2015 Tar and roses Pinot Grigio

I have always sought out a pink Pinot Gris/Grigio since I tasted a Tasmanian one many years ago – 2010 – in the then newly opened National Wine Centre of Australia, Adelaide. It's like pursuing a dream, a spectre, a trace. One of my faves is Tar and roses Pinot Grigio. But the 2015 has changed on the palate, while still being a pale bronze, salmon rose, apricot pink, orange hinted extraordinary colour. The colour puce might smell like this wine: honey/mead and marshmallow. The honey/mead is repeated on the palate. It's drier than former years and my sister always thought it a little sweet. But it has become acidic, with some tannin, like an unripe tangerine or salted butterscotch/caramel. (Perhaps the winemakers, Don Lewis and Narelle King, are trying to match the wine with this latest craze = salted everything-formerly-sweet.)

2013 Hunky Dory Marlborough Pinot Gris

The 2013 Hunky Dory, a brand I hadn't seen before, Marlborough Pinot Gris, Gerwertztraminer and Riesling – is suitably sub-labelled The Tangle – and made by the Allan family. The idea of tangle is picked up in the motif of the label: a silhouette of a sleeping fisherperson, in a boat on a blue sea background. The wine had a lovely taste in the mouth: a sweetness, savoury and musk – a savoury musk stick. The palate followed in a similar fashion to the perfume of this 'light-white' coloured wine.

2014 Burns and Fuller Adelaide Hills Chardonnay

I am obsessed with trying Chardonnay from the Adelaide Hills because of one bottle I once had of Ashton Hills Chardonnay during the time of my father's decline. But a good one is elusive. While the 2014 Burns and Fuller Adelaide Hills Chardonnay has an ungainly, large black font featuring on the label with the Fuller the curve of the underlip of a half-smile, it is nevertheless is mid-gold in colour, with traditional apricot, and honey and coconut, in the perfume. It's a classic buttery Chardy, but it's a slated butter on the palate

2014 Rocca di Montemassi Calasole Vermentino

The 2014 Rocca di Montemassi Calasole Vermentino is low-key for a Verms. Some might think it smells of something unmentionable. But one could also think of coconut and nuts. A very, very light Verm in the mouth – so much so that one could mistake it for Riesling. The label is in a soft baby-blue, but otherwise unremarkable except for the cap the top of which repeats the blue with a white castle silhouette. This is a very underplayed Vermentino with no hint of depth or lusciousness.

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2014 Triennes Rosè

The 2014 Triennes Rosè, Nans les Pins, France, from winemakers Jacques Seysses and Aubert de Villaine, has a sweet red-jube perfume, and, on the palate, is something like … well, soda water! Most annoyingly, I had to go to the website to see the grape varieties: Cinsault blended with Grenache, Syrah and Merlot. Though it looks beautiful in its soft, light-pink salmon, I would not return to it for flavour.

 

Aimery Brut Grane Curvee Cremant de Limoux ...

is a very drinkable champagne, and I'd be comfortable brining it to any party. Chardonnay , Mauzac  (I don't know this grape) and Chenin Blanc ( I love this grape). Matured two years before release. Made in traditional method.

2013 Wills Domain Margaret River Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

Part of my Christmas 2014 buying. And drinkable. But not very lush. Perhaps will not rush to return to it. 'Delightfully crisp' says the label: yes, but perhaps a little too severe.