La La Land Vermentio

 La La Land Vermention  2021: if you are looking for the home of Vermentiono aka the best Vermention aka Sardinia but can't find it, then try this La La Land Vermentiono. It is mild gold in colour, mild strong on the palate  and just beautiful and easy to drink. Does not have a strong aroma, maybe some light pear. But very full and oily on the palate. 

M Chapoutier La Ciboise 2022

As a blend of Grenache Blanc, Vermentino, Viognier and Roussanne, this wine ticks all of the boxes of deliciousness. Very, very pale yellow-gold in colour, but it must have some gold because of the Vermentino, and Roussane. 

In perfume it is white velvet if such a frabic had a perfume, with a very, very subtle hint ot pineapple and ... pear? 

On the palate it has a sense of water, given the Grenache Blanc, but as it warms it picks up the depth offered by the other varietals. At $19 from @Thirsty Camel @ The Bush Inn, Deloraine, Tasmania. 

Ricca Terra Fiano 2022

 Sings a golden song on the high palate. Smells of the sea. A surprisingly goldish colour. Small batch  Natural yeast. Ricca Terra. Angaston, Australia. Bought at Love Lucy Boots, discerning about food and wine. 

Fermoy Margaret River Rosé 2023

 Smells of strawberry honey, toffee, and some metallic influence: what does bronze smell like but in a subtle, non-overpowering way? A beautiful pink/gold-new bronze colour. The palate is extraordinary because this Rose is a field blend: '67% Shiraz; 14% Semillon; 9% Cabernet Sauvignon; 6% Chardonnay; 4% Pinot Noir.' It's like nothing I have tasted before in a Rosé. Refreshing. Fruit residual. Intriguing. Very dry overall. Very, very interesting. Good food wine because of its dryness. 

Ribolla Gialla Russolo

 Another big wine. golden. Nuts and apricot in perfume. Big palate which if difficult to know what to do with. On line it at least says pizza: which means tomato, yes? 

Primeur Bangaran Rose

 Now on to a 'natural' wine that if I fully realised that it was natural I would never have bought it. Dear goddesses, save me from natural wine. 2021 Primeur Bangarang which appears to be a Domaine Mosse, expensive and highly praised on website, but for me THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES. Goddess, it it's like drinking flavoured water. But ... I am Moira Rose, "This wine is aw-ful. Give me another glass." https://www.tiktok.com/@twoguys.../video/7195608822118059310)

Picollo Ernesto 2017 Gavi.

 Gavi + a new grape to me that I don't understand. Smells of nuts and suppressed apricot. Very golden in colour. Very strong palate: don't know what food it would suit. Some strong fish: but what? I get that it might be described as elegant. But much more difficult to understand than Semillon. I won't be chasing it. Picollo Ernesto 2017 Gavi.

Josef chromy Tasmania Pinot Noir 2019

 That traditionally beautiful  see-through rose red pinot noir. Smells of salt and sand with come cherry. On the palate it is very dry. A kind of salty sense there too. It's not what I think of as smooth or luscious, thought I know Pinots are not the latter. A little shallow. 

Blustery Banks Rose

 A Tasmanian Rose Blustery Banks, at Muse, Shearwater, Tasmania: lightly tarnished copper in colour, smelling of honey and saltwater, very dry and even tart on the palate:.

Derard Boulay 2018 Chavignol Sancerre

 You could smell the Sancerre as soon as it was poured into the glass. A very soft rose/lavender perfume. In the glass it also has some citrus.  Pale lemon in colour, with a touch of lime, the way limes can be lemon-skinned on tree in long/late ripening. Extraordinary palate of a milky, edged-citrus, later picking up the lavender/floral.  A beautifully subtle and sophisticated wine. 

2019 Nerissimo Puglia Verdeca

 It is always great to go to a new place and discover a new wine ... in an ordinary bottle shop. Here in Port Macquarie it's Nerissimo Verdeca Pugilia 2019. "Verdeca is a famous white varietal native to Pugilia."

Purator Sicilia  2018 Catarratto Pinot Grigio

recycled bottle, parer label, organic wine.  Catarraztto is also indigenous to Sicily. 

Palates: reminiscent of salt water. 

2019 Colpasso Sicillane Fiano + Sardinian Vermentino

This Fiano for me is odd: tart and watery. I think I will stick to Australian versions: Coriole and Elephant in the Room. In King's Cross, Sydney, in the piazza of the El Alamein Fountain, I discovered a restaurant with Vermentino, from Sardinia, and decided it was the best provider of Vermentino ever. In fact, 'Vermentino di Sardegna' is a wine DOC used on the Italian island of Sardinia.

2018 Yalumba Y Series Viognier

A beautiful, clear bright golden colour, it smells of pear, lemon and peanut, and it's like drinking cotton on the end palate. I hope I recognise Viognier in a blind tasting: softer than Vermentino, more romantic. Not a forcefield, though impactful nevertheless, maybe it's an Elizabeth Bennett grape.

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.)

2016 Campagnola Vigneti Monte Foscarino Le Bine Soave Classico

I've had a rare sighting of a Soave, this time in our local bottle shop: the 2016 Campagnola Vigneti Monte Foscarino Le Bine Soave Classico. Soave is a comune (equivalent to a township or municipality) of the Veneto region, Verona province, northern Italy. In Italy, permitted grape varieties in a particular place are specified under its Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG: controlled designation of origin). So the name of the place stands in for the name of the grape grown, primarily Garganega. Though Soave itself is principally Garganega, it can also be combined with Trebbiano di Soave (Verdicchio), Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco (Chenin Blanc) and Trebbiano (Ungi Blanc) Toscano. So Soave, and not Garganega, will be prominently on the imported bottles' front label.

Australia's appellation system for wine-growing areas is its Geographical Indications(GIs), recognising super zones, zones, regions and subregions. The zones and regions are mapped geographical spaces where several varieties of grapes, both red and white, are grown, depending, of course, on geographical and climatic conditions. In Australia, we don't say 'McLaren Vale is a … wine', the way 'Soave' is said to be a dry, white wine in The Oxford companion to Wine. McLaren Vale is a wine region. While the place is most often named on an Australian wine bottle's label, that place doesn't necessarily stand for only a single grape variety. Nevertheless, there is a burgeoning sense of links between place and variety, such as Riesling in the Clare Valley.

The 2016 Campagnola Soave has custard and pear in its perfume, but with something a little awkward like over-ripe fruit. A beautiful, medium-to-deep gold in colour, on the palate there is lovely pine which right at the end has an unusual touch of sweetness. While not a sweet wine, the 2016 Campagnola would go well with dessert. Certainly not fish. I was having whiting on the night, and planning to drink the Soave, but desisted.

2016 Mas Des Bressades Costières de Nîmes Cuvée Tradition Vin Blanc

Grenache Blanc is still relatively rare to see it in an Australian bottle shop. But it is the most delicious of grapes. Usually, it will be a wine from the South of France, or from Spain. The 2016 Mas Des Bressades Costières de Nîmes Cuvée Tradition Vin Blanc is a combination of Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier. What a delicious combination! It has a musk and vanilla perfume and vanilla on the most untroublesome, drink-downable palate.

Andrew Peace Masterpeace Rosé wine

The Andrew Peace Masterpeace Rosé wine is a cheap goodie. Bronze/lucozade in colour, with an interesting, mixed perfume of mixed roses, vanilla and jam. I found from the internet that it was from Swan Hill, Victoria, and it appears to be made from Shiraz and Sangiovese.

2016 Miraval Côtes De Provence Rosé

The 2016 Miraval Côtes De Provence Rosé comes in a beautiful bottle, much like the bottom half of the Venus of Willendorf Prehistoric Mother Goddess Statue, and is a beautiful colour in bronze pink, and has liquorice or anise and honey in perfume and on the palate, but it is medicinal and non-luscious, and not cheap. Made from Cinsault, Grenache, Syrah, and Rolle.

2017 Yarra Valley GS Pinot Noir

The 2017 Yarra Valley GS Pinot Noir is a traditional semi-transparent ruby red, and has jam in its n perfume. The smooth palate has some length.