The Lane Vineyard Block 2 Adelaide Hills Pinot Gris.

A recent great-pleasure-wine-drinking experience came from a Christmas gift: The Lane Vineyard Block 2 Adelaide Hills Pinot Gris. It’s pale in colour, with a hint of pink tinge in its yellowness, a beautiful perfume of barely there musk and pineapple, and subtle sweet pea. There’s a sense of fizz/sugar-spun in the mouth like a waterfall, river run, froth and swirl. It would be a good slow-drinking wine with friends in summer in a hotel garden or by the sea. ‘Drink it in’ says the label. And I think that. At the bottom of that label, there’s a little square of the latter two numbers of the year in silver.

 

2015 Mirabeau en Provence Rosé

The Australian Rosé revolution is in full swing (bottle shops devoting whole shelves to it), and it might be time for me to suggest/start a new one: either Chenin Blanc or Fiano based. But before that, here is another to try. Mirabeau en Provence 2015, made by an Australian couple gone France-ward. Syrah and Grenache based, it’s a pale but bronzed pink with a jube-ish smell of vanilla, strawberries, and cream and a dry palate. It has been a gold winner at the International Wine Challenge. On the label, and the cap top, birds flutter over a vine, possibly mimicking common shapes, but normally you’d not want birds with grape vines!