2013 Jospeh Chromy Tasmanian Gewürztraminer and the 2015 Spring Vale Tasmanian Gewürztraminer

Gewürztraminer is a variety that currently features in Tasmanian wines. The 2013 Jospeh Chromy Gewürztraminer is a clear pale lemon in colour with a fine orange perfume that also includes vanilla and marshmallow. On the palate, it's light but delicious. The label is a little affected, with a regal lion, fork-tailed which is the coat of arms of Bohemia. (Chromy fled Czechoslovakia during encroaching communism.) Otherwise, the label is simply elegant in black, white and gold. The 2015 Spring Vale Gewürztraminer is a beautifully clear pale lime-lemon in colour, and smells of pear with a tinge of coconut. In a tasting, it was dry. But in a larger gulp (sold in a ¾ bottle to be precise), it came across as a little sweet. My drinking companion said not, but, rather, fruity and spicy if anything. It would be good wine with quince paste, or marron which is a sweetish shell fish.

2014 Vinaceous Salome WA Tempranillo Rosé , 2013 Estio La Purisima Rosado

Not able to be resisted are these two Rosés: a 2014 Vinaceous Salome WA Tempranillo Rosé made by Nick Stacey, and an equally terrific Spanish one, a 2013 Estio La Purisima Rosado made from Monastrell, Syrah and Merlot. Both of them very, very moreish. While the Vinaceous has a baroque label that includes a cabaret-side-show-alley look and a belly dancer, the Estio features gold stripes on its top, bottle neck and a spiral mosque dome on the label.

2013 Jules Taylor Marlborough Sav Blanc, 2013 Hunter's (Jane Hunter) Marlborough Chardonnay

This is really the best of NZ Sav Blancs. Elegant, not overdone, restrained. And the second is a 2013 Hunter's (Jane Hunter) Marlborough Chardonnay, with all the characteristics of a traditional Chardonnay that you'd want. Both, surprisingly, have very similar labels of ecu background and black print.

2011 Rosemount Riesling

Golden in colour, it has over-ripe pine in the perfume, with a little tartness that is also a little medicinal on a palate which has a lemon fizz/sherbet in the middle-to-end. It has a Barossa Valley address on the label. Under $15.

2013 Voyager Estate Margaret River Chenin Blanc

Chenin Blanc is the workhorse grape of volume wine production. But I really love it when produced well, in its dry form, so I'm glad to see that Voyager says it is 'close to [their] heart'. So pleasant do I find its drinking that it made my day when I saw it for the first time locally, at the Bangalow Cellars, Bangalow, NSW, Australia.

2012 Bordeaux Chateau De Cours and 2014 Cumulus Estate New South Wales Central Ranges Luna Rosa Rosado

Rosado is a lighter style made in a Portuguese tradition by a woman, Debbie Lauritz. But though the bottle features a pretty frilled-edge and colour-embossed label, the wine was too sweet – not all that sweet, for the web site says 'savoury style … with a touch of sweetness', just too sweet for me. The winery's site also recommends savoury food, but I would suggest dessert. By contrast, the Merlot-Cabernet Franc Chateau De Sours was too dry! And though that lovely salmon pink in colour, I expect with Rosé to have a sense of lusciousness and thence high drinkability, and not 'a long dry finish'. Just over and just unders $20.

 

2013 Viña Sol Catalunya White Wine

I am developing great respect for the Familia Torres Spanish wine makers. Their Cariñena Rosé is a scintillating, pretty much a to-die-for Rosé. Equally, their 2013 Viña Sol Catalunya White Wine is made from Parellada and Garnacha Blanca grapes. Light-to-mid gold in colour, its lovely perfume has notes of sweet, ripe citrus and warm cake, with a creamy pineapple and apple on the palate. Very, very drinkable. Available from the discerning Clunes Cellars/Wine Store whom I will ask to source more wine, probably from Torres, of these fragrant and delicious grapes. Just under $20. What I wouldn't do for a Garnacha Blana wine!