautifully simple label in textured white paper with a pink 'Billy' in running writing. (Unfortunately there's a naked woman on the back, something like old French nudes – but not enough like them!) The label does not name the grape/s (which is annoying), except for 'the use of our best red', but the website info is that Shiraz and Merlot predominate, with small amounts of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, coming from the Koolmooloo vineyard with an altitude above 900 m. It's tomato in colour, tinged by orange bronze. Orange is in the perfume, with cinnamon, and ending in strawberry. Very Marella jube in flavour. Not necessarily a great Rosé that'd I'd look out for again.

2014 McPherson Lucie's Promise Rosé

The 2014 McPherson Lucie's Promise Rosé is dry, although my drinking companion said fruity. However, I wouldn't repeat-buy it. McPherson wines are located on the Murray-Darling near Goulburn.

2013 Jospeh Chromy Gewürztraminer

Gewürztraminer is a variety that currently features in Tasmanian wines. The 2013 Jospeh Chromy Gewürztraminer is a clear pale lemon in colour with a fine orange perfume that also includes vanilla and marshmallow. On the palate, it's light but delicious. The label is a little affected, with a regal lion, fork-tailed which is the coat of arms of Bohemia. (Chromy fled Czechoslovakia during encroaching communism.) Otherwise, the label is simply elegant in black, white and gold. The 2015 Spring Vale Gewürztraminer is a beautifully clear pale lime-lemon in colour, and smells of pear with a tinge of coconut. In a tasting, it was dry. But in a larger gulp (sold in a ¾ bottle to be precise), it came across as a little sweet. My drinking companion said not, but, rather, fruity and spicy if anything. It would be good wine with quince paste, or marron which is a sweetish shell fish.

2015 Sigurd White Barossa Valley Blend

The 2015 Sigurd White Barossa Valley Blend by young winemaker Daniel Graham is a combination of Gewürztraminer (Springton), Marsanne (Lyndoch) and Gargenega or Soave (Mt Crawford). The mixture is well judged and finely balanced, which is proving to be a characteristic of Graham's wines (His Sigurd GSM is a fine, smooth wine). Wild fermented, and unfiltered/unfined, it's the most extraordinary colour: think medieval mead and, if you can hallucinate, you might think of pink. Further, you might think of a white-pink gold. The perfume is of toffee, jube, honey, maybe some caramel or even liquorice. And on the palate it's Scheherazade telling stories, not overnight but on a summer afternoon, with the smell of salt water from the Persian Gulf or Caspian Sea. This is an extraordinary wine, something of a revelation that is entirely about pleasure. Think of silken sherbet, gold brocade, white curtains shifting in the breeze, and you have the idea.