2012 Five Friends Orange Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

The 2012 Five Friends Orange Semillon Sauvignon Blanc was further evidence for me that Orange provides one of the most distinctively terroir-driven portfolios of wines in the country. The SB retained its grassy character, so my drinking partner and I both loved it, though I got a headache (he didn’t). (I tend not to rebuy headache-driven wines because they always fulfil their promise.)

2012 KI Gruner Veltliner, 2011 KI Arneis, 2009 KI Cabernet Tempranillo

I was on the deck of the cellar door of the K1 winery, Kupito (pronounced ky-po), on the margins of McLaren Vale, SA, late 2012. On the table were two platters of local food – relishes, cheeses, meats, crackers – and around the table were friends and friends of friends. Also on the table, or coming to it, were a bottle of NV Sparkling Salmon ($28), a 2012 Gruner Veltliner ($28), a 2011 Arneis ($22) and a 2009 Cabernet Tempranillo ($20).

Smells of pomegranate said one friend of the Salmon, while another said strawberries. Salmon red in colour, it had deep red roses on the palate. A third friend said it brought to mind one of the best descriptions of wine ever: it slipped down like a baby Jesus in red velvet jeans. That third friend said the Gruner was like embroidered lederhosen. But for me Gruner Veltliner has a clear, cold-water quality. Another friend said it was like gold kiwi fruit, and edelweiss too. He also noted the misspelling of terroir (as terrior) on the bottle, which reminded me of the misspelling of daiquiris (as daiquiri’s) on the federal parliamentary Liberal Party’s Christmas party invitation displayed on The Insiders (ABC TV).

Like the GV, an Australian-produced Arneis is still pretty rare, but K1 are doing both. A beautifully pale gold in colour, the wine looks particularly attractive in the long, slim K1 bottle with its elegantly understated black and gold label. The Arneis had apple and fig in the perfume, finishing with citrus. Largely no fruit on the palate, with the exception of peach, rather it tasted of almonds, herbs and flowers.

The Cab Temp is undeniably good. Spicy as well as chocolately, it has a satisfying but not daunting medium body and went well with the salted caramel chocolate two of the friends had brought with them from America. We had this wine on blankets on the grass around the pond, still in the beautifully big Plumm wine glasses (the full-bodied red wine ones).

 

2012 Baily & Baily King Valley Pinot Gris and Margaret River Chardonnay

Any wine grape that comes from a single vineyard and that’s suited to its terroir is set up with the best chance to succeed. That’s why I’ve enjoyed, from the ‘cheap’ shelves of Dan Murphy’s, Lismore, the Baily & Baily Folio series: 2012 King Valley Pinot Gris and Margaret River Chardonnay, because Baily & Baily choose ‘flagship varieties’, so they say, ‘from Australia’s premier wine regions’.

2012 Philip Shaw Orange The Gardner Pinot Gris and The Architect Chardonnay

The 2012 Philip Shaw Orange The Gardner Pinot Gris was grown at the Koomooloo vineyard which rises to a 900 m altitude. I bought it for just over $20 at Sawtell Hotel, NSW North Coast. Pale lemon in colour, it has lemon and pear in its perfume, with a combination of salt and white pepper on the palate, but, with food, becoming Very Vanilla. The image of the gardener on the label could be mistaken for a combat soldier or birdwatcher in camouflage, or a scarecrow – but not any gardener I’ve known.

The Architect Chardonnay, in the same series, is lemon-lime in colour, with honey-cinnamon stewed apple on the nose, and some of the velvet and apricot of warm-climate, wooded Chardonnay on the middle-to-long palate. Even though initially astringent, it still foreshadows some honey and marmalade. The architect image? A woman in peasant/servant clothing hauling, with a string, a whole Gothic household! (Sorry, don’t know the significance of this – but, at the very least, it seems kind of … feminist (?)).

Any wine grape, as with the above Philip Shaw, that comes from a single vineyard and that’s suited to its terroir is set up with the best chance to succeed. Orange, in western NSW, is looking very good.

2009 Gentlemen's Agreement Heathcote Viognier; 2011 Bridgewater Mill Adelaide Hills Chardonnay; 2011 Bird in Hand Pinot Rosé; 2012 Airdre.450; Ashton Hills

As a change from the $10-or-under wines from Dan Murphy's in Lismore, I decided to try a random selection for under $15.

The best of this chance choice as a 2009 Gentlemen's Agreement Heathcote Viognier. Viognier for me is the Chardonnay you have when you're not having Chardonnay. It's fruity (apricot-y) and has depth with a warm, creamy mouthful. Oddly enough, when I looked closely at the label, it as a wine made for Dan Murphy's by Bruce Tyrrell. The label perhaps should have been an indication: black print on parchment white, with imitative handwriting on the back.

I picked up a 2011 Bridgewater Mill, Adelaide Hills, Chardonnay thinking it as a Bethany, with a little voice inside telling me that it was cheap for Bethany. Never ignore that little voice. Nevertheless this as a very pleasant, drinkable Chardonnay.

The rest of my chance choices were forgettable, including a more expensive ($20) 2011 Bird in Hand Pinot Rosé which friends had said was good. That little, ignorable voice was telling me they may have meant the sparkling. And one of my sisters was coming to stay, and we usually compete over finding good Rosés. But it was undistinguished.

Taking that sister to Ballina airport meant stopping at Aldi to pick up supplies. The Ballina Aldi has a small liquor outlet. I expected to find exotics like a South African Chenin Blanc, but found a Chardonnay from the Adelaide Hills, 2012 Airdre.450, Airdre meaning altitude, for under $5, made for Aldi. This, also, was very drinkable.

I keep chasing what is now a mythic Adelaide Hills Chardonnay made by Ashton Hills, that I drank with my partner and mother and father, not long before my father's death, at the Uraidla Aristologist (once upon a time, too, run by the famous foodies Michael Symons & Jenifer Helliers). If you ever see an Ashton Hills (a rare sight!), do try it: they're delicious, stunning, and unforgettable.

 

 

 

Taylors Vermentino

While this smells of sweet lemon sherbet, it falls away on the palate to something much less exotic. I am used to Vermentio as mid-to full-bodied, and this tastes more like an Australian sav blanc or pinot grigio or reisling.