2016 Domaine Costa Lazaridi Assyrtiko

Several years ago I read the Australian wine critic Max Allen introduce the pleasures of the Greek grape Assyrtiko. And I have finally found a bottle of this wine in a Northern Rivers bottle shop! The 2016 Domaine Costa Lazaridi Assyrtiko is summer in a bottle, making you think of a Greek island in that season or, equally, an Australian beach. Though with a strong, aroma of musk guava, on the palate it is like drinking summer! Assyrtiko is being grown in Australia by Jim Barry of Clare Valley, with a 2017 available online … for a hefty price. 

016 Mount MacLeod (Leongatha, Gippsland) Pinot Noir

As with a wealthy, single man in need of a wife, it is a truth universally acknowledged, that Gippsland will never fail a drinker in need of a good Pinot Noir. The 2016 Mount MacLeod (Leongatha, Gippsland) Pinot Noir is a not-quite-opaque red, with a floral perfume and smooth palate. Look for a too-busy label frame of green fern/vine mix.

016 Gérard Bertrand Cote de Roses (Languedoc) white (blanc)

The 2016 Gérard Bertrand Cote de Roses (Languedoc) white (blanc) – and a Rosé is also around. They come in fantastically elegant bottles with long, thin necks, a paper rose at those necks, a glass stopper and a bubbled base ('in the shape of a rose, created by a young designer from the Ecole Boulle'). It's equally fantastic – and I mean that descriptor literally (mainly because a Grenache Blanc wine is so rare in Oz) – to see the white made of Grenache (Blanc), Vermentino and Viognier. Irresistible creamy, buttery drinking in a bright gold. 

2017 Meraki Rosé Karadoc, Victoria; Palm (Chateau) de l’Escarelle Provence Rosé; 016 Brini McLaren Vale Rosé

2017 Meraki Rosé from Karadoc, Victoria, except that it is a new label by the Zilzie company. Meraki is Greek and has to do with love, soul and creativity. This is a Shiraz- and Sangiovese-based Rosé with rose in the perfume, and lusciousness on the palate which, in this case, means a sweet edge. 

The  non-dated Palm (Chateau) de l’Escarelle Provence Rosé is very pale pink in colour, with traditional strawberries and cream in perfume with a stern and elegant palate. It has a beautifully simple, white label with a single palm frond in gold, and text in a matt grey. 

The 2016 Brini McLaren Vale Rosé, Grenache-based, is Lucozade in colour, while, again, smelling of strawberries and cream, and being very dry. The label is white featuring a pinkish red for most of the text with 'wine' written in an abstract, flowing vine replica.

2015 Bellwether Heathcote Vermentino

Sue Bell is the winemaker. But somehow, Bellwether is associated with Chalmers. It has elegance and formality, and is a nutty-based wine in perfume (washed peanuts) and on the palate, but then the length is surprisingly smooth, silken, with some citrus at the end. Its label is grey with an abstract lime-green vine.

2016 Rimauresq Cru Classé Rosé, Côtes de Provence; New Zealand Villa Maria Rosé; 2017 Red Knot by Shingleback, McLaren Vale ; 2016 Artea Alpes De Haute Provence Rosé

The 2016 Rimauresq Cru Classé Rosé, Côtes de Provence smells of roses, Turkish delight and honey. On the palate, it is extremely dry, but elegant and sophisticated. And in colour it is a beautiful pale pink perfection. Part of the problem of paying a lot for a Rosé is that practically any Provencal, Pinot-Noir based Rosé cannot, I repeat, cannot go wrong. And there are cheap ones around.

The New Zealand Villa Maria Rosé smells of vanilla and strawberries and cream, and is a pale rosy pink in colour. The palate is dry with some tartish length. Hawks Bay is usually a good source of wine from NZ and this is definitely a good Rosé.

The 2017 Red Knot by Shingleback of McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills is traditionally (it's Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Grenache) salmon pink in colour and smells, traditionally, of vanilla cream and strawberries in its beautiful perfume, and is dry on the palate. 

When you see the 2016 Artea Alpes De Haute Provence Rosé around locally, do not go past it. It is truly one of the great drinking Rosés. It has a very simple black-and-white label., and the trad salmon-ballet-pink colour. 

2016 Domaine La Serre Languedoc Picpoul de pinet and 2016 Clomarin Picpoul De Pinet

Picpoul de pinet: have you heard of it? No! Nor have I. But I predict its rise and rise. The web tells me that Picpoul de Pinet is grown at Cowra. Picpoul de Pinet (pronounced Pick-Pool de Pee-Nay) is a white wine appellation in the Languedoc for wines made exclusively from Piquepoul Blanc grape variety. I bought a 2016 Domaine La Serre Languedoc Picpoul de Pinet from a bottle shop chain in North Adelaide, on a family-visit-sojourn, because it was the first time I had seen/heard of the grape: it took me a moment to understand that it was the grape name. There is honey/mead in the perfume and on the palate. But it is dry with depth. Not sweet in itself, but may be good with dessert ... like honey cake? But then it is dry. Marsanne-ish? A light gold in colour. Just savoury: wondering what savoury food you'd have with it. Lobster/prawns? But let me say: Languedoc: would you not drink any wine from that place. Via a local Northern Rivers hotel/resort is a 2016 Clomarin Picpoul De Pinet, gold in colour, with a hallucinatory greenish edge. It smells of nut butter like a Chardy, and something sweet with a vague end of musk. A kind of smoky sweetness. The palate is dry but with melon depth/expansion.