Cat among the Pigeons Eden Valley Riesling

I regularly say that Clare Valley Riesling will always be great. Well, Cat Among the Pigeons Eden Valley is also terrif. It smells of sweet pea/lavender/soft green grass, or juicy sweet peas from the garden. Gosh, what a phenomenon: fresh peas from the garden! It is not easy to get fresh peas in the pod anymore. Sometimes I think I last had them last in the Jurassic. Cat Among the Pigeons Riesling is pale-gold melon in colour. The palate is tart, but pleasingly so. It would go well with fish. A great Rielsing: superb, sophisticated, well-crafted. And for the price: exceptional. Elegant. Seriously, someone has come upon a simple gown for the Oscars that is a knockout.

 

 

2018 Jim Barry Clare Valley Assryticko

I was in Adelaide for a specific purpose, to which I added several more specific purposes, one of which was to get a bottle of Jim Barry's 2018 Clare Valley Assryticko (indigenous to Santorini; Dan Murphy's has a good, Greek one), because his is the only planting in Australia, and because his vines burnt down this year. Success at East End Cellars. A restrained and elegant label for the 2018. The colour of pure, clean, barely there lemon; a soft vanilla-briny, edge-of-peanut-brittle perfume; and a palate of drinking-summer. It's enough. (I could say more, but because it is enough, I won't. Although I will say: drinking on my Mum's (Joyce) birthday.)